Tomás Ó hÍcí

Who is Tomás Ó hÍcí?

Tomás Ó hÍcí, aka Tomás Ó Iceadha and Thomas Hickey, Irish scribe.

Ó hÍcí was born inBaile an Ghraeigh, Killenaule, in County Tipperary, the oldest child of Seán Ó hIcí and Máire Ní Bhraonáin. According to his own account "I led the life of a country peasant until I was forty two years of age, labouring hard at learning to read and write the language of my forefathers. I at last became so fond of it that I determined not to read anything but Irish, even at Mass; for I thought I could not pray fervently in English ..."

He moved to Waterford, where he was active in teaching and scribal work till his death. Some of his manuscripts are held at Mount Melleray.

In 1821, Father Síomón Breathnach wrote to James Hardiman

"If you should want another to help write out the Irish Minstrelsy, I don’t know any man more capable of succeeding James Scurry than Thomas Hickey whose name you heard me mention so often and whose name poor Scurry mentioned in his essay. He is by far the best Irish scholar I ever met, except poor Scurry — he read and wrote more Irish than Scurry, though Scurry knew the language radically and grammatically better ... N.B. Thomas Hickey was the collector and writer of the Leabhar Dubh."