John Francis Waller

John Francis Waller (1810–1894) was an Irish poet and editor.

Life

He was born at Limerick, educated at Trinity College, Dublin and was called to the Irish Bar in 1833. He held the position of vice-president of the Royal Irish Academy and was appointed Registrar of the Rolls Court in 1867.[1]

Works

Waller became a contributor to and ultimately editor of the Dublin University Magazine, usually writing under the pseudonym of "Jonathan Freke Slingsby".[1][2] He also edited the Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography.[3]

He published several volumes of poems and also wrote popular songs, including Cushla Ma Chree, The Spinning Wheel and Song of the Glass.[1] Many of his odes and poems were set to music by Irish composers, Robert Prescott Stewart being particularly fond of his works. He was responsible for the explanatory notes and a life of the author in a new edition of "Gulliver's Travels" written by Dean Jonathan Swift.

Selected works

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Boylan, Henry (1998). A Dictionary of Irish Biography, 3rd Edition. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. p. 438. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4.
  2. Cousin, John William (1910). "Wikisource link to Waller, John Francis". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource
  3. Charles Dudley Warner (1 January 2008). A Library of the World's Best Literature - Ancient and Modern - Vol.XLIII (Forty-Five Volumes); Dictionary of Authors (K-Z). Cosimo, Inc. p. 558. ISBN 978-1-60520-250-1.