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Thomas A. Finlay

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Thomas Aloysius Finlay, S.J. (1848 – 1940) was an Irish Catholic priest, economist, philosopher and editor.

Life

He was born on 6 July 1848 at Lanesborough, the son of William Finlay, an engineer, and his wife Maria Magan. He was educated at St Augustine's College, Cavan, and became a novice of the Society of Jesus in 1866. He then spent time in France, Rome, and Germany where he encountered Prussian agricultural methods. He returned to Ireland in 1873.[1]

Finlay founded and edited the magazines Lyceum, New Ireland Review and Studies. He helped found the Messenger of the Sacred Heart, the Irish Monthly and the Irish Homestead.[2]

He was auditor of the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin) in 1883-1884. He was, in turn, professor of classics, of philosophy, and of political economy at University College Dublin from 1903 to 1930.[2]

With Horace Plunkett he helped found the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, and was a member of the 1895 Recess Committee which led to the establishment of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, a forerunner of the Department of Agriculture.[3] He was a Commissioner of National Education, chaired the Committee on Intermediate Education, and was chairman of the trustees of the National Library.[4] He was president of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland between 1911 and 1913.

References

  1. ^ Morrissey, Thomas J. "Finlay, Thomas Aloysius". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52697. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b Studies, Vol. 29, No. 113, Mar., 1940
  3. ^ Ireland in the New Century, Chapt.8
  4. ^ Morrissey, 2004

Sources