John D'Alton (historian)
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John D'Alton (1792–1867) was an Irish lawyer, historian, biographer and genealogist.
D'Alton was born at his father's ancestral mansion, Bessville, County Westmeath, on 20 June 1792; his mother was Elizabeth Leyne. He was sent to the school of the Rev. Joseph Hutton, Summer Hill, Dublin, and passed the entrance examination of Trinity College Dublin, in his fourteenth year, 1806. He became a student in 1808, joined the College Historical Society, and gained the prize for poetry. Having graduated, he was in 1811 admitted a law student of the Middle Temple, London, and the King's Inns. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1813.[1]
D'Alton mainly confined himself to chamber practice, and attended the Connaught circuit, having married a lady of that province, Miss Phillips. He received many fees in the important Irish family causes of Malone v. O'Connor, Leamy v. Smith, Jago v. Hungerford, and others. With the exception of an appointment as commissioner of the Loan Fund Board, he held no official position, but a civil list pension of £50, granted while Lord John Russell was prime minister, was some recognition.[1]
In his last years, D'Alton's health confined him to his house, but he received guests and worked on an autobiography. He died 20 January 1867.[1]
