Author: Swift, Deane
Biography:
SWIFT, Deane Theophilus (1773-1858: ancestry.co.uk)
Deane Swift was named for his grandfather, a collateral descendent of Jonathan Swift (q.v.). Although hot-headed in his youth—he inherited an irascible character from his father, Theophilus Swift (q.v.)—his later years were spent living quietly on his inherited wealth. DIB gives his year of birth as 1774 but he was baptised in Claines, Worcestershire, on 25 Oct. 1773. He was the elder of two sons born to Theophilus and his wife Charlotte Maria Pead. The family moved to Ireland in about 1783 and Deane Swift, who attended Eton, entered Trinity College Dublin in July 1792. His studies ended when his father, angered by the university’s failure to accord a distinction to his son’s results, published Animadversions on the Fellows of Trinity College (1794). Deane was denied both his degree and the bene decessit or guarantee of good conduct that would allow him to follow his father and grandfather to St. Mary Hall, Oxford. The notes to Monks of Trinity suggest that Deane’s own unruly conduct at Trinity added force to the call for his removal. In Dec. 1794, father and son were found guilty of verbally and physically abusing Dr. Thomas Elrington, provost of Trinity; they were fined £50 each and sentenced to prison terms. Monks of Trinity was published in early 1795 and on 4 Mar. 1795 notice of a meeting of Dublin barristers was issued, defending Dr. Arthur Browne against a libellous assertion in the book. Browne had prosecuted the case of assault on Elrington. Deane Swift replied in Saunders’s Newsletter on 5 Mar. 1795, stating that he had proactively “stifled” the impression of the book. No copy of the first edition has been located; the second edition omits mention of Browne. Swift joined the United Irishmen and in late 1797 began writing for its organ, The Press, as “Marcus.” His letter condemning the execution of United Irishman William Orr prompted a government crackdown on the paper and its editor, Peter Finerty, was imprisoned on charges of seditious libel. In 1799 Swift married Julia Maria Bellew in Dublin; they had two sons and a daughter (d 1821). In the same year he was rounded up with other United Irishmen and gaoled at Fort George in Scotland but by 1804 he had returned to Dublin. He inherited an estate at Goodrich, Herefordshire, on his father’s death in 1815. Likely he also inherited the family estate at Castlerickard, County Meath in Ireland. His wife died 12 Nov. 1827 in Booterstown, Dublin. Swift was in London on 25 May 1832 when he married Frances Daly (d 1852 in London). In his final years Swift returned to Dublin where he died at home in Mountjoy Sq. on 17 Nov. 1858. His younger brother was Edmund Lenthal Swift (q.v.) (DIB 23 Oct. 2021; ODNB for Theophilus Swift 23 Oct. 2021; ancestry.co.uk 23 Oct. 2021; Dublin Evening Post 16 Dec. 1794; The Times 23 Dec. 1794; Saunders’s Newsletter 4 Mar. 1795; Saunders’s Newsletter 5 Mar. 1795; Dublin Evening Post 22 Nov. 1827; Dublin Evening Post 8 June 1852; Dublin Daily Express 20 Nov. 1858; Richard R. Madden, The United Irishmen, Their Lives and Times [1858]; Thomas MacNevin, The Lives and Trials of…Eminent Irishmen [1846]) SR