Hester Varian

Hester Varian
Born1828 (1828)
Died (aged 69)
Dublin, Ireland
Other namesHester Varian Sigerson; Hester Sigerson
SpouseGeorge Sigerson
Children4, including Dora Sigerson Shorter and Hester Sigerson Piatt
RelativesClement Shorter (son-in-law)
Elizabeth Willoughby Varian (sister-in-law)

Hester Varian Sigerson (1828 – 15 April 1898) was an Irish poet and novelist based in Cork and Dublin.

Biography

Hester Varian was born in Cork in 1828, the daughter of Amos Varian and Dora Walpole. Varian came from a republican and nationalist family. In 1861 she married physician, professor, historian and translator George Sigerson.[1] They had two daughters and two sons; both sons died young.[2][3] Varian died in Dublin in 1898, at the age of 69. Her grave is in Glasnevin Cemetery.[4]

Literary career

Varian wrote for Harp, Cork Examiner, Irish Monthly, Young Ireland, and others.[5][6] Her only novel, published in 1889, was A Ruined Race; or, The Last MacManus of Drumroosk,[1][7] about an Irish farmer and the Great Famine.[5] She and her husband hosted gatherings of Irish writers, revolutionaries, and artists, including "Yeats, Casement, MacDonagh, and Pearse".[4] Katherine Tynan and Frances Wynne were some of her female literary guests.[6][8]

Varian's literary connections included familial relationships. Her older brother Ralph Varian was a ballad collector.[9] Her daughter Hester became a noted writer, and her daughter Dora became a noted poet and sculptor.[10] Poet Elizabeth Willoughby Varian was her sister-in-law,[11] and English critic Clement Shorter was her son-in-law.[10] Her grandson Donn Piatt (1905–1970) was an essayist.[12]

Sources

  1. ^ a b Cox, C.; Luddy, M. (24 November 2010). Cultures of Care in Irish Medical History, 1750-1970. Springer. ISBN 978-0-230-30462-8.
  2. ^ "Hester Varian". ricorso.net.
  3. ^ "Shorter [née Sigerson], Dora Mary (1866–1918), poet and journalist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51239. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ a b Farrell, Warren (2 May 2024). So Once Was I: Forgotten Tales from Glasnevin Cemetery. Merrion Press. ISBN 978-1-78537-513-2.
  5. ^ a b Janssen, Lindsay (4 February 2025). Periodical Famines: Irish Memories in Transatlantic News Media, 1845–1919. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-07192-7.
  6. ^ a b Barr, Rebecca; Buckley, Sarah-Anne; Kelly, Laura (18 September 2015). Engendering Ireland: New Reflections on Modern History and Literature. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 168, 174. ISBN 978-1-4438-8307-8.
  7. ^ Review. The Centre. 1992. ISBN 978-0-9519466-0-2.
  8. ^ Kirkland, Richard (12 August 2021). Irish London: A Cultural History 1850-1916. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-350-13319-8.
  9. ^ Varian, Ralph (1869). The harp of Erin; a book of ballad-poetry and of native song. Dublin: M'Glashan & Gill.
  10. ^ a b Deane, Seamus; Carpenter, Andrew; Bourke, Angela; Williams, Jonathan (1991). The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. NYU Press. p. 895. ISBN 978-0-8147-9906-2.
  11. ^ Reilly, Catherine (1 January 2000). Mid-Victorian Poetry, 1860-1879. A&C Black. p. 474. ISBN 978-0-7201-2318-0.
  12. ^ Glaisne, Ristéard Ó (12 October 1985). "In praise of Dublin of yesterday". Irish Independent. p. 9. Retrieved 24 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
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