Walter Cox

Cox, Walter, or "Watty," the son of a Westmeath blacksmith, a hanger-on of the revolutionary party in 1798, was born about 1770. He proved faithless both to his own side and to the Government. In 1797 he established the Union Star, nominally in the interests of the United Irishmen, but ultimately repudiated by the Directory. After a visit to America, he established his Irish Monthly Magazine, a medley of truth and falsehood, in which are to be found some valuable biographical details of many distinguished persons of the period. He carried it on from 1808 to 1815, being subjected to numerous fines and imprisonment for opinions expressed therein. He is said to have ceased writing upon the receipt of,£400 in hand and a pension of £100 a year, withdrawn in 1835. He died at 12 Clarence-street, Dublin, in poverty, on the 17th January 1837, aged 66. Some years before his death he had tried to cut the head off King William's statue in Dublin — relinquishing the task upon finding his tools unsuitable for the purpose. Mr. Madden writes: "The turbulence and restlessness of this man's mind never suffered him to be quiet, or to persist in any pursuit. While he was in America, he had tried all sorts of trades and callings; he had been a newspaper editor, a pawnbroker, a chandler, a dairy-keeper, and a dealer in Irish whisky — and in all was unsuccessful."

Sources

88. Cox, Watty: Irish Monthly Magazine. 8 vols. Dublin, 1808-'15.

331. United Irishmen, their Lives and Times: Robert R. Madden, M.D. 4 vols. London, 1858-'60.