Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/English, William
ENGLISH, WILLIAM (d. 1778), Irish poet, was a native of Newcastle, co. Limerick. After teaching schools at Castletownroche and Charleville, he finally entered the Augustinian order. He died at Cork 13 Jan. 1778, and was buried in St. John's churchyard. As a Gaelic poet of humble life English acquired considerable reputation. His best-known ballad, ‘Cashel of Munster,’ was translated by Sir Samuel Ferguson in ‘Lays of the Western Gael’ (1865), pp. 209–10.
[Alfred Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography, where John O'Daly's Poets and Poetry of Munster (Dublin, 1853) is cited.]