Thomas A. Finlay

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. Studies, Vol. 29, No. 113, Mar., 1940
3. Ireland in the New Century, Chapt.8
4. Morrissey, 2004

Sources

• Thomas J. Morrissey, SJ Thomas A. Finlay SJ, 1848–1940, Educationalist, editor, social reformer. Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2004. ISBN 1-85182-827-3