Standish Hayes O'Grady
O'Grady, Standish Hayes (1832-1915), Gaelic scholar. Born at Erinagh House, Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, into an Anglo-Irish naval family, he was a cousin of the novelist Standish James O'Grady. He learnt Irish in the Gaelic-speaking district of his childhood but was educated at Rugby School in England before going to TCD. O'Grady sought out John O'Donovan, and Eugene O'Curry, the leading scholars of the period, together with the book-seller and publisher John O'Daly. He was a founding member of the Ossianic Society in 1853, becoming President in 1855-7. His verse translation of The Adventures of Donncha Ruadh Mac Conmara was published by O'Daly in 1853 over the name ‘S. Hayes’, while the third volume of the Transactions (1857) of the society, edited by O'Grady himself, contains his translation-edition of Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne. Silva Gadelica (2 vols., 1892) was a miscellany of medieval prose tales with elegant translations in the second volume. He worked on a catalogue of Irish manuscript material in the British Museum but left it unfinished, Robin Flower later using his work in his 3-volume Catalogue.




