William Maginn (1794–1842)

Born in Cork and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He wrote under various pseudonyms including ‘Ensign Morgan O'Doherty’, in whose persona he produced memoirs, anecdotes, and verses in English, Latin, and Greek for the Literary Gazette and other journals. He was a prolific contributor to Blackwood's, notably to the Noctes Ambrosianae. In 1830 he helped in the establishing of Fraser's Magazine, in which much of his best work, including Homeric Ballads and A Gallery of Literary Characters, appeared. His wit and learning are evident in his parodies of Sir W. Scott, Coleridge, T. Moore, La Rochefoucauld, Disraeli, Carlyle, and many others. He was the original of Captain Shadow in Thackeray's Pendennis.