Edward MacLysaght

Edgeworth Lysaght, later Edward Anthony Edgeworth Lysaght, and from 1920 Edward MacLysaght (; 6 November 1887 – 4 March 1986) was a genealogist of twentieth-century Ireland. His numerous books on Irish surnames built upon the work of Rev. Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames (1923).

Early life and education

Edgeworth Lysaght was born at Flax Bourton, Somerset (near Bristol), to Sidney Royse Lysaght, of Irish origin, a director of the family iron and steel firm John Lysaght and Co. and a writer of novels and poetry, and Katherine (died 1953), daughter of Joseph Clarke, of Waddington, Lincolnshire. Lysaght's grandfather, Thomas Royse Lysaght, was an architect, and his great-grandfather, William Lysaght, a small landowner distantly connected with the Barons Lisle. Lysaght was named "Edgeworth Lysaght" after his father's friend, the economist Francis Ysidro Edgeworth; "Edward" was added at baptism, and he was called "Ned". "Anthony" was added at confirmation. He lost the sight in one eye after a childhood accident.

Life in Ireland

Lysaght took up residence in a caravan at Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland, where he had previously holidayed and become friendly with local people. His father, himself strongly connected to his Irish boyhood and wanting to establish himself as a "country gentleman", recognized his son's enthusiasm for Ireland and in 1909 bought a 600-acre estate at Tuamgraney, at which Lysaght would farm until 1913, introducing an electrical generator and other forms of modernization including the development of a limekiln, nursery, and school where young men of means could learn the basics of farming. of a few years before in favour of Roman Catholicism, and became involved in the Gaelic League. An integral factor in Lysaght's reinvention was his relationship with Mabel ("Maureen") Pattison; five years his senior, they had met when Lysaght spent a period at a Dublin hospital. She was born and raised in South Africa, her father a civil servant there, but had an Irish family including a local postmistress. Lysaght's family sought to avoid what they considered an unsuitable marriage, sending Lysaght and his brother Patrick on a world tour taking in Ceylon and Japan, but they were nevertheless married at the Brompton Oratory on 4 September 1913. They had two children. Mabel introduced him to friends in the Arts Club, and Lysaght entered Dublin literary society; his "somewhat overdone" attempts to "give himself a new, more Irish identity" were noticed by acquaintances. Lysaght's father invested £300 in Maunsell's publishers, who produced Lysaght's book of poems Irish eclogues. He and Mabel later divorced in South Africa. Lysaght remarried to Mary Cuneen. He had three children with his second wife. He was appointed Inspector for the Irish Manuscripts Commission in 1938. MacLysaght was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 1942 and in the same year was awarded a D.Litt. He was appointed Chief Herald of Ireland in 1943 and served in this post until 1954. MacLysaght served as Keeper of Manuscripts at the National Library of Ireland from 1948 to 1954 and was Chairman of the Irish Manuscripts Commission from 1956 to 1973.

Death

MacLysaght died on 4 March 1986, aged 98, and was interred in the graveyard of St. Cronan's Church, Tuamgraney.

Works

Irish Life in the Seventeenth Century (1939)
The Surnames of Ireland
Supplement to Irish Families
More Irish Families
More Irish Families incorporating Supplement to Irish Families
The Gael (1919)
Cursaí Thomáis (1927)
Changing Times (1978)

References

Sources

, database of Irish writers; comprehensive listing of life and works. Retrieved 5 August 2010. Archived 2004.