Poet, playwright, and pioneer of the Irish literary movement, John Todhunter was born in Dublin on December 30, 1839, and educated at medical school in Trinity College, from which he graduated M.B. in 1867 and M.D. in 1871. In Dublin he acted as Visiting Physician at the Cork Street Fever Hospital and, from 1870 to 1874, Professor of English Literature at Alexandria College.