Author: REYNOLDS, Laurence
Biography:
REYNOLDS, Laurence (fl 1827-45)
There was more than one Laurence (or Lawrence) Reynolds born in Ireland about 1800 with poetic talent and radical sympathies. The one included in this bibliography was “Laurence Reynolds, Esq.” but there is a “Dr. Laurence Reynolds” with a colourful history and it is possible that they were one and the same. There was also an “Alderman Laurence Reynolds” (d 1855) known for his sympathy towards liberal causes in Dublin. The publications provide a measure of certainty, however, since Reynolds published some of his books by subscription and provided autobiographical information in the prefaces. His translation of Persius (1827) he describes as his first work. He acknowledges the rashness of “a boy” undertaking a work that had been translated by Dryden. That book was published in Dublin and is dedicated to Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), the Irish patriot, for his efforts on behalf of Catholic Emancipation. A translation of Tibullus (1841) published in London with subscribers from Hereford, London, and Abergavenny in Wales, indicates that he had been away from Ireland for many years. A subscription raised on his behalf in Abergavenny in 1845 praises his literary accomplishments and his benevolent character and refers to three poetical works of which no further record has been found: “The Sorrows of Ovid,” “Gherado and Bianca: a Poem,” and “The Banks of Wye.” (These might have been short contributions to periodicals.) But it does not identify him as a doctor. “Dr. Laurence Reynolds” (1803-87), son of a drapery merchant in Waterford, qualified as a physician in Dublin before 1833 and had an established medical practice in Liverpool by 1846 but for subversive activities as a Chartist and Young Irishman was forced to flee to the US in 1848. He settled in Oswego NY and during the Civil War served as a surgeon in the Irish Brigade. He composed war poems and songs and was consider the “poet laureate” of the brigade. He died at Oswego on 25 Apr. 1887. He does not appear to have married. The Abergavenny period does not seem to fit well with the Liverpool practice, and clarification is needed. (ancestry.com 1 Mar. 2025; findmypast.com 1 Mar. 2025; Pat McCarthy, “Lawrence Reynolds . . . ‘” Decies 66 [2010], 63-76; Monmouthshire Beacon 6 Dec. 1845; Irish American Weekly [New York] 7 Mar. 1863, 12 Dec. 1863; St. Albans [NY] Daily Messenger 26 Apr. 1887) HJ