Author: McMullan, William J.
Biography:
MCMULLAN, William John (1813-63: O’Donoghue)
O’Donoghue says that he was born in Belfast and educated first at the Brown Street school and then at the Belfast Academical Institute before going to sea where he served in a coasting vessel before returning to Belfast where he worked as a printer. His book and one of his poems are dedicated to an early benefactor, Sir Francis Workman McNaghton of Dundrave, County Antrim. A poem, “The Piper,” was published in the short-lived Belfast Magazine and Literary Journal (1825) as by “Paddy Scott” and he subsequently used the pseudonym “Paddy Scott the Piper” for verse printed in the Ulster Magazine. McMullan’s prose series, “Belfast as it was, and as it is,” appeared in the Ulster Magazine in 1861. The Heir of Avonmore (1861) was issued anonymously but is attributed to him in a review published in the Ulster Magazine. It is not known if he married. He died at home on Nelson Street, Belfast, on 16 Feb. 1863 and was buried in Shankill cemetery. (O’Donoghue; Ulster Magazine [1861] 192; Belfast Magazine and Literary Journal 1 [1825]; Belfast Newsletter 17 Feb. 1863) SR
Other Names:
- W. J. McMullan