Edward Gwynn

Edward John Gwynn (1 April 1868 – 10 February 1941) was an Irish academic who served as the 36th Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1927 to 1937. He was also President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1934 to 1937. Professor Gwynn was a scholar of Old Irish and Celtic literature.

Biography Edward John Gwynn (1868–1941), the second son of the Very Reverend Dr John Gwynn, D.D., and Lucy Josephine O'Brien, was born in 1868 at Aughnagaddy in Ramelton in the north of County Donegal in Ulster. His father was the Rector of Tullyaughnish (or Ramelton). As a teenager, he attended St Columba's College, Rathfarnham, where his father had earlier been headmaster.

In 1885, after completing his secondary education, Gwynn attended Trinity College Dublin. His father was then Lecturer in Divinity at the college. In 1888, he won a scholarship in classics. Edward graduated with distinction, winning the large gold medal for classics as well as a gold medal for ethics and logic. In 1893, he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College.

From Latin and Greek, Gwynn then turned his attention to Early Irish. His father had worked for years on the Book of Armagh, an Irish text written in Latin; Edward made ancient texts in Irish his special field. At that time Irish studies did not form part of the range of subjects which were taught at Trinity College. However, Edward was able to commence his research under the aegis of the Royal Irish Academy, of which he was elected a member in 1896. Two years later, he became its Professor of Celtic Languages. As an efficient administrator as well as a serious scholar he was to remain a key figure in the affairs of the Academy for the rest of his working life. He served as President of the Academy for the period 1934 to 1937.

After Edward Gwynn's death, a colleague recalled not only his keen intellect but also "that well-known smile, so full of mellow wisdom, infinite kindness and quietly amused tolerance of the foibles and extravagances of smaller minds".

Family Edward Gwynn married Olive Mary Ponsonby (1881–1970), daughter of Colonel Justinian Gordon Ponsonby, in 1906. The couple had five children:

John David Gwynn (1907–1998), known as David or "J.D.", became a civil engineer and spent many years working on innovative hydroelectric and other alternative energy generation projects. Arthur Montagu Gwynn (1908–2008), "A.M.", an entomologist turned doctor of medicine, had a varied working life which included pest control in Africa; war service in the British army (where he earned a Military Cross for bravery); Antarctic exploration; and editorship of the Medical Journal of Australia. Lucy Margaret ("Pic") Gwynn (1911–1987) was active in voluntary work for the welfare of students and many other causes. She married the Irish geologist and expert in quaternary studies, Professor Frank Mitchell. Edward Harold Gwynn (1912–2007) became a Whitehall civil servant, rising to the position of Deputy Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence. Olive Ruth Gwynn (1915–1981) qualified as a veterinary surgeon before she married the Irish sculptor Oisín Kelly.

Photographs

Publications The Metrical Dindshenchas, 5 vols, Hodges Figgis, Dublin, 1903–1935 The burning of Finn's house (with J. H. Lloyd), Ériu 1 (pp 13–37), 1904 The priest and the bees, Ériu 2 (pp 82–83), 1905 The three drinking-horns of Cormac ua Cuinn (edited and translated), Ériu 2 (pp 186–188), 1905 On a source of O'Clery's Glossary, Hermathena 14:33 (pp 464–480), 1907 Notes, Ériu 3 (pp 190–193), 1907 On a source of O'Clery's Glossary, Hermathena 15:35 (pp 389–396), 1909 An unrecorded gloss, Ériu 4 (p 182), 1908–10 De arreis, Ériu 5 (pp 45–48), 1911 The monastery of Tallaght (With Walter J. Purton), Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy XXIX (C), *1911–1912 An Irish penitential, Ériu 7 (pp 121–195), 1914 Catalogue of the Irish Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin (with T.K. Abbott), Hodges & Figgis, Dublin, 1921 Miscellanea: Eogan, Ériu 9 (pp 27–30), 1921–23 Tomás Costelloe and O'Rourke’s wife (with Turlough O'Reilly), Ériu 9 (pp 1–11), 1921–23 A note on O'Davoren’s glossary, Ériu 9 (pp 157–158), 1921–23 The Rule of Tallaght, Hermathena 44, second supplement, 1927 Athirne’s mother, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 17 (pp 153–156), 1928 The Dindshenchas in the Book of Uí Maine, Ériu 10 (pp 68–91), 1926–28 Senbriathra Fithail, Revue Celtique 46 (pp 268–271), 1929 Varia III, Ériu 11 (pp 150–153), 1932 The Book of Armagh: The Patrician Documents (ed.), Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1937 Notes on the Irish penitential, Ériu 12 (pp 245–249), 1938 An Old-Irish tract on the privileges and responsibilities of poets, Ériu 13 (pp 1–60 & 220–236), 1942