Allingham, William

(1824-1889)

   Poet, the s. of a banker of English descent, was b. at Ballyshannon, entered the customs service, and was ultimately settled in London, where he contributed to Leigh Hunt's Journal. Hunt introduced him to Carlyle and other men of letters, and in 1850 he pub. a book of poems, which was followed by Day and Night Songs (1854), Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland (1864) (his most ambitious, though not his most successful work), and Collected Poems in 6 vols. (1888-93). He also edited The Ballad Book for the Golden Treasury series in 1864. In 1870 he retired from the civil service and became sub-editor of Fraser's Magazine under Froude, whom he succeeded as editor (1874-79). His verse is clear, fresh, and graceful. He married Helen Paterson, the water colourist, whose idylls have made the name of "Mrs. Allingham" famous also. He d. in 1889. Other works are Fifty Modern Poems (1865), Songs, Poems, and Ballads (1877), Evil May Day (1883), Blackberries (1884), Irish Songs and Poems (1887), and Varieties in Prose (1893). A selection from his diaries and autobiography was pub. in 1906.