The fireside for the Cricket,
The wheatstack for the Mouse,
When trembling night-winds whistle
And moan all round the house;
The frosty ways like iron,
The branches plumed with snow, --
Alas! in Winter, dead and dark,
Where can poor Robin go?
        (Robin Redbreast, 25-32)

1. Amy Margaret's Five Years Old
2. Half-waking
3. Robin Redbreast

Notes on Life and Works

William Allingham, born at Ballyshannon, published and edited verse from 1850 to his death in London on November 18, 1889. He worked for the customs service in London until his retirement in 1870, when he became sub-editor of Fraser's Magazine, then editor from 1874 to 1879. He married Helen Paterson, the water colourist. He was buried in St. Anne's Church cemetery, Ballyshannon, plot 201. His books of poetry include:

• Allingham, William. Poems (London: Chapman and Hall, 1850; del A446 A155 1850 Fisher Rare Book Library)
• --. Day and Night Songs (London: G. Routledge, 1855; 821 .A437 OISE/UT CLC)
• --. Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland (London: Macmillan, 1864; del A446 L38 1864 Fisher)
• --. Fifty Modern Poems (London: Bell and Daldy, 1865; del A446 A155 1865 Fisher)
• --. Songs, Poems, and Ballads (London, G. Bell, 1877; PR 4004 A5A6 1877)
• --. Evil May Day (London: D. Stott, 1883; del A446 E95 1883 Fisher)
• --. Blackberries (London: G. Philip, 1884; del A446 B43 1884 Fisher)
• --. Irish Songs and Poems (London: Reeves and Turner, 1887; del A446 I75 1887 Fisher)
• --. Rhymes for the young folk (London, Cassel 1887; del A446 R49 1887 Fisher)
• --. Flower pieces, and other poems (London, Reeves and Turner, 1888; del A446 F56 1888)

For his personal life, see A diary, edited by H. Allingham and D. Radford (London: Macmillan, 1907; PR 4004 A5Z52 1907 Robarts Library). Alan Warner has published a book of criticism, William Allingham (Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1975; PR 4004 .A5Z875 Robarts Library). For the standard biographical summary see Robert Welch, “Allingham, William (1824-1889)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (Oxford: OUP, 2004).

Biographical information

Given name: William
Family name: Allingham
Birth date: 19 March 1824
Death date: 18 November 1889
Nationality: Irish
Family relations
          father: William Allingham
          mother: Elizabeth Allingham
          wife: Helen Allingham (from 22 August 1874)
Education
          Boarding school
          Self-education
Literary period: Victorian
Occupations
          Banker: 1837 to 1846
          Customs officer: 1846 to 1870
Residences
          Ballyshannon, Ireland: 1824
          Lymington, England: 1863 to 1874
          Witley, England: 1879 to 1881
          London, England: 1881 to 1889
          Hampstead, England: 1888 to 1889
Buried at: Cremated at Woking; buried in St. Anne's Church, Ballyshannon, plot 201
First RPO edition: 1999