Author: Mason, Henry J. Monck
Biography:
MASON, Henry Joseph Monck (1778-1858: DIB)
He was born at Powerscourt, County Wicklow, to Lt. Col. Henry Monck Mason and his wife Jane Mosse. He was educated in Portarlington and Dublin before entering Trinity College Dublin in 1793. He was made a scholar in 1796 and graduated BA with the gold medal in 1798. The University of Dublin awarded him honorary degrees—LLB and LLD—in 1817. In 1800 he was called to the Irish bar but he did not practice; instead he served as an examiner to the prerogative court. In about 1810 he began preparing the first catalogue of the manuscripts in the Trinity College library. In 1812 he became a member of the Royal Irish Academy and, in 1814, he was appointed librarian at the King’s Inn, Dublin. He married the Honourable Anne Langrishe in 1816; they had two sons and four daughters. Noteworthy among his other writings is his Essay on the Antiquity and Constitution of Parliaments in Ireland (1820). Although he was not an Irish speaker, he was a prominent advocate of the Irish language: he co-founded a society for promoting the education of Irish speakers and helped to establish scholarships, a bursary, and a chair in Irish at the University of Dublin. His A Grammar of the Irish Language was published in 1830. He may also have edited the Irish language edition of the Book of Common Prayer and some of his advocacy of Irish involved encouraging conversion from the Catholic faith. In 1851 he retired from his position as librarian and moved from Dublin to Bray where he died on 14 Apr. 1858. He was buried on the Powerscourt estate. (ODNB 28 Sept. 2021; DIB 28 Sept. 2021)
Other Names:
- H. J. M. Mason