Author: Shelley, James Moore
Biography:
SHELLEY, James Moore (fl 1830-49)
Not much is known about the author of Leisure Hours, described by the National Magazine as “a very little volume of very juvenile poems.” Shelley advertised for pupils in the Wexford Independent of 11 Aug. 1849 and described himself as “educated under the care of the Rev. [John] Dr. Greham of the Royal School of Enniskillen.” Greham became master of the Royal School in 1836 but previously he had taught at the Waterford Corporation Free School; it is likely there that Shelley knew him. Possibly Shelley later studied engineering; the 1867 marriage certificate of his youngest daughter gives Shelley’s occupation not as teacher but as engineer, and engineering is listed as one of the educational courses offered at his school. The first name of his wife was Sarah and he married her in about 1832; they had two daughters and three sons and Sarah is listed in the 1871 Census as living in England with one of the daughters. The eldest son, Roland Eager Shelley, was married in Nov. 1864; the newspaper notice describes him as son of “the late James Moore Shelley of Wexford.” No other information has come to light. (ancestry.co.uk 16 Oct. 2021; National Magazine and Dublin Literary Gazette 1 [1830]; Wexford Independent 11 Aug. 1849; Saunders’s Newsletter 23 Nov. 1864; Carlow Post 16 Feb. 1867)