Famous people from Clonmel
Frank Patterson
Frank was born on 5th October 1938 in Clonmel. His mother was May and his father Seamus, who was foreman of works at Kickham Barracks. Both parents were talented signers and members of St. Marys Choral Society. Frank made his first public appearance at the age of 4 at Powerstown Park, Clonmel when he sang "Killarney". He made his first public stage performance in the "Gondoliers" at the age of seven. Frank started formal singing in Dublin 1962 under Dr Hans Walderman Rosen. In 1966 Frank toured with Feis Eireann & Eily OGrady was pianist and musical director and in 1967 Frank and Eily were married. Frank has one son, Eanan. The Highlight of Franks career was when he sang for the papal visit of Pope John Paul 2nd and an audience of 1.3 million people in the Phoenix park in Dublin 1979. On St. Patricks Day 1982 Frank performed for President Ronald Reagan and he also performed at White House for President Clinton 1995. In 1984 Frank received the knighthood of St. Gregory, the highest honour the Vatican can confer on a layman. Frank was also a Knight of Malta and Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Salve Regina University in Newport Rhode Island in 1990 and an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts from Manhatten College in New York in 1996. Frank also sang for his holiness a second time in 1996 for the Popes visit to New York at St. Patricks Cathedral. In 1998 Frank and Eily, his wife were awarded the gold medal of the Eire Society of Boston. Frank was also awarded the 2000 Norman Vincent Peale award for Positive Thinking in the Arts presented by the Blanton-Peale institute. Frank played several times to packed audiences in Carnegie Hall.
On June 10 2000 Frank died after a short battle with cancer. His death came as a great shock to his fans particulary the people of Clonmel. A very large crowd gathered for his funeral Mass in Dublin and his burial in Clonmel. A group from Banna Chluain Meala played "Slievenamon" at the graveside.
On 16th June 2002 a bronze statue was unveiled in Franks home town of Clonmel and many American visitors joined the Clonmel people to celebrate and give thanks for his life.
Mick Delahunty.
After a glorious career that spanned almost 60 years and brought him fame on both sides of the Atlantic the music finally stopped on 29.2.92 when Irelands greatest ever dance bandleader Clonmels Mick Del collapsed and died shortly after his bands farewell appearance at the Greenwood Inn, Ardpatrick, Co. Limerick. On 5th May 2002 a plague was unveiled in his honour and the area around the Library and Swimming pool was renamed Mick Delahunty square. An interesting website to get addtional information is www.iangallagher.com/mickdelahuntypage.htm
Tommy OBrien
Tommy was a well known radio broadcaster of classical and operatic music. He had also been editor of the Nationalist. Tommys programme "Your Choice and Mine" was enjoyed by a large audience every Sunday night for many years.
Charles Bianconi "The Man who put Ireland on Wheels"
Carlo Bianconi was born in the village of Tregolo, in the Lombard Highlands, near Lake Como in Italy on September 24th 1786. As he showed no talent at school, his father apprenticed him to Andrea Faroni, an art dealer. In 1801, Faroni, with Bianconi and two other apprentice boys set out on foot over the Alps and across France for Ireland. They arrived in Dublin in the Autumn of 1802, where Faroni opened a little shop near Essex Street Bridge. The three boys were sent out to sell pictures on the streets. They knew only one word of English - "Buy Buy". They counted on their fingers the number of pence they wanted.
Soon after having picked up a little English, Bianconi was sent down the country. Every Monday morning, with a supply of pictures in his pack and fourpence for pocket money and strict instructions to be back in Dublin the following Saturday night, he set off on foot through Leinster and Munster selling his wares. "Maybe some day" he thought, "when I start working for myself, I will be able to afford a little horse and a trap of my own". With this happy thought, Charles Bianconi picked up his heavy load and walked on. On one occasion he was arrested in Passage East, Co. Waterford, for selling pictures of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was released the following day after being warned not to sell these pictures again. In 1804, his term of apprenticeship to Faroni having expired, Bianconi decided to set up his own print business. He travelled south, towards Thurles and followed the Suir Valley to Carrick where he opened a shop in 1806. The following year he transferred his business to Waterford and in 1809 he moved again, this time to Clonmel where he set up as "carver and gilder of the first class" at No 1 Gladstone Street.
Bianconi had long dwelt on the poor transport facilities in Ireland. Roads were almost non-existent, travel on the waterways was slow, and those who could not afford the stage coach fare simply had to walk. Bianconi decided to set himself to the problem of cheap public transport. The time was favourable; Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo enabled him to purchase horses bred for the army, at the price of from £10 to £20, while hay and oats were correspondingly cheap.
On July 6th 1815 the first Bianconi car ran from Clonmel to Cahir and back - a total of 22 miles. Travelling at 7 1/2
Miles per hour, it carried six passengers who were charged one penny farthing a mile. This service was so popular that soon Bianconi decided that his cars should run as far as Tipperary and Limerick. Before long, there were Bianconi cars or "Bians", as they were called, running to Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Kilkenny. Other places wanted Bianconi cars too.
Within the next thirty to forty years a network of communication, of which Clonmel was the centre, was spread over the whole of Ireland. Towns and villages which had never known public transport of any nature, were now linked together. Bianconi's workforce also grew rapidly. He was now hiring drivers, guards, agents and stable-hands besides entering into contracts with suppliers of oats and hay. Bianconi had his own factory where all his coaches were built. At first the coaches were two-wheelers but from 1833 onwards he built mostly "long cars". These had four wheels and some of them could carry up to sixteen to twenty passengers. Coach building and harness making became major industries in Clonmel
Bianconi was not interested in hotels or inns of his own but at Clonmel, Kilkenny, Waterford and other centres, he rented large premises, reserving to himself the outer years, stables and corn sheds and he sublet the main buildings which he converted into hotels and "eating houses" for his agents. The Clonmel premises consisted of two or three private houses thrown into one, Bianconi's agent in Clonmel was Dan Hearn. Hence the place became known as Hearn's Hotel. By 1845 Bianconi had cars running to all the principal towns in the West of Ireland.
In 1827 Charles Bianconi had married Eliza Hayes, daughter of a wealty Dublin stockbroker. They had three children, a son Charles who died in 1864 at the age of thirty-one and two daughters, one of whom Kate, died in 1854. The second, Mary Anne, married Morgan John O'Connell, nephew of the Liberator.
In 1832, Bianconi secured the lucrative mail carrying contract for the British and Irish post offices. In 1833 he bought a house called "Silver Spring", about a mile from Clonmel on the road to Waterford and Kilkenny. In 1834, the first railway line was opened between Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. Bianconi saw its advent as the beginning of the end of the coaching business. He bought shares in the different lines as they were built and he became a director of the new National Bank, founded by Daniel O'Connell.
Bianconi sold most of his coaches. Many were sold to those who had worked for him. Gradually more and more railway lines were being laid throughout the country. People found that the railways provided a better means of transport. Coaches were no longer as necessary as they had been in Biancon's early years except in those parts of the country which has no railways. Coaches were also used to bring people to and from the railway stations. Long after the great days of coaching had ended, people continued to call the coaches on Irish roads "Bians" in memory of the man who had helped to put the people of Ireland on wheels.
In 1843, he became a borough councillor for the East Ward of Clonmel and on December 1st, 1845, he was unanimously elected Mayor. The following year, he was re-elected Mayor for a second term of office. Towards the end of his second year as Mayor, Bianconi purchased the Longfield property, and estate of one thousand acres in the parish of Boherlahan, where he lived for 29 years. At Boherlahan Bianconi completed the construction of a Mortuary Chapel as a last resting place for himself and his family. Unaided by an architect he and his head carpenter managed to erect a solid, unorthodox little building in limestone and grey sandstone, with the help of some local artisans. In 1854 he bought a house on Stephen's Green, Dublin for the Catholic University, which was in the process of being founded by John Henry Newman. In 1863 he was made a Deputy Lieutenant for County Tipperary. He continued to take on active interest in politics and business until his death. He died a millionaire.
In 1875 Charles Bianconi, a naturalized Irish citizen of Italian birth and parentage, died peacefully in his sleep at "Longfield House", Boherlahan, Co. Tipperary. It is said that as he breathed his last, phantom coach and horses were heard coming up the drive to Longfield House. He is now interred in the family mortuary chapel in Boherlahan. He had the distinction of giving Ireland its first complete public transport system.
LAURENCE STERNE
Laurence Sterne, author of the celebrated novel Tristram Shandy, was born in Mary St. Clonmel on the 24th November, 1713. His father, an army officer was posted in the town. His mother was a native of the town (nee Tuttle or Tothall). The family lived at Suir Island.
Laurence Sterne spent some of his most formative years in Ireland. Thackeray, in his essay on Sterne, suggested a link between Tristram Shandy and Clonmel. He wrote that Uncle Toby's diatribe on military matters, were doubtless reminiscences of the boy (Sterne), who had lived with the followers of William and Marleborough, and played with the torn flags and halberds of Malplaquet on the parade ground at Clonmel.
In 1739 he met Elizabeth Lumley an orphan with a small independent fortune. They married in 1741.
Laurence Sterne died in 1768 at the age of 54 from a severe bout of flu.
The famous Novelist and humanist was born in Mary Street, Clonmel on November 24th 1713. Son of Roger Stern an Englishman on an ensign with an Infantry Regiment in Clonmel and Angnes Herbert a local lady of partly French decent, whose family lived on Suir Island in Clonmel. He was the Great Grandson of Richard Sterne, Arch Bishop of York
Laurence idolised his Father and it was from him he took his ideas for the famous "Tristram Shandy" character "Uncle Toby". Because the first ten years of his life was spent in Army barracks, he gained all the impressions of army life he needed for his book. He learned to read and write mostly from in Irish Barracks up until 1723 when the family moved to England
His Father died in 1731 leaving him penniless until he met with a wealthy cousin Richard Sterne who took an interest in him. Richard partly funded Laurences time in college in Cambridge at Jesus College where his great grandfather was once master. He took A.B and A.M. degrees as well as Holy Orders
He graduated in 1737 and was ordained and appointed Curate of the Anglican Church at St Ives then became Vicar of Sutton - in The Forest, a village near York
In 1739 he met Elizabeth Lumley an orphan with a small independent fortune. It was in a letter to her that the word Sentimental was used for the first time in the English language. They married in 1741.
Laurence Stern died in 1768 at the age of 54 from a severe bout of flu.
GEORGE BORROW
George Borrow's autobiographical novel, Lavengro, one of the classics of English literature, in chapters nine and ten gives prominence to Clonmel where he arrived with his father in 1815.
Borrow's first impression of Clonmel was panoramic in scope. "It was on the bank of a beautiful river, which separated it from the mountains. It was a rather ancient place". The family lodgings in the main street (O'Connell St. of today) had a long lofty dining room with three windows looking upon the high street of the good town of Clonmel! At Grammar School Irishtown, Borrow discovered his gift for foreign languages, and for this he gave credit to the Irish he learned in Clonmel. "Ah, that Irish, I am much indebted to it in more ways than one".
Borrow became a famous writer and linguist, even living with gypsies and learning their language and ways. Discussion on languages is a major theme of Lavengro, and Borrow's linguistic genius first budded in Clonmel.
George Borrow died alone on July 26th 1881.
George Burrows was born in East Durham on July 5th 1803. Son of Thomas Burrows a Captain in the North West Regiment, and Ann Parffrement a Norfolk of some beauty who had been an actress.
Burrows spent his first 13 years travelling mainly in Scotland and Ireland with the Regiment. It was in these years, he made his acquaintance with the Gypsies that were to become almost an obsession with him
In 1815 the Regiment left Cork and moved to Clonmel where the family took up residence in OConnell Street. George was sent to a local Grammer school in Irishtown to learn Greek. It was here that he met Murtagh a tall, wild lad, who spoke to George in Irish. When they first met George said "hello" in exchange Murtagh replied "seoirse dear"
From that moment George insisted on learning "Erse" (Irish) as he called it. Murtagh agreed to teach him in an exchange for a deck of cards. Murtagh was later to figure in Burrows books "Romany Rye" and "Lavergro"
In 1816 after a year in Ireland, the Burrows family moved to Norwich. It was there George attended The Royal Grammer School and began to pick up a superficial knowledge of many languages. In 1819 at the age of 17 he could understand 12 languages and translate no fewer than 35. At this stage George decided to make literature his profession and joined the London Firm of Richard Phillips and Associates. Here he assisted in the compilation of the Newgate Calendar. George found Phillips a harsh master and left after a short while.
In 1823 Georges health failed and he had a severe attack of nerves which he referred to as "The Fear" or "The Horrors". He wandered off on a pilgrimage through the hills and fields of rural England either alone or with gypsies. These adventures provided him with the material for his books "Lavergro" and "Romany Rye"
In 1833 George was introduced to Rev. Francis Cunningham and was made editor translator for the British and Foreign Bible Society. He had to travel to London for the interview; he is said to have walked the 112 miles in 27 hours. He visited many other counties on the Societies behalf and did some excellent work. Unfortunately as a man of Georges temperament could not be employed for long and in 1840 the liaison was severed.
The same year 1840, George married Mary Clarke a Widow of a Navel Officer. He settled down to a literary career and encouraged the gypsies to camp on his land, as he held a strong fascination for them.
On December the 10th 1842 George published the "Bible in Spain" a brilliantly picturesque, highly informative travel book and it was an overwhelming success. George became famous overnight and was idolised by London Society. Alas in the next few years before his second book his popularity waned, his rude manners, strong mood swings, and sharp tongue made him many enemies and few friends.
In 1859 Georges mother died and with her passing he moved to London. He published this second book "Wild Wales" in which he mentioned Clonmel
"The best salmon in the world is caught in the River Suir, a River that flows past the beautiful town of Clonmel in Ireland"
After this George wrote less and less. His wife died in 1869 and he spent the last years of his life in Oulten Broad rather hermit like. He died alone on July 26th 1881.
Physically George was a giant of a man 6ft 2 inches in his bare feet. A very temperamental man yet sensitive to criticism, he lived his life without one true friend and only had real affection for one person, his mother.
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
Anthony Trollope, author of the classic Barchester Towers novels, spent some years in Clonmel during the course of the last century. A civil servant, Trollope filled a position as Inspector at the Post Office in the main street (O'Connell St. of today). One of his children Frederick James Anthony was baptised at old St. Mary's Church.
Trollope had to augment his Post Office stipend by his writings. His first two novels were Irish in theme and content and in part may have been written in Clonmel. After his return to England in 1859, fame and fortune came his way with the publication of The Warden, the first in the famous series of Barchester novels. These were followed by the Palliser novels which, with their strong Irish interest in the person of Phineas Finn, show that Trollope had strong memories of Ireland, and his days in rare Clonmel.
"Anthony Trollope was born on 24 April, 1815 in London, the fourth of six surviving children. As he described in his Autobiography (1883) poverty and debt made his childhood acutely unhappy and disrupted his education: his school fees at Harrow and Winchester were frequently unpaid. His family attempted to restore their fortunes by going to America, leaving the young Anthony alone in England but it was not until his mother, Frances, began to write that there was any financial improvement. Her success came too late for her husband who died in exile in Belgium in 1835. Trollope was unable to afford a university education and in 1834 he became a junior clerk in the Post Office. He achieved little until he was appointed Surveyor's Clerk in Ireland in 1841. Here he worked hard, travelled widely, took up hunting and still found time for his literary career. He married Rose Heseltine, the daughter of a bank manager, in 1844; they had two sons, one of whom emigrated to Australia. Trollope frequently went abroad for the Post Office and did not make his home in England again until 1859. He is still remembered as the inventor of the letter-box. In 1867 he resigned from the Post Office and became the editor of St Paul's Magazine for the next three years. His attempt to enter Parliament as a Liberal was defeated in 1868. Trollope took his place among London literary society and counted Thackeray, George Elliot and G. H. Lewes among his friends. Anthony Trollope died on 6 December 1882 as the result of a stroke.
"Anthony Trollope wrote forty-seven novels and five volumes of short stories as well as travel books, biographies and collections of sketches. The Barsetshire series and the six Palliser or `political' books were the first novel-sequences to be written in English. His works offer an unsurpassed portrait of the professional and landed classes of victorian England. In his Autobiography (published posthumously in 1883) Trollope describes the self-discipline that enabled his prolific output: he would produce a given number of words per hour in the early morning, before work; he always wrote while travelling by rail or sea and as soon as he finished one novel, he began another. His efforts resulted in him becoming one of England's most successful and popular writers.
MAGUERITE, COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON
Marguerite Power, the Countess of Blessington: writer, literary hostess and lady of fashion; friend of Lord Byron, Charles Dickens and other distinguished writers, artists and statemen of the 19th century, was born near Clonmel on the 1st September, 1789. Suir Island, in Clonmel, soon became the family home.
Lady Blessington's literary salon at her London residence in Kensington, became the resort of the most distinguised men of wit and genius of the time. Lord Byron immortalized the Clonmel lady in a poem. She gave an invaluable assessment of his character and personality in her book, Conversations with Lord Byron.
Marguerite, Countess of Blessington died in Paris on June 4th, 1849. In her home town of Clonmel, on the River Suir, Lady Blessington's Bath commemorates her fame.
Marguerite Power, the beautiful daughter of a small landowner of Clonmel Ireland, led an interesting life. Her childhood was dismal, due to her father's violent temper and the family's poverty. He forced her to marry at 15, to Captain Maurice Saint Leger Farmer. After three months, Marguerite fled back to her parents house. The Captain was violent, perhaps insane. His military career ended when he quarreled with his commanding officer and drew a sword on him. Farmer was allowed to resign and friends shipped him to the East Indies. He returned to England around 1816. Many of his friends were in the King's Bench prison for debtors, and Farmer often visited them. During a drunken party, he fell from a window ledge and died of his injuries.
His widow had already left Ireland for London, where she was living in the fashionable Manchester Square. In 1818 she married Charles John Gardiner, earl of Blessington. They shared astonishingly extravagant tastes, and his estates were heavily in debt. Bored with England, they went abroad in 1822, spent a few months in Genoa with Byron (visiting Bryon was popular), and stayed on the Continent until Blessington's death in 1829.
After her husband's death in 1829 she supplemented her considerably reduced income by writing novels and contributing to various publications as author or editor. The Idler books were popular for their gossip, anecdote and sentiment.
CHARLES JOSEPH KICKHAM
Charles J. Kickham was born on May 9th 1828 at Cnoceenagow near Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary. He is best known for his novel "Knocknagow" or, The Homes of Tipperary" (1879). He died in Blackrock on August 22, 1882.
Charles Joseph Kickham was born on May 9th 1828 at Cnoceenagow near Mullinahone, County Tipperary, the son of a prosperous shopkeeper and farmer. Kickham was destined for medicine but an accident with gun powder at the age of thirteen injured his sight and hearing. As a young man he took part in the Young Irelanders Movement, and he became a Fenian in about 1860. In 1865, James Stephens, the Fenian Leader, appointed Kickham to the Supreme Executive of his Irish Republic, and Kickham became one of the editors of the Fenian newspaper "The Irish People". When the Fenian insurrection was suppressed, Kickham was arrested on November 11th 1865, and sentenced to fourteen years penal servitude.
He served four years of the sentence at Woking and ar Portland Proison before he was released, broken in health. In prison, however, he did manage to write his novel "Sally Kavanagh" . He died in Blackrock a suburb of Dublin on August 22nd 1882.
One or two of Kickhams poems such as "Rory of the Hill" have retained some popularity, but today he is remembered mainly for his long novel "Knocknagow" or the "The Homes of Tipperary" 1879, which has gone through many editions and is still in print.
Father Nicolas Sheehy
A well known agitator against Penal Law had been arrested and found not guilty of Treasonable behaviour in Dublin. He was re-arrested and charged with the murder of a simpleton named John Bridge and brought to Clonmel to face charges in the Main Guard. A man named Edward Meehan was also charged with the Crime. Both were convicted and hanged.
It was later said that one of the chief witnesses against them was a convicted horse thief named Tuohy who was released from Kilkenny Jail on the condition that he would give perjured evidence against Fr.Sheehy. Another witness Mary Brady or Moll Dunlea had borne a grudge against the Priest since being expelled from his Parish for prostitution.
It was also said that the supposed murder victim had been seen alive and well after the trial in St John's, Newfoundland
Fr. Sheehy is buried in Shanrahan, Clogheen
(about 1/4 of a mile outside Clogheen near the old Schoolhouse)