Thomas Walsh was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. , eldest of the seven children of Michael Kavanagh and Catherine (Farrell) Walsh. He seems to have inherited some of the traits of his maternal grandfather, John Farrell, who belonged to the gentry of County Longford, Ireland, and, after having been educated for the Catholic priesthood, married, emigrated to the United States in 1848, and achieved a considerable measure of success.
Thomas attended St. Francis Xavier College, New York, and then entered Georgetown University, Washington, D. C. , where he received the degree of Ph. B. in 1892, and that of Ph. D. in 1899. He also studied at the Columbia law school, New York (1892 - 95).
In 1904 he made the first of seven journeys to Europe and South America, through which he acquired a lasting interest in Spanish and Hispanic civilization. His connection with the literature, art, and scholarship of Spain resulted, as his correspondence shows, in his forming innumerable friendships. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Letters of Seville (1911), to the Hispanic Society of America (1916), and to the Academia Columbiana of Bogota (1920). In 1925 Spain conferred on him the Cross of Isabella the Catholic. Some of Walsh's early verse was printed at Georgetown in 1892. Later volumes of his poetry appeared under the titles: The Prison Ships and Other Poems (1909), The Pilgrim Kings (1915), Gardens Overseas and Other Poems (1918), Don Folquet and Other Poems (1920). Dramatic blank verse and satire in various forms were the media through which his best gifts found expression. Seldom genuinely lyrical, he was often able to weave together subtle thought with unmistakable emotional passion in a manner reminiscent of ancient Celtic art. His achievements as a translator and anthologist are represented in the following: Eleven Poems of Rubén Darío (1916), Hispanic Anthology (1920), and The Catholic Anthology (1927, 1932). In 1930 Selected Poems of Thomas Walsh, a memorial volume edited by John Bunker, appeared; besides a selection from the published volumes, it contains a few original poems and translations not otherwise issued. Among his manuscripts were: "The Life, Letters and Idylls of Fray Luis de Leon, " "The Life of Juana Inez, " "The Wives of the Prophets, " and "Modern Poets of Spain and South America. " Walsh wrote and read several occasional poems, the most notable probably being "Antietam, " read before the Society of the Army of the Potomac on the battlefield of Antietam, 1910. He served temporarily as a member of the editorial staff of the Catholic Encyclopedia, contributed to Charles Dudley Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature (1896 - 97), and from 1924 to 1928 was assistant editor of the Commonweal, New York. During 1919 he was placed in charge of relief work done by the National Catholic Welfare Conference in Lithuania, Poland, and the Ukraine. He took an active part in the general social life of Brooklyn, to which city he was devoted, and was an ardent supporter of Catholic cultural and philanthropic efforts. During the last years of his life, he was in chronic poor health, an affliction which did not dampen his spirits or curtail his literary output. The scholar, however, gradually supplanted the poet. He contributed literary criticism to the Saturday Review of Literature (New York), the Poetry Review (London), Books, the literary supplement of the New York Herald Tribune, the Catholic World (New York), and other periodicals. He died suddenly in Brooklyn and was buried in the same city.
His personal influence was remarkable. Until stricken by disease he was an exceptionally handsome man, whose black hair and mobile mouth set off expressive and winning eyes. A resonant voice, doubtless in part responsible for his success as a lecturer, likewise helped to make him "the perfect dinner guest. " He was an admirable raconteur, who relied upon wide experience and a mastery of paradoxical speech. During his early years he had given promise of becoming an excellent pianist, and though he never exercised a native talent for painting, he became a discriminating critic of that art. He had a wide circle of friends both at home and abroad, particularly among young artists and literary men, whom he befriended and encouraged.
He never married.
