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Francis Joseph Bigger

Antiquarian 1863-1926
Frances Joseph Bigger

On 17 July 1863 Francis Joseph Bigger was born in Little Donegal Street, Belfast.  He was educated at Belfast Royal Academical Institution, of which his grandfather was a founder in 1810 and his father a governor.  He studied law at Queen's College Belfast and King's Inn, Dublin, qualifying as a solicitor in 1887.  In  1889 he set up a practice in Royal Avenue in partnership with George Strachan.

In 1884 he joined the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, founded in 1863. He soon became its secretary and later its president. In 1894 he revived the Ulster Journal of Archaeology after a lapse of 30 years, becoming its editor and remaining so until 1911. He acquired a lifelong interest in the Irish language, learning to speak it. He joined the Gaelic League and was appointed to its Executive Committee. He founded the Belfast College of Irish and supported it until its closure in 1923. In 1894 he was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy.



In 1898 Bigger was a driving force behind the Belfast Gaelic League pageant to mark the centenary of the 1798 rebellion. He also helped organise the Irish harp festival of 1903 and the Samuel Ferguson centenary in 1910. One of his greatest achievements was founding the Feis na nGleann in 1904.

