Author: Burroughs, Francis
Biography:
BURROUGHS, Francis (fl 1791-1805)
His other publications and the notes to his Poetical Epistle to James Barry identify him as Irish. Almost certainly he was the Francis Burroughs who was baptised at St. Peter’s, Dublin, on 14 Mar. 1765, the son of Thomas and Martha Burroughs. His father, who was admitted to the Middle Temple, London, in 1750, was Master of Chancery in Dublin. No university records have been located for Francis. He probably spent time in London and may have lived there. He was a member of the Dublin Whig club. His other publications are The Constitutional Interests of Ireland (1791), Strictures on the Present State of Public Credit and Public Security (1797), and An Address to the Irish Roman Catholics, on the Necessity of Arming the Government (1799). His poem was not well received critically although his support for Barry (1741-1806)—an Irish history painter who, however, was expelled from the Royal Academy and spent his final years in poverty and squalor—was applauded. It is not known when or where he died. (irishgenealogy.ie 14 Aug. 2023; Dublin Evening Post 4 Mar. 1794; Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple [1949]) SR