John Millington Synge was born in Rathfarnham, Ireland on April 16, 1871. Like most wealthy families belonging to the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, the Synges owned large tracts of land, and the family fortune was maintained primarily by collecting rent from the tenant farmers who inhabited the Synge's estates in Counties Wicklow, Meath, and Dublin. The Synges were also fiercely devoted Protestants with a long litany of missionaries and clergy in the family, including five Anglican bishops. This combined heritage of landlordism and Protestantism made the Synges staunch supporters of the British Empire and fierce opponents of Irish independence on both the practical and philosophical levels.
This heritage makes it all the more remarkable that Synge went on to become one of the most influential
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Citation: Cusack, George. "J. M. Synge". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 November 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4304, accessed 22 November 2024.]
