Author: Beggs, Thomas
Biography:
BEGGS, Thomas (1789-1847: Banner of Ulster)
He was born at Glenwherry, County Antrim, to a farmer and his wife whose surname was Orr; she was a cousin of James Orr (q.v.). The family moved to County Down for a few years but returned to Antrim, settling in Ballyclare. Beggs spent time at sea working on a coastal vessel before beginning work as a bleacher and, later, weaver. He married in 1827; the name of his wife is not known and, although they evidently had children, no details have been located. In about 1830 they moved to Ardoyne near Belfast. Beggs struggled financially and endured periods of unemployment when he was unable to provide for his family. He died of typhus. No genealogical records have been located; the article in Banner of Ulster about him was written by his friend James Fullarton and reprinted in 1861 in The Ulster Magazine. It lists works by him for which no copies have been located: The Memento (1828) and Nights in a Garret (prose with some poems, 1830). (Banner of Ulster 31 Aug. 1847; F. J. Bigger, “Thomas Beggs, an Antrim Poet; and the Four Towns Book Club,” Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 8 [1902]) SR