Eyles Irwin

Eyles Irwin (1751–1817) was an Irish poet and writer. He rose in the East India Company's service from a civil servant to superintendent of the company's affairs in China, but failed to gain a place on the board of directors.

He is notable for publishing several volumes of poems, primarily on historical subjects; elegies, odes, and epistles; and miscellaneous writings. Although not born in Ireland, he became a member of the Royal Irish Academy due to his Irish parents' roots.

Biography He was born at Calcutta (presently Kolkata) to Irish parents in 1751. His father was a native of Ireland who died in the service of East India Company. Irwin was educated at a private academy at Chiswick in England, and joined the East India Company in a civil capacity, serving at Madras (presently Chennai) in 1767. Due to his association with George Pigot, who was imprisoned and suspended, he too was suspended in 1775; consequently, he went back to England to lay his case before the board. His application was successful.

In 1778, he married Miss Brooke, who was related to Henry Brooke, the renowned Irish novelist and dramatist. In 1780, he was restored to his previous job and position by the Company at Madras.

Epistles Occasional Epistles (1783). Epistle to Hayley.

Miscellaneous A Series of Adventures in the Course of a Voyage Up the Red-Sea, on the Coasts of Arabia and Egypt, and of a Route through the Desarts of Thebais, hitherto Unknown to the European Traveller, in the Year M.DCC.LXXXVII. In Letters to a Lady. (1780). Inquiry into the Feasibility of the Supposed Expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte to the East (1796). Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt (1798). The Failure of the French Crusade; or The Advantages to be Derived from the Restoration of Egypt to the Turks (1799). The Bedouins, or, Arabs of the Desert: A Comic Opera (1802). Napoleon; or The Vanity of Human Wishes (1814).