Author: Ryan, Eliza
Biography:
RYAN, Eliza (fl 1816)
We know from her poems and from verse epistles included in her friend Henrietta Battier’s (q.v.) The Protected Fugitives that she was married to the Rev. Doctor Edward Ryan, although his entries in the DIB and the ODNB make no mention of a wife. He was the author of History of the Effects of Religion on Mankind (1788) and one of her poems is “On Edward’s History of the Effects of Religion on Mankind.” Her poems were evidently written over a number of years; the earliest dated one is about her wedding day on 6 July 1781. No records have been located for her birth or the names of her parents. Edward Ryan studied at Trinity College Dublin, earning his DD in 1788. He was made curate at St Anne's, Dublin, in 1776 and served as vicar of St Luke's and a prebend of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, at Tasagart, County Dublin, (1790–95) and Donaghmore, County Wicklow, (1795 until his death in 1819). A number of her poems refer to Donaghmore and to Wicklow. The poems report on an illness she suffered which resulted in blindness (also alluded to in a poem in The Protected Fugitives); her husband took her to Bath for her health. There is no mention of any children. A prefatory poem is addressed to Dr. Edward Ledwich, antiquary, who had offered to revise the poems for publication. (DIB for Edward Ryan 16 Sept. 2021; ODNB for Edward Ryan 16 Sept. 2021; Henrietta Battier, The Protected Fugitives)
Other Names:
- Mrs. Ryan