Lavens Mathewson Ewart (1845-98)

Lavens M. Ewart (1845-1898) was the second son of Sir William Ewart, bt, M.P. He was born in Belfast in 1845 and entered the family's linen business. Throughout his life he collected a fine library of Irish books and books dealing with the linen industry. He helped found the second series of the Ulster Journal of Archaeology . He was a generous benefactor of the Linen Hall Library in Belfast and worked closely with its librarian, John Anderson. Ewart's interest in local bibliography and early Belfast printing is reflected in his collection at the Linen Hall Library, where he was Governor of the Library. Ten years after his death his personal library was given on loan to the Linen Hall Library and in 1954 it became the property of the Linen Hall Library.