Author: Macken, John
Biography:
MACKEN, John (c. 1784-1823: ODNB)
pseudonym Ismael Fitzadam
The eldest son of Richard Macken, a merchant, he was born at Brookeborough, near Enniskillen, Fermanagh. His mother’s name is unknown. He seems to have had a mixed early career and claimed to have been in the navy although there is no evidence for this. In 1808 he started the Erne Packet or Enniskillen Chronicle with his brother-in-law. His Minstrel Stolen Moments (1814) suggests that he suffered from poor health and had previously published his verse in periodicals. In 1818 he went to London and there published at his own expense his second book. It made little impact but Macken was befriended by William Jerdan and encouraged to submit his poems to the Literary Gazette where they were published under his Ismael Fitzadam pseudonym. Jerdan also vigorously promoted his third book but it too met with little success and, disappointed, Macken returned to Ireland where he died at Enniskillen and was buried in Aughavea parish church. His other publication is the Huntington Peerage (1821) on which he worked with Henry Nugent Bell. Letitia Elizabeth Landon (q.v.) wrote a monody in his memory. (ODNB 4 Dec 2019; GM 228 [1870], 403-14)