Who is John Philpot Curran

John Philpot Curran (24 July 1750 – 14 October 1817) was an Irish orator, politician, wit, lawyer and judge, who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He was renowned for his representation in 1780 of Father Neale, a Catholic priest horsewhipped by the Anglo-Irish Lord, Viscount Doneraile, and in the 1790s for his defence of United Irishmen facing capital charges of sedition and treason. His courtroom speeches were widely admired. Lord Byron was to say of Curran, "I have heard that man speak more poetry than I have seen written". Karl Marx described him as the greatest "people's advocate" of the eighteenth century.

Early life

Born in Newmarket, County Cork, he was the eldest of five children of James Curran, seneschal of the Newmarket manor court, an...
Read Full Biography of John Philpot Curran


John Philpot Curran Poems

  • Let Us Be Merry Before We Go
    If sadly thinking, with spirits sinking,
    Could, more than drinking, my cares compose
    A cure for sorrow from sighs I'd borrow,
    And hope to-morrow would end my woes....
Read All Poems


Top 10 most used topics by John Philpot Curran

Death 1 Hope 1 Joy 1 Sorrow 1 Season 1 Stranger 1 Rover 1 Reason 1 Merry 1 Ranger 1


John Philpot Curran Quotes

Read All Quotes


Comments about John Philpot Curran

Duskwoodwind: john philpot curran's lucky brief, 1779
Ruthcan75563366: john philpot curran’s lucky brief, 1779
Realjeberhart: "the condition upon which god hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he breaks, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." —john philpot curran (1750-1817)
Realjeberhart: "the condition upon which god hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he breaks, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." —john philpot curran (1750-1817)
Drkuro9622: the condition upon which god hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.,john philpot curran,man, liberty, which ,
Read All Comments


Write your comment about John Philpot Curran


Poem of the day

Andrew Lang Poem
Ballade Of The Midnight Forest
 by Andrew Lang

Still sing the mocking fairies, as of old,
Beneath the shade of thorn and holly-tree;
The west wind breathes upon them, pure and cold,
And wolves still dread Diana roaming free
In secret woodland with her company.
'Tis thought the peasants' hovels know her rite
When now the wolds are bathed in silver light,
And first the moonrise breaks the dusky grey,
...

Read complete poem

Popular Poets