Lysaght, Edward (1763–1810), lawyer, wit, and versifier, was the only son of John Lysaght, landed gentleman of Brickhill, Co. Clare, and Jane Eyre Dalton, daughter of Edward Dalton of Deerpark, Co. Clare, and first cousin of Lord Eyre of Eyrecourt, Co. Galway. Edward obtained his early education at Rev. Patrick Hare's school in Cashel, Co. Tipperary. He later attended TCD and Oxford University, taking an MA in the latter. Having attended the required number of terms at the Middle Temple, London, he was called to the Irish and English bars in 1788. His career as a barrister began as counsel for Lord Hood in Hood's contest with Charles James Fox for a Westminster seat. Lysaght took part in a number of other election contests in Britain in a similar capacity before returning to Ireland, where he practised on the Munster circuit for a number of years. From about 1793 he lived mainly in Dublin, where he was appointed a commissioner in bankruptcy and, a few months before his death, a police magistrate.
As a young man he was an admirer of the Volunteers, perhaps even a member, and wrote verse reflecting his enthusiasm for that body. A protestant patriot of the Henry Grattan (qv) school, he was an opponent of the union. In a ballad he pointed out, somewhat graphically, the dire effects that the closing of the houses of parliament might be expected to have on everyday life in Dublin. A collection of his verse, published posthumously in 1811, omitted several of his songs and ballads. On the other hand, a number of popular songs, such as ‘Kitty of Coleraine’, have been assigned to him in error. In his love songs, addressed to assorted maidens, rustic and refined, real and imaginary, he was following a trend in the composition of such verse set by protestant gentry contemporaries such as George Ogle (qv), Richard Milliken (qv), and John Philpot Curran (qv).
While ‘pleasant Ned Lysaght’, as he was known, enjoyed a great reputation during his time as a wit and bon vivant, the other side of the coin was that he was a sot, a hard man, a ne'er-do-well who skulked for some time in Trinity College so as to be out of the way of bailiffs and duns. His collection of verse contains a likeness of him. He died in 1810 in such straitened circumstances that a subscription had to be organised for his widow and children.
More information on this entry is available at the National Database of Irish-language biographies (Ainm.ie).