| Notes |
- JONATHAN SWIFT (Very Rev.), D.D., the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick's, b. in Hoeys Court, Dublin, 30 Nov. 1667, who has related many anecdotes of his grandfather's loyalty in his account of The Family of Swift, the original M.S. of which is still preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin: appointed Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick, Dublin, by patent, 6 May, 1713: d. 19 Oct. 1745.
source: Burke, Bernard and Arthur Charles Fox-Davies. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland, New Edition. London, UK: Harrison and Sons, 1912, p. 677.
- Jonathan Swift's royalist grandfather, Thomas Swift, of a Yorkshire family, was vicar of Goodrich, and married Elizabeth Dryden, niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, the poet's grandfather. The eldest of his large family, Godwin, a barrister, went to Ireland, where he became wealthy; and some of his brothers followed him. One of them, Jonathan, who had married Abigail Erick, was made steward of the king's inns, Dublin, but he did not live long, and seven months after his death, on 30 November 1667, his only son, Jonathan, was born. The widow was left dependent mainly on her husband's brother, Godwin. A nurse took the child to Whitehaven, and kept him there three years; and, not long after his return to Dublin, his mother returned to her relatives in England, leaving the boy in his uncle's care. He was sent to Kilkenny school, where he met Congreve; and, when he was fourteen he was entered as a pensioner at Trinity college, Dublin. Why he afterwards felt so much resentment against his relatives is not clear; for his uncle gave him, ‘not the education of a dog,’ but the best obtainable in Ireland. Swift was often at war with the college authorities; but he got his degree in 1685.
source: Ward, Adolphus William and Alfred Rayney Waller. The Cambridge History of English Literature, Volume 9. London, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1920, pp. 91-92.
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1667 - 1745 (77 years)
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