Lever, Charles James (1806-1872)

Irish novelist. Lever was born in Dublin and took a degree in medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. He wrote novels of Irish social, political, and army life, such as The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer (1839), Charles O'Malley: The Irish Dragoon (1841), Our Mess: Jack Hinton, the Guardsman (1843), and Tom Burke of Ours (1844). His later works, such as Lord Kilgobbin (1872), often have a gravity and seriousness of theme, an aspect of Lever's work that has tended to be neglected.

At the beginning of the 20th century he was regarded as a literary exploiter of Ireland, who poked fun at the Irish character to provoke comfortable English laughter, but in latter years his esteem has risen.

His first novel, Harry Lorrequer, appeared serially in the Dublin University Magazine and was immediately successful. In 1842 he gave up medicine to become editor of the magazine, gathering round him the Irish writers and wits of the time. He later moved to Europe, was British consul in Spezia, and died in Trieste.