Swift, Jonathan ___ 1667-1745 ___ Irish ___ writer, priest

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Although born and educated in Ireland, Jonathan Swift spent much of his life in England. He was taken on at Moor Park, Surrey, by Sir William Temple, whose father had been head of the Irish bar and a friend to the Swifts. While at Moor Park, Swift worked as an assistant to Sir William, he also tutored Esther Johnson (or 'Stella'), the daughter of Temple's sister, and developed his poetical and satirical writing. When Sir William, his patron, died in 1699, Swift returned to Dublin, where he obtained the deanery of St Patrick's Cathedral. He continued, however, to make regular trips to London. Although most famous perhaps for 'Gulliver's Travels', written later in his life, 'Journal to Stella' is also considered an enduring work. It is a collection of letters, written every day, to Esther Johnson who had grown into a beautiful and intelligent woman. At Swift's behest, she and a companion moved to Ireland, and the letters are those he sent to her from London. While full of detail and playfulness, the diary-letters also trace his move away from Whig policies and a growing alliance with the Tory party.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Live ten times happier

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1710-1713 ___ political religious society health

WEB TEXT LINKS
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ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
British Library, Manuscript Collections
Victoria & Albert Museum, National Art Library - archive description includes 'diary'

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Journal to Stella
 

May 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.