Ashe, Thomas

(1836-1889)

   Irish poet and novelist who, while working in Bordeaux, suffered a short imprisonment for wounding in a duel a gentleman whose sister he had seduced. Returning to Dublin, he was appointed secretary to the Diocesan and Endowed Schools Commission, but, getting into debt, resigned his office and retired to Switzerland. He then spent several years in foreign travel, living-according to his Memoirs and Confessions (3 vols., 1815)- in freedom and experiencing a somewhat varied fortune. Between 1806 and his death, he published (along with Memoirs) several travel books and novels. As a poet he does not rank high; however, his poems do show a descriptive tenderness. Some of his poems: "A Machine Hand," "A Vision of Children," "A Word to the West End," "Corpse-bearing," "Marian," "The Brook," "The City Clerk," "To Two Bereaved."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).