author
J. Bowles (John Bowles) Daly
1844–1916
An Irish-born writer, clergyman, and later Buddhist activist, he moved across very different worlds and turned them into vivid historical and political writing. His books range from Irish history and reform movements to fiction, giving his work an unusual mix of scholarship and lived experience.
1 Audiobook
Ireland in the Days of Dean Swift (Irish Tracts, 1720 to 1734)
by Jonathan Swift, J. Bowles (John Bowles) Daly
About the author
Born in Ireland in 1844, John Bowles Daly studied at Trinity College Dublin, earning a B.A. in 1866 and an LL.D. in 1872. He was ordained in the Anglican Church and served as a curate before moving to London, where he worked among the poor in the East End.
Daly is remembered as a versatile writer whose books included Radical Pioneers of the Eighteenth Century, The Dawn of Radicalism, Ireland in '98, and the novel Broken Ideals. His writing shows a strong interest in politics, reform, and Irish history, and he also edited Ireland in the Days of Dean Swift.
Later in life, Daly became closely involved with Buddhist education in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Research on his life describes him as an important figure in the Buddhist Theosophical Society's educational work in the early 1890s, adding another striking chapter to a career that already crossed religion, scholarship, and public debate. He died in 1916.