To enthusiasts of Victorian era English literature and modern costume dramas, Captain Freney is particularly significant for his fictionalized appearances in the novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackery and its 1975 film adaptation by director Stanley Kubrick.
James Freney was a native of County Kilkenny, and was descended from a respectable Old English noble family who had been wealthy and powerful since the 13th century, having their seat at Ballyreddy Castle.
He received a good education locally, including tuition in the Robbins household—and in 1742 moved to Waterford where he opened a pub with his wife Anne.
Unable to pay the exorbitant fees charged by the town corporation, the couple closed up their pub and moved back to Thomastown.
It is not known where or how long he was abroad, if at all, but by 1776 he had settled at the port of New Ross, County Wexford and worked as a customs official, a post he held until his death on 20 December 1788.