1834-1908

Alfred John Webb was born in Dublin, he attended a Quaker day school, after which he was apprentice to father’s printing business. In an attempt to improve his health he visited Australia, returning to Dublin in 1854. 1855 saw him becoming a deck-hand on sailing ship.

He inherited and became manager of his fathers printing firm, he wrote the Compendium of Irish Biography which he published in 1878. He was one of the early supporters of the Home Rule movement, he became an Anti-Parnellite MP for West Waterford, between 1890-1895.

For a time he was a member of The Dublin Corporation and Port and Docks Board. His extensive travels took him to India and the USA where he spoke against slavery. He contributed travel articles to Freeman’s Journal, Irish Monthly, New York Nation; also Opinions of some Protestants Regarding their Irish Catholic Fellow-Countrymen (1886), and The Alleged Massacre of 1641.

He died while on holiday in The Shetland Islands in 1908, he was buried in the Blackrock Quaker burial ground. His extensive collection of books was acquired by the National Library of Ireland.

Some of his works are listed below.

• Compendium of Irish Biography (Dublin Gill 1878; rep. facs. 1970)
• The Opinions of Some Protestants regarding their Irish Catholic Fellow-Countrymen.
• The Autobiography of a Quaker Nationalist.