Richard D'Alton Williams (8 October 1822 – 5 July 1862) was an Irish physician and poet, "Shamrock" of the Nation.[1]
He was born in Dublin, son of Count D'Alton and Mary Williams. He was educated at Tullabeg Jesuit College and St. Patrick's College, Carlow.[1]
He came to Dublin in 1843 to study medicine. He started contributing verses to the Nation in the 1840s. In 1848 he brought out a newspaper, the Irish Tribune, to take the place of the suppressed United Irishman, founded by John Mitchel. Before the sixth weekly publication, it was seized by Government, and proceedings were instituted against the editors, Williams and his friend Kevin Izod O'Doherty. On 30 October 1848, at a third trial, O'Doherty was convicted and transported to Australia; while Williams, tried two days afterwards, was acquitted. He then resumed his medical studies, took out his degree at Edinburgh in 1849 and emigrated to America in 1851.[1]
In the USA he practised medicine until he became ill and died of tuberculosis in Thibodaux, Louisiana in 1862. He is buried there in St. Joseph's Cemetery. His headstone was later erected that year by Irish members of the 8th New Hampshire Infantry Regiment, then encamped in Thibodaux.[2]
He was married to Elizabeth Connolly, with whom he had two children.
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A Compendium of Irish Biography article Richard Dalton Williams |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Williams, Richard D'Alton". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.