Standish James O'Grady (18 September 1846 – 18 May 1928) was an Irish author, journalist, and historian. O'Grady was inspired by

Sylvester O'Halloran Sylvester O'Halloran (31 December 1728 – 11 August 1807) was an Irish surgery, surgeon with an abiding interest in Gaels, Gaelic poetry and history. For most of his life he lived and practised in Limerick, and was later elected a member ...

and played a formative role in the

Celtic Revival The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gae ...

, publishing the tales of

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...

, as the ''History of Ireland: Heroic Period'' (1878), arguing that the Gaelic tradition had rival only from the tales of

Homeric Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his authorship, Homer is ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. O'Grady was a paradox for his times, proud of his

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

heritage, he was also a member of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

, a champion of

aristocratic Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

virtues (particularly decrying bourgeois values and the uprooting cosmopolitanism of modernity) and at one point advocated a revitalised Irish people taking over the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

and renaming it the Anglo-Irish Empire. O'Grady's influence crossed the divide of the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

and Irish-Ireland traditions in literature. His influence was explicitly stated by the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...

set with

Lady Gregory Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Anglo-Irish dramatist, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre, and wrot ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

and

George William Russell George William Russell (10 April 1867 – 17 July 1935), who wrote with the pseudonym Æ (often written AE or A.E.), was an Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, painter and Irish nationalist. He was also a writer on mysticism, and a cen ...

attributing their interest in the

Fenian Cycle The Fenian Cycle (), Fianna Cycle or Finn Cycle () is a body of early Irish literature focusing on the exploits of the mythical hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill and his Kóryos, warrior band the Fianna. Sometimes called the ...

of Gaelic tradition in part to him. Yeats is quoted on the influence of Standish: "he started us all". Some of the figures associated with the political party

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

, including its founder Arthur Griffith, had positive things to say about his efforts in helping to retrieve from the past the Gaelic heroic outlook.

Family

His father was the Reverend

Thomas O'Grady Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the ...

, the scholarly

minister of Castletown Berehaven,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, and his mother Susanna Doe (or Dowe). Standish O'Grady's childhood home – the Glebe – lies a mile west of Castletownbere near a famine mass grave and ruined Roman Catholic chapel. He was a cousin of Standish Hayes O'Grady, another noted figure in Celtic literature, and of Standish O'Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore. He married Margaret Allen Fisher, daughter of William Allen Fisher and had three sons. Advised to move away from Ireland for the sake of his health, he passed his later years living with his eldest son, a clergyman in England, and died on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. His eldest son, Hugh Art O'Grady, was for a time editor of the

Cork Free Press The ''Cork Free Press'' (11 June 1910 – 9 December 1916) was a nationalist newspaper in Ireland, which circulated primarily in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, and was the newspaper of the dissident All-for-Ireland League pa ...

before he enlisted in the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

early in 1915. He became better known as Dr Hugh O'Grady, later Professor of the Transvaal University College, Pretoria (later the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

), who wrote the biography of his father in 1929. After a rather severe education at Tipperary Grammar School, Standish James O'Grady followed his father to

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, where he won several prize medals and distinguished himself in several sports.

Career

He proved too unconventional of mind to settle into a career in the church, and took a job as a

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

Midleton College Midleton College is an independent co-educational boarding and day school in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. In past centuries it has also been called Midleton School. Although founded in 1696, the school did not open until 1717. It went thr ...

, then in a period of expansion. He also qualified as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, while earning much of his living by writing for the Irish newspapers. Reading

's "General history of Ireland" sparked an interest in early Irish history. After an initial lukewarm response to his writing on the legendary past in "History of Ireland: Heroic Period" (1878–81) and "Early Bardic Literature of Ireland" (1879), he realised that the public wanted romance, and so followed the example of

James Macpherson James Macpherson ( Gaelic: ''Seumas MacMhuirich'' or ''Seumas Mac a' Phearsain''; 27 October 1736 – 17 February 1796) was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector, and politician. He is known for the Ossian cycle of epic poems, which he ...

in recasting Irish legends in literary form, producing historical novels including " Finn and his Companions" (1891), "The Coming of Cuculain" (1894), "The Chain of Gold" (1895), "Ulrick the Ready" (1896) and "The Flight of the Eagle" (1897), and "The Departure of Dermot" (1913). He also studied Irish history of the Elizabethan period, presenting in his edition of Sir Thomas Stafford's "Pacata Hibernia" (1896) the view that the Irish people had made the Tudors into kings of Ireland to overthrow their unpopular landlords, the Irish chieftains. His "The Story of Ireland" (1894) was not well received, as it shed too positive a light on the rule of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

for the taste of many Irish readers. He was also active in social and political campaigns in connection with such issues as unemployment and taxation. Until 1898, he worked as a journalist for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' of Dublin, but in that year, finding Dublin journalism in decline, he moved to

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

to become editor of the '' Kilkenny Moderator'', which was printed at number 28 High Street. It was here he became involved with Ellen Cuffe, Countess of Desart and Captain Otway Cuffe. He engaged in the revival of the local woollen and woodworking industries. In 1900 he founded the ''All-Ireland Review'', and returned to Dublin to manage it until it ceased publication in 1908. O'Grady contributed to James Larkins' '' The Irish Worker'' paper. O'Grady's works were an influence on

and George Russell and this led to him being known as the "Father of the

". Being as much proud of his family's Unionism and Protestantism as of his

Gaelic Irish The Gaels ( ; ; ; ) are an Insular Celtic ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaeli ...

ancestry – identities that were increasingly seen as antithetical in the late 1800s – he was described by

Augusta, Lady Gregory Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (; 15 March 1852 – 22 May 1932) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish dramatist, Folklore, folklorist and theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she co-founded the Irish Literary Theatre a ...

as a "

fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood. They were secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...

unionist".

Published works

*''The Emigrant: A Poem in Four Cantos'' (1842) *''History of Ireland: The Heroic Period''
Vol.1
1878 an
Vol.2
1880) *

' (1879) * ''History of Ireland: Cuculain and His Contemporaries'' (1880) *
Toryism and the Tory Democracy
' (1886) *''Red Hugh's Captivity: A Picture of Ireland, Social and Political, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth'' (1889) *
Finn and his Companions
' (1891) *
The Bog of the Stars
' (1893) *
Lost On Du-Corrig Or Twixt Earth And Ocean
' (1894) *
The Coming of Cuculain
' (1894) *
The Chain of Gold
' (1895) *
In the Wake of King James, Or, Dun-Randal on the Sea
' (1896) *
Ulrick the Ready
' (1896) *
The Flight of the Eagle
' (1897) *
All Ireland
' (1898) *''Hugh Roe O'Donnell: A Sixteenth Century Irish Historical Play'' (1902) *
The Departure of Dermot
' (1913) *''Sun and Wind'' (1928)

Notes

References

Memoir of Standish James O'Grady by Dr. Hugh O'Grady, 1929

External links

* *
Between Imperial Romance and Irish Revival
(2004) by Patrick Maume * Maume, Patrick:

History Ireland ''History Ireland'' is a magazine with a focus on the history of Ireland. The first issue of the magazine appeared in Spring 1993. It went full-colour in 2004 and since 2005 it is published bi-monthly. It features articles by a range of writers ...

, p. 44, article feature
''A nursery of editors: the Cork Free Press, 1910–16''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ogrady, Standish James 1846 births 1928 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 19th-century Irish historians Irish folklorists Irish journalists Irish writers Irish Anglicans O'Grady family Writers from County Cork People educated at The Abbey School (Tipperary) People from Castletownbere