Leslie Matson

Leslie Matson was born in Cork in 1930 and studied Modern Literature in Trinity College, Dublin, from which he holds the degrees of M.Litt. and MA. He taught French at Newtown School in 1952 and again from 1959 to 1977 under Liam Glynn and Maurice Wigham and was senior master from 1973 to 1977. He was headmaster of Sligo Grammar School for five years. In 1954, when he first visited it, he developed an interest in the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht, particularly Dunquin and the Blasket Islands. He has...See more

Leslie Matson was born in Cork in 1930 and studied Modern Literature in Trinity College, Dublin, from which he holds the degrees of M.Litt. and MA. He taught French at Newtown School in 1952 and again from 1959 to 1977 under Liam Glynn and Maurice Wigham and was senior master from 1973 to 1977. He was headmaster of Sligo Grammar School for five years. In 1954, when he first visited it, he developed an interest in the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht, particularly Dunquin and the Blasket Islands. He has done extensive research on the Blasket people, which resulted in a biographical study of the 125 inhabitants of those islands most frequently referred to in the literature. In 1996 he published Méiní, the Blasket Nurse (Mercier Press), the biography of an unforgettable old friend who had been midwife on the Blaskets for thirty-six years. See less