Edward Quillinan

Edward Quillinan (1791-1851) was a minor English poet, writer on Portugal and Portuguese literature, and Wordsworth’s son-in-law. He was born in Portugal, the son of an Irish merchant. Unlike the Wordworths, Quillinan was a devout Roman Catholic; he returned from Portugal to England in 1807 and remained thereafter. He began writing poetry seriously in 1814, publishing within the next few years a series of poems: Dunluce Castle, a Poem (1814), Stanzas by the author of Dunluce Castle (1814), The Sacrifice of Isabel (1816), and Elegiac Verses (1817). He moved his young wife and family to Spring Cottage, between Rydal and Ambleside, in 1821, but his wife died the next year. At this time he became close friends with Wordsworth. He spent many years living abroad after his wife’s death, but in 1841 married Dora Wordsworth (1804-47), daughter of William Wordsworth.