Ellen Fitzsimon

Ellen Fitzsimon (1805 – 27 January 1883) was an Irish poet from a politically prominent family. Her work was published in major periodicals, and at least two of her poems became songs associated with the Irish diaspora. She was well educated and spoke a number of languages. She was a close political ally of her father, and often included her maiden name in her published bylines, to remind readers of their connection.

Literary career Fitzsimon's poems appeared in Irish Monthly, The Nation, The Month, Duffy's Fireside Magazine, and the Dublin Review. A single book of poems, Derrynane Abbey in 1832, and other Poems, was published in 1863.

Publications

Derrynane Abbey in 1832, and other poems (1863) "The Legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria" (1873) "The Pleasant Places of the Long Ago" (1874) "The Song of the Irish Emigrant in America" (1907)

Personal life On 25 July 1825, O'Connell married Christopher Fitzsimon, Esq., of Glencullen, County Dublin. Her husband was Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper and MP for County Dublin. The couple had thirteen children, five of whom died in infancy.

Fitzsimon's husband died in 1856, and she died in 1883, in her seventies, at her daughter's house in Blackheath. She was survived by four of her children: Kathleen (Mrs. George Ludlow Kennedy Hewett), Ellen (Mrs. Bianconi), Henry, and Christopher. Her grave is in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.