Joseph Stirling Coyne, who was born in Birr in 1803, was son of an officer in England's Commissariat. He was founder of Punch magazine in London in 1868 and author of over sixty farces which he wrote for Dublin's Theatre Royal and London Theatres.

ConaIl Mac Geoghegan (1600-40) is noteworthy as author of the English translation of the now lost "Annala Chluain Mhic Nóis", the Annals of the famed Clonmacnoise from the fifth to the fifteenth century. He was a native of the hallowed "City of St. Ciaran" [Clonmacnoise].

Sir Jonah Barrington (1760-1834) was M.P. for Offaly and was an admiralty Court Judge. He is better known, perhaps, as an historian. He had the courage to vehemently oppose the detested Act of Union (1801), but he suffered dearly for his convictions. He was author of The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, The Social and Political Life of 18th Century Ireland, and Contemporary Personal Sketches, which appeared in three volumes.

Renowned writer William Bulfin (1862-1910) was also a native of Birr where he spent the last years of his life. At the age of seventeen he emigrated to the Argentine, and lived as a gaucho on the Pampas there, he later became a newspaper editor and owner in Buenos Aires, where he wrote his Tales of the Pampas. Returning to Ireland in 1902 he travelled throughout the country on a bicycle, and wrote a most informative account of his travels under the appropriate title of Rambles in Eirinn.

Offaly can also boast of distinguished Gaelic writers, Carmelite priest, an tAthair Benedict (born in 1897), better known by his nom-de-plume "Maol Íosa", published numerous acclaimed works, including "Eire - Náisiún Céasta" (Ireland, a Persecuted Nation); "Scéal Anama" (Story of a Soul - a translation of the life of St. Teresa, published in 1926); "Lorcán Naofa Ó Tuathail", "An Leabhar Aifrinn", and "Páis Chríost".

Short story writer Criostóir Mac Aonghusa, (born 1906) was principal teacher of Rosmuc National School, and a graduate of Galway University. He was father of R.T.E.'s Director of Gaelic programmes, Prionsíos Mac Aonghusa, M.A. His best-known work is a prize-winning collection of stories entitled An Cladóir agus Scéalta Eile.

John Fraser, also born in Birr in 1804, was a gifted cabinetmaker, who wrote verse under the nom-de-plume "Jean de Jean". Many of his poems appeared in The Nation, The Irish Felon, and contemporary periodicals - notably during 1851 and '52. He was also editor of Dublin's Trade Advocate.

The pleasant market-town of Banagher by the River Shannon had some notable associations with writers of repute during the past few centuries. Anthony Trollope (1815-82), a prolific writer of novels, biographies, and travel books took up duty there as Post Office surveyor in 1841, and loved the place. He had already merited prominence as inventor of the Postal Pillar Box. He was obviously a keen observer of the personal traits and peculiarities of those he met, and was only a few years there when he wrote his first two novels (dealing with Irish life) — “The MacDermot of Ballycloran” (1843) and “The Kellys and O’Kellys” (1848). Tbrough his strict industry he subsequently produced over fifty novels of well-flavoured fiction, as well as some biographies and books on foreign travel. He soon attracted a wide circle of readers. He seemed at his best when portraying clerical and political life characters — as in his Barchester Series, (in which characters like Archdeacon Grantley and Dean Arabin constantly recur), and in the Phineas Finn and Prime Minister series. His most acclaimed books are “The Last Chronicle of Barset”; Framley Parsonage; Orley Farm; and Smart House at Allington.

Although they provide fascinating reading they are not ranked amongst the “Literary Immortals”.

Sir Jonah Barrington (1760-1834), lawyer and historian, was M.P. for Banagher for many years. He held the post of Admiralty Court Judge, and resided in Dublin - first at 14 Harcourt Street, and later at 42 Merrion Square. He firmly refused to vote for the controversial Act of Union (1801). Had he done so he would have been appointed Solicitor General for Ireland. His best-known works were: “Contemporary Personal Sketches (3 volumes); The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation; and The Social and Political Life of 18th Century Ireland. Unfortunately, he fell heavily into debt and misappropriated Court funds. Deprived of his office he went to France, and died at Versailles in 1834.

The Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls, Rector of Birr, married novelist Charlotte Bronte (of “Jane Eyre” fame) in 1854, and they spent their honeymoon in Banagher. Charlotte’s father, also a clergyman, was Irish. The Rev. A. B. Nicholls had been his curate, Charlotte sadly passed away within a year, however, and Nicholls spent the rest of his life at Hill House, Banagher, where he fondly kept the childhood diaries of the Brontes. He died there in 1906.

Surgeon and Historian Sir William Wilde (1815-76) spent some years at Banagher’s former Royal College. As is well known, he was husband of Wexford poetess, Jane Frances Elgee, (better known as “Speranza of the Nation”) - the eccentric mother of Ireland’s great wit and dramatist, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).

Link with James Lynam Molloy

Sir William Wilde qualified as a doctor in Dr. Steeven's Hospital in 1837. In 1838 he was practising his profession at 199 Great Brunswick Street, at which address Dr. Kedo Molloy, father of James Lynam Molloy also practiced. A voyage with a patient led to William Wilde's first book, "The Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, Teneriffe, and Along the Shores of the Mediterranean" in 1840. James Lynam Molloy was born in 1837 and wrote "Our Autumn Holiday on French Rivers in 1873". James Lynam Molloy's book was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's "An Inland Voyage"