Ferguson, Sir Samuel

(1810-1886)

   Born in Belfast, and educated at Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College, Dublin, he studied at Lincoln's Inn, London, before being called to the Irish bar in 1838. He wrote many papers for the Royal Irish Academy, becoming its president in 1882. He founded the Protestant Repeal Association and sought to restore an Irish parliament. He became deputy keeper of the public records of Ireland in 1867 and was knighted in 1878. He is an influential figure in Irish poetry, drawing heavily on Irish mythology for his poems such as "The Tain Quest" and "The Death of Dermid Lays of the Western Gael." He wrote the love song "The Lark in the Clear Air." His poem "At the Polo-Ground" expressed his deep concern at the murders of the chief secretary and under-secretary of the paper The Nation in Phoenix Park, Dublin, 1882. Some of his other publications: Lays of the Western Gael, 1865. Congal, an Epic Poem in Five Books, 1872. Ogham Inscriptions in Ireland, Wales and Scotland, 1887. Some of his poems: "Cashel of Munster," "Cean Dubh Deelish," "The Fair Hills of Ireland," "The Fairy Thorn," "The Forging of the Anchor."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica. Electronic Edition, 2005. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www. lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Famous Irish Lives - Sir Samuel Ferguson (http://www.irelandseye.com/irish/people/famous/sfergson.shtm). Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.