Jane Barlow (17 October 1856 – 17 April 1917) was an Irish writer, noted for her novels and poems describing the lives of the Irish peasantry, chiefly about Lisconnell and Ballyhoy, in relation to both landlords and the Great Famine.
Life
Barlow was the second child and eldest daughter of Rev. James William Barlow, vice-provost of Trinity College Dublin. Born in Dollymount, Clontarf, County Dublin, she spent most of her life living in Raheny, then a village in County Dublin, in the house in the townland of Ballyhoy which then was called "The Cottage":
The house was known by various names over the years, as "Ballyhoy", "The Cottage" and "Raheny House". Built in the 18th century, originally with a thatched roof, another wing was added in the 1840s. [...] In 1986, it became the Garda Siochána Retirement Home and the original house was incorporated into the new additions.
She was educated by the family's governess and her father. She became proficient in French and German, and was a talented classical scholar and an accomplished pianist. She travelled much throughout Ireland, and in her twenties visited Italy, France, Greece, and Turkey.
"Miss Barlow" had great success with the collection of stories Irish Idylls (1892). Running into nine editions, it was read in France, Germany, Britain, and America. When Trinity College Dublin began to grant degrees to women, Barlow was one of the first "to receive the highest honorary distinction that ancient seat of learning could bestow", a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.). She was a contributor to the National Literary Society in Dublin and was friends with Katharine Tynan and Sarah Purser, who painted her portrait in 1894.
