Corry, John

by Linde Lunney

Corry, John (  fl. 1792–c.1825), writer, was born near Newry, Co. Down, perhaps in Ravensdale, Co. Louth. He is said to have been educated by a village schoolmaster. He may have been distantly (or illegitimately) related to the prominent Corry family of Newry, one of whom was Isaac Corry (qv). In 1792 John Corry visited London; in 1797 he published in Newry a volume of Odes and elegies, of interest for some local references and for the subscribers' list, which included supporters of the United Irishmen. Corry's Life of George Washington (Dublin, 1801) was very popular, appearing in many editions in Britain, Ireland, and America, with one edition in German. His works appeared in England after c.1801 and are sometimes anonymous. His many other publications include Memoirs of Arthur duke of Wellington (1815), a useful biography of Joseph Priestley, the first volume of a History of Bristol with biographical notices (1816), a History of Lancashire (2 vols, 1825), and at least twenty novels, some of which appeared as chapbooks or as novelettes; Corry is regarded as being of some importance in the development of gothic fiction. A satirical view of the city of London ran to four editions from 1801 to 1809; from November 1809 to March 1810 a Mr J. Corry was the chief contributor to the Dublin Satirist, a scurrilous periodical that ridiculed the folly and corruption of society. John Corry is said to have worked as a journalist in Dublin as a young man, but it seems unlikely that he returned to Dublin in 1809 to write for the Dublin Satirist. His name might have been adopted as a pen-name by a Dublin hack, since it would have been familiar from works such as Corry's detector of quackery, which appeared in at least three editions. A John Corry married Elizabeth Sweeting in Essex, near London, c.1807, but it is not known if this is the same man. Nothing is known of Corry after 1825.