George Downes

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Downes, George, A.M., author, was born in South King-street, Dublin, about 1790. He was a man of great and versatile genius, exhibited chiefly in some shorter pieces of poetry, and was an accomplished scholar in the Norse languages. His numerous works of continental travel met with little acceptance from the public. In 1827 he was principal of the Literary and Agricultural Seminary, established by a committee at Fallowlee, near Londonderry. For a time he was engaged with his friend Petrie on the Ordnance Survey. He was the author of some papers read before the Royal Irish Academy. The latter part of his life was spent in Trinity College, employed upon the catalogue of the Library. He died at Dalkey, 23rd August 1846, aged 56, and was buried at Ballitore, County of Kildare.

Sources

233. Manuscript and Special Information, and Current Periodicals.

323b. Tomb Stones and Monuments.

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles