1834-1908
Alfred John Webb was born in
Dublin, he attended a Quaker day school, after which he was apprentice
to father’s printing business. In an attempt to improve his
health he visited Australia, returning to Dublin in 1854. 1855 saw
him becoming a deck-hand on sailing ship.
He inherited and became manager
of his fathers printing firm, he wrote the Compendium of Irish Biography
which he published in 1878. He was one of the early supporters of
the Home Rule movement, he became an Anti-Parnellite MP for West
Waterford, between 1890-1895.
For a time he was a member of
The Dublin Corporation and Port and Docks Board. His extensive travels
took him to India and the USA where he spoke against slavery. He
contributed travel articles to Freeman’s Journal, Irish Monthly,
New York Nation; also Opinions of some Protestants Regarding their
Irish Catholic Fellow-Countrymen (1886), and The Alleged Massacre
of 1641.
He died while on holiday in
The Shetland Islands in 1908, he was buried in the Blackrock Quaker
burial ground. His extensive collection of books was acquired by
the National Library of Ireland.
Some of his works are listed
below.
- Compendium of Irish Biography (Dublin Gill 1878; rep. facs.
1970)
- The Opinions of Some Protestants regarding their Irish Catholic
Fellow-Countrymen.
- The Autobiography of a Quaker Nationalist.
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