John Kells Ingram Quotes

John Kells Ingram was born in Pettigo, County Donegal, Ireland. He was an Irish economist and poet. He graduated from Trinity College in Dublin in 1843. He showed considerable promise in both mathematics and classics and achieved early popularity as a poet. In 1852 he became a professor of oratory at Trinity College, and he wrote extensively on Shakespeare. He then became Regius Professor of Greek, librarian, and vice provost. His early economic writings dealt mainly with the Poor Law, which in theory was to provide relief for the poor but in reality did little to alleviate the distress in Ireland. Strongly influenced by the French sociologist Auguste Comte, he rejected the more isolated approach of classical economics and instead sought to develop a unified theory of economics along the lines of Comtean positivist philosophy. His writings on this topic include the essay “Present Position and Prospects of Political Economy” and A History of Political Economy. He wrote other books include: A History of Slavery and Serfdom, and Sonnets and Other Poems.