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Famous Irish Graves -They are dead but where are they buried.

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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,284 ✭✭✭Gerard.C


    This is a very interesting thread to read lads i must say


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 7,611 ✭✭✭david75


    Not Irish but we visited there and thought you might be interested. there's a real vibe at this grave. hard to explain.
    5576_146796723031_705213031_3413212_3108984_n.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Sans-serif,sans-serif]Tomb of St Columbanus in Bobbio, Italy. He died in 615 AD. He was one of the greatest Irish missionaries of the period. He founded schools and monasteries all across Europe. Pilgrims still go to the tomb. [/FONT]

    1ItalBob.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    CDfm wrote: »
    Thanks dionysis -any idea how they died and what they did when they got there.

    These guys were skilled soldiers.

    I often wonder whether like other nobles around Europe " they had issue" ;)


    The Great Hugh O'Neill is buried in the church of San Pietro, Montoria, Rome. He died in Rome in 1616 apparently from an illness which caused a fever. Here are images of the church and the tombstone.

    San%20Pietro%20facade%20400%20wide.jpg


    tombst4.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,559 ✭✭✭refusetolose


    hi all,first time posting in this section

    i have one to add..its rory gallagher

    he's buried in Saint Oliver's Cemetery, Model Farm Road, Cork

    gallagher_rory_004.jpg

    The design was modeled after an award that Rory achieved in 1972,
    International Guitarist of The Year.
    The award was about 10 in high and sat on a marble base...
    The edge of one of the rays was made to be an exact replica of a Stratocaster neck.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 7,980 ✭✭✭meglome


    Both Wilde and Beckett have been done but I'll post two pictures I took in Paris a few weeks ago of their graves.

    134849.jpg

    134850.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    LOL at the lipstick on the Wilde Monument.Becketts headstone is as stylish as the man himself and reflects him as Wilde's does him.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,571 ✭✭✭newmug


    I wonder about yerman who was found in the Bastille when the French revolutionaries stormed it? The mad Irishman?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    His name was james Whyte - Comte de Malleville and his story is here .

    Following his release he was given a place to stay by some for the night -robbed it - and was locked up again in an asylum Charenton.




    whytecharenton.jpg

    More here


    http://www.irishmeninparis.org/framesets/jamesfxwhyte.htm

    It would be interesting to know where he is buried.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    And there is more on the guy
    Friday, July 17. 2009

    Bastille connection, by James O'Fee

    Nicholas.serendipityThumb.jpg
    Nicholas Whyte

    Nicholas Whyte is an Ulster-born acquaintance with an amazing family connection with the Bastille. Once Nicholas asked to meet me in Belfast when I had been active in the postal Diplomacy hobby for some years and Nicholas was first becoming interested in the game of Diplomacy.

    We're now back in touch through a social networking site and, through it, I have learned of the amazing Whyte family connection with the Bastille, the royal prison stormed by the Paris sans-culottes on 14th July 1798, an event commemorated by the French today as their most important national festival.

    The claim to fame of Chevalier James F.X. Whyte (Dublin, 1730-Charenton, 179…), also known as Comte Whyte de Malleville, rests on his presence in the Bastille on the day the prison was stormed on July 14, 1789.

    In fact, he was one of only seven (or six, it depends on who you read) prisoners that the Revolutionaries “liberated” from the Bastille that day, and one of two certified lunatics. Whyte’s perilous mental state did not stop his liberators from parading him through the streets and proclaiming him a hero of the revolution. According to Richard Hayes’ Biographical Dictionary of Irishmen in France, “an eyewitness of the day’s events describes him as ‘a little feeble old man who exhibited an appearance of childishness and fatuity, tottering as he walked and his countenance exhibiting little more than the smile of an idiot.’” Another witness described Whyte as having “a beard almost a yard long”, and as “wearing the smile of an idiot”.

    Hero.serendipityThumb.jpg
    Hero of the Revolution

    When released, he is said to have declared himself “majeur de l’immensité”. A sympathetic citizen gave Whyte shelter for the night, but the Irishman pillaged the house of his benefactor. The following day, the hero of the Revolution was locked up again – this time in the lunatic asylum in Charenton, where he was to spend the rest of his days. Ironically, before the Revolution, Whyte’s family had tried to avoid having him placed in Charenton because of the harshness of the regime there. So much for ‘liberté, fraternité’ etc…But at least in Charenton, he would have hooked up with his acquaintance, the Marquis Sade, who had been shipped to Charenton from the Bastille on July 4, 1789.

    Whyte had followed a military career in France after leaving Ireland and rose to the grade of captain in Lally’s regiment of the Irish Brigade. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1781 and was confined in a hospital in Vincennes and then to the Bastille three years later (along with the Marquis de Sade) when the institution in Vincennes was closed. In March 1789, he was deprived of his civil rights and his property was transferred to his daughters.


    See Irishmen in Paris.

    Nicholas adds -

    I suspect that he [Chevalier James F.X. Whyte:Ed] was a grandson of Charles Whyte who was Jacobite MP for Naas and governor of Kildare in the 1689-92 war. Though there were other continental family connections - James II's ambassador in the Hague was Sir Ignatius Whyte, another cousin (and yet the Dutch invaded).

    http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/index.php?/archives/3884-Bastille-connection,-by-James-OFee.html


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 593 ✭✭✭V480


    There is a sign just outside Arklow for the grave of Liam Mellows. I followed the direction the sign indicated but then reached another crossroad with no sign, so inevitably drove around in circles for ages until I gave up. Anybody know where it is??


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    A memorial to Brian Boru in Armagh's St Patricks Cathedral the place of his burial.

    53026555_127524959514.jpg
    ancient Irish cross still, it is said, marks the spot."
    Corcoran, one of the marshals of Brian, was the first to fly to the tent of the monarch with the intelligence of the death of his son Murrough. He found Brian kneeling before a crucifix; and the heroic old warrior, on hearing the sad news, though that the battle had been one by the Danes, and instantly said: "Do you, and the other chiefs fly to Armagh, and communicate my will to the successor of St. Patrick. But as for me, I came here to conquer or die, and the enemy shall not boast that I fell by inglorious wounds." At this instant, Brodar, The Dane, with a small party, rushing in their despair towards a small wood near which Brian's tent was erected, resolved, in the madness of his desperate rage, to be avenged for the defeat of his countrymen by killing the king of Ireland. The aged but heroic Brian, seeing them rush into the tent, seized his great two-handed sword, and with one blow, cut off the legs of the first Dane that entered. Brodar, entering next, struck Brian on the back of his head with his axe; but in spite of the stunning wound, Brian, with all the might strength for which he was renowned, by a fortunate stroke, cut off the head of Broder, and killed the third Dane that attacked him; and then calmly resigned himself to death. Thus, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, in the midst of conquest, fell one of the bravest, wisest, and noblest of all the kings of Ireland, whose reign exhibits the most splendid display of glory in all the annals of his country. His long life is a jewel that his country will wear forever, irradiating his glory upon the humblest of her sons........The Danes were pursued to their ships, Dublin was captured........Which to discover the fleeing enemy..........says.
    The remains of Brian were conveyed to Armagh by the whole army. With Brian, some accounts say, went also the bodies of Murrough, Conaing, and Moltha; and that their obsequies were celebrated for twelve days by the clergy of Armagh, after which the body of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin on the north side of the high altar in the great cathedral, the body of Murrough, it is said, being interred on the south side of the church. The remains of Turlough, and several other chieftains, were buried in the old churchyard of Kilmainham, known afterwards as "Bully's Acre," where the shaft of an

    http://preachan.tripod.com/myths/brianboru1.html

    URL="http://www.triskelle.eu/attractions/armagh.php#top"]top of page[/URL
    Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral

    img_coicathedralarmagh.jpg Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral
    (authors collection)

    Saint Patrick's Damhliag Mor, meaning Great Stone Church, has been burnt and plundered several times by the Vikings and lighting. The roofless church was neglected in the eleventh century, until Archbishop Celsus roofed it with shingles in 1125.
    The Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, also known as the Anglican Cathedral, was built in the thirteenth century on the same site as the Damhliag Mor. There is nothing left of the original church, beside perhaps the bases of the tower piers. Bad luck haunted the site when the new Cathedral was partially burnt by accident in the fourteenth century.
    Further damage was done in the sixteenth century during the Reformation and the following Plantation of Ulster. The Reformation not only caused structural damage, but also the theft of three important relics of the Cathedral.
    Probably the most important relic was the crosier of Saint Patrick. According to the legends a this crosier was given to Saint Patrick by a hermit to whom it was delivered by Jesus, hence the name Bachal Isa, or Staff of Jesus. This crosier was taken to Dublin, stripped from its gems and ornaments and, with other relics, publicly burnt in 1538 in the High Street.
    The two other relics which were stolen from the Cathedral, the Black Bell of Saint Patrick and Liber Ardmachanus, or The Book of Armagh, survived the madness and are now in the National Museum of Ireland and in the Trinity College Library respectively.
    Archbishop Richard Robinson, who is also responsible for the Armagh Public Library and the Armagh Observatory, rebuilt the Cathedral in 1765 and gave it its present shape.
    In the churchyard north from the Cathedral you can find the burial site of Brian Boru, who died in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Actually Brian Boru was too old to participate in the battle and he was killed in his tent by a fleeing Viking. A granite commemorating slab in the west wall of the northern transept can be confusing because it only mention the real name of Brian Boru: Brian Boroimhe.
    Inside the Cathedral in the north aisle are the remains of a eleventh century High Cross with scenes of the old and new testament. This High Cross stood once on the Market Street, but was destroyed in 1813. After laying on the churchyard for over a century it was more or less reconstructed and placed inside the Cathedral.
    The Cathedral also holds several army standards and flags among which a French tricolour. This flag was captured in 1798 by the Armagh Light Infantry from the invading French army led by General Humbert. It is the only foreign flag ever captured on British Isles.
    http://www.triskelle.eu/attractions/armagh.php

    ttp://www.discoverireland.com/us/ireland-things-to-see-and-do/listings/product/?fid=NITB_3095


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    meglome wrote: »
    Both Wilde and Beckett have been done but I'll post two pictures I took in Paris a few weeks ago of their graves.

    134849.jpg

    I must say I find it sad that Wilde's grave has been allowed to be debased in this way. I visited the grave in the 90s and then around 2001 and it was not at all written on. I know that his grandson - Merlin Holland - usually takes care of his family graves so I am surprised that he has not seen to this.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    MarchDub wrote: »
    I must say I find it sad that Wilde's grave has been allowed to be debased in this way. I visited the grave in the 90s and then around 2001 and it was not at all written on. I know that his grandson - Merlin Holland - usually takes care of his family graves so I am surprised that he has not seen to this.

    Pere LeChaise is a huge graveyard, Jim Morrison (of the Doors) is also buries there. and his grave gets the same treatment.

    I think the authorities clean it up once a year.

    Oscar is a bit of an icon.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    CDfm wrote: »
    Pere LeChaise is a huge graveyard, Jim Morrison (of the Doors) is also buries there. and his grave gets the same treatment.

    I think the authorities clean it up once a year.

    Oscar is a bit of an icon.

    Wilde actually feared that he would become this sort of icon and that his work and art would be sidelined. He wrote as much in De Profundis - his long epistolary missive to Douglas written in prison - so when I see this I feel that his own worst nightmare has become true. He became depressed that he had brought it all on himself - that the legacy of his 'genius' would be thrown away and in its place he would become just known for the calamity of his end life. His feeling were that if this happened he never would in fact 'get out of gaol'.

    But Wilde was a genius - he wrote not only the best comedies in the English language but his essays on art, aestheticism and critical analysis are beyond compare. The last thing he ever wanted was that the tragedy of the trials would become the only thing that he would be remembered and celebrated for.

    The people who have scribbled and defaced his grave probably haven't even read his work. That is a real tragedy.

    I do hope as you say that someone cleans it all up soon.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    That prompted me to look it up MarchDub and it seems to have fallen to his grandson.

    Here is an article on it from a few years back.
    October 30, 2005
    Oscar’s lipstick pilgrims make his grandson see red

    The anniversary of his death next month is expected to attract larger than usual crowds of admirers to the grave — some armed with spray cans and lipsticks. “I don’t know what we can do,” said Holland.

    “I have paid for a plaque to be put up asking visitors not to deface the tomb. It doesn’t seem to have had much effect though.”

    The site is designated as a historic monument, but the French authorities offer no help in keeping it clean.

    Half a dozen visitors were inspecting the white monument one afternoon last week.

    “It is quite shocking,” said Thierry Miotte, a 40-year-old technician, as he gestured at the graffiti. “People have no respect.”

    An Italian had written in blue ink: “Thank you for your words.” Notes of appreciation to Wilde had been deposited on a ledge. Flowers were scattered at the foot of the grave.

    Something lewd was scrawled in red letters over the groin area of the male angel carved into the tomb: legend has it that soon after Wilde was buried, a former headkeeper in the cemetery, in deference to local feeling, castrated the sculpture and used the testicles as a paperweight.

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article584436.ece


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    CDfm wrote: »
    That prompted me to look it up MarchDub and it seems to have fallen to his grandson.

    Here is an article on it from a few years back.

    Thanks for the link - yes, I knew that Merlin Holland was careful about his relatives graves. But it seems that nothing can be done and the French cemetery authorities are allowing this vandalism go on. It's really outrageous.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    MarchDub wrote: »
    Thanks for the link - yes, I knew that Merlin Holland was careful about his relatives graves. But it seems that nothing can be done and the French cemetery authorities are allowing this vandalism go on. It's really outrageous.

    +1


  • Registered Users Posts: 401 ✭✭Geezer1000


    Very interesting thread. Heres my contribution:

    John Boyle O'Reilly (28 June 1844–10 August 1890) was an Irish-born poet and novelist. As a youth in Ireland he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, for which crime he was transported to Western Australia. After escaping to the United States, he became a prominent spokesperson for Irish sentiment and culture, through his editorship of the Boston newspaper The Pilot, his prolific writing, and his lecture tours.

    Buried near Newgrange. Cool spot to visit too;

    IMG_1473.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    A gorgeous monument Geezer and desrves inclusion.

    There was a guy from Kerry -an archivist Valpariso ?? who collected lots of Irish Manuscripts in the USA in the 1920's ? and a Dublinman who became a major poet in Japan.

    I wonder who they were and where they ended up.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    Some people think that it is not Yeats who is buried in Drumcliffe.

    Grave historical doubts

    Is the wrong man lying in WB Yeats's burial place? Louise Foxcroft investigates a mysterious tale involving her great-uncle, who died on the same day as the Irish poet, and a vanishing tomb.


      My great-uncle Alfred Hollis was in his early 40s when he died; he was a bachelor and had never worked. According to my aunt, he was always dressed beautifully, quite beyond his means. In the only photograph I have of him, he is sporting a rakishly angled wide-brimmed hat with a feather in its band, a high, stiff collar, a waistcoat and a long jacket. He is leaning his hip elegantly against his stick and holds a cigarette in his left hand. Parkland stretches behind him. He has written on the picture: "The one and only... I took this 15 years ago." In the winter of 1938-39, Alfred visited the south of France with his sister Amelia and her husband Albert Emery, my maternal grandparents. Amelia wrote in her diary in January 1939 that they were "nicely settled in a charming hotel on the promenade of Cap Martin... the beautiful blue sea under my window and oranges and lemons growing along the streets". She described the distractions of the resort, in particular the casinos, and her "great difficulty" in stopping "my husband in trying to break the bank". Alfred may also have enjoyed the nightlife, but his main aim must have been to improve his health, or perhaps just to die in a pleasant place. He had spent much of his adult life in Ware Park sanatorium in Hertfordshire. Nine of his siblings had died of TB, in infancy or childhood. Now he seemed likely to follow; he was already so weak that, to his great chagrin, he had to wear a leather and steel surgical corset. I have been told different stories about his death on January 28, 1939. My mother maintained that he died in a sanatorium near Menton. My aunt, on the other hand, remembers being told that, coming down for dinner, my grandmother found her brother sitting in an armchair in the hotel lounge with a martini in his hand, a small drop of blood on his closed lips the only indication of death. Amelia and Albert stayed on to arrange the funeral and burial in the hilltop cemetery of Roquebrune, above Menton. They chose a grave plot, the lease on which, according to the usual practice in France, had to be renewed after 10 years. WB Yeats died in Cap Martin on the same day. His family chose the same sort of plot; the two men were buried alongside each other and their graves marked by plain white marble slabs bearing just their names and dates. Family photographs show both graves strewn with wreaths and flowers and Alfred's headstone has an ornate wire frame fixed behind it, covered with more flowers. Amelia and Albert were the only mourners at Alfred's funeral on January 30 1939. According to the Paris correspondent of the Times, those at Yeats's graveside included "Mrs Yeats, Mr Dermod O'Brien, the President of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, and Lady Gerald Wellesley, the poetess". In February 1947, my grandparents again made the trip to the south of France, accompanied this time by their teenage daughters. My mother recalled her intense excitement, and the ivory-framed sunglasses and frocks bought for the trip. In one of her daily letters to my father, she described their visit to the cemetery at Roquebrune. All the graves in the part of the cemetery where Alfred was buried had disappeared. Although they went to the local officials and the priest, they couldn't find any trace of his grave and no one knew or would say what had happened to his remains. The explanation given to my distraught grandmother was that there had been fighting around Roquebrune and that, in the confusion, all burial records had been lost. The family was determined to discover what had happened to Alfred's body. "I must say if ever my husband said he would do a thing," my grandmother wrote in her diary, "he would do it and I have never known him to let me down." In the Times of January 6 1948, my grandfather read that Yeats's "last wish", expressed to his wife, was that his remains be returned to Ireland for reburial in Drumcliffe churchyard, County Sligo, where he had "spent his early days and where his father lived and his great-grandfather was once rector". Arrangements for the exhumation were being made, according to the Sligo corporation and its mayor, AJ Dolan. How was this possible? The Yeats family must have known that the graves had been destroyed during the war. Or did they know something my grandfather didn't? Alternatively, were the authorities trying to cover up the fact that the graves had been destroyed? Albert wrote to Yeats's son, Michael. His letter has not survived but the reply has. It is a kind letter, and Yeats agrees with Albert that "the position with regard to the cemetery at Roquebrune would appear to be more than a little confused". He had not been to Roquebrune himself, but says that he was told that the disturbed remains were removed to an unmarked corner of the cemetery. "In the case of my father certainly, and probably also in the case of your brother-in-law, the concession given was a 10-year one, and should not therefore have expired until early next year. But it would seem that during the war, changes occurred in the administration of Roquebrune cemetery, and conditions were for a time much disturbed - you will remember that fighting took place in and around Roquebrune... they have clearly made a mistake as regards the time for which certain of the concessions were granted. As far as the remains of my father are concerned, they have been traced and are now lying in a vault ready to be taken home as soon as transport can be arranged. But you will understand that the circumstances in this case were exceptional." Albert was unhappy with the response. He hadn't seen any unmarked graves in the cemetery. And, more disturbing, he had read in the press that the body waiting to go to Ireland was said by a French doctor to have been encased in a steel and leather surgical corset. The arrangements for Yeats's reburial continued. On August 20, the Times reported that in two days' time the corvette Macha would leave Cork for Dublin, and that Sean MacBride, the minister for external affairs, would join the ship on its journey to Villefranche, where the casket said to contain the poet's remains would be collected. The Macha would then return to Sligo Bay, where a state funeral was being arranged. The Times correspondent at Marseille reported that the casket had been collected on September 6 in the presence of Sean Murphy, the Irish government's representative in Paris, M Haag, prefect of the Alpes Maritimes, and a detachment of French troops. The next report says that the remains were interred on September 17 in Drumcliffe churchyard, after first lying in state at Sligo town hall. Picture Post added that the Yeats family had wanted a quiet ceremony but the government had insisted on a state funeral with full honours. The Times didn't mention that there was some doubt about who was buried in Drumcliffe, but my grandfather's questions were echoed in the Picture Post of October 9 1948. John Ormond Thomas, a staff journalist, had made inquiries at Roquebrune and "despite close questioning and examination of all the people who should have been able to produce conclusive proof", he was "still not convinced" of the identity of the body in the casket. Local officials at first denied that Yeats had ever been buried there, and later told him that they had discovered that the death had been entered in the register under the name "William Butler". They wouldn't let him see the register and didn't seem to understand how important Yeats was. Thomas was also shown two different plots where Yeats was supposed to have been buried, one by the sexton, who had not been present at the exhumation, and another by the undertaker. The first plot seemed to have been reused, although it was now empty; the date on the headstone was 1946. It didn't look like the grave shown in the photographs published in the Irish Times during the war. Thomas went to look at the casket, which stood in the chapel "before a small altar that was covered with jampots that had once held flowers" with a madonna and "mildewing cherubs" looking down from the damp walls. It was all very odd: the casket looked too new to have been in the earth for nine years, but the plaque on its lid was very tarnished. My grandfather wrote to Picture Post and received a reply from the assistant editor, EC Castle: "What you say," he wrote, "seems to justify the doubts which our staff journalist and photographer had when they started to ask questions about the grave at Roquebrune." On October 25, he heard from John Thomas, who said that the editor wanted to thank Albert for his letter and a subsequent visit he had made to their London office, but they had decided that "it would be best for us not to pursue the matter further in Picture Post, if only out of respect for the Yeats family's feelings". He enclosed an office memo: Dr William Patrick Griffin, who is a Harley Street physician, says that he has definite proof that when the body of the Irish poet WB Yeats was brought home from abroad in 1948 and buried with great ceremony in Sligo, the coffin contained not WB Yeats but a man whom of all people the Irish thoroughly disliked. He knows the name but was unwilling to divulge it at this stage. He would like to discuss the matter, and terms, with someone. He understands that we pay generously for exclusives. I told him we would ring him. This note is typed on unheaded paper, although an address, 530 Fulham Pal. Rd SW8, is scrawled on the bottom. Nothing more is known about Griffin's claims - my great-uncle appears to have had no connection with Ireland - but they make clear that others were aware of the doubt as to the identity of the body in Drumcliffe. My grandfather was also told by Picture Post that his activities were threatening relations between Ireland and France. Others agreed. Hugh McNally of the Daily Express wrote to Albert, saying that he had "gone into the whole affair" and had also decided not to "publicise what had happened". The warnings must have had a great effect on my grandfather: he didn't investigate the matter any further. Some of the confusion can perhaps be explained by a visit Yeats's last lover, Edith Shackleton, made to Roquebrune accompanied by the painter Gluck in the summer of 1947. This is what Gluck's biographer, Diana Souhami, reports: the two women, having searched in vain for Yeats's grave, questioned the local priest, Abbé Biancheri, and Pierre Reynault, director of Maison Roblot, a firm of undertakers at Menton; they also visited Roquebrune town hall. They were told that Yeats had been buried in a "fosse commune", a pauper's grave, and that the site had long since been dug up and the bones placed in the communal ossuary. None of this tallies with either Michael Yeats's or my grandparents' account, and is belied by the photographs Albert took at the funeral. Biancheri did, however, speak to César Lottier, the official responsible for exhumations and the maintenance of graves. He then wrote to Shackleton and Gluck saying that Lottier had only a vague memory of the exhumation, but that he thought a "surgical truss circled with thin strips of steel" had encased the body believed to be Yeats's. The women hurriedly consulted the artist Edmund Dulac, a close friend of Yeats's, who wrote to Biancheri on June 27 1947 imploring him not to let the matter go any further. The priest was asked to reveal nothing, no matter who came to question him, and to make sure that no one else said anything either. He was even asked to check the identity of any member of the Yeats family who visited the cemetery and, should anyone else ask questions, to say that his duties did not permit him to reveal the whereabouts of any grave. The abbé agreed. When, three months later, Shackleton and Dulac read in the Times details of the arrangements for the poet's exhumation and reburial in Ireland, they wrote to his widow, George Yeats, told her what they had found out and tried to persuade her to abandon the plan. They didn't feel they could rely on the abbé's discretion and were worried that another body might be substituted for Yeats's to avoid a scandal. George Yeats contacted the French ambassador in Ireland and seems to have been content with his assurances that there would be no difficulty in returning her husband's remains. On March 31 1948, Abbé Biancheri again wrote to Dulac saying that, though he himself had been unable to attend the exhumation on March 17, Reynault, Lottier, a police inspector from Paris, the mayor of Roquebrune and a nameless "medical expert" had all been present. A body now lay in a casket in the chapel of rest and, despite the doubts, would be taken to Drumcliffe churchyard. More than 20 years later, in the early 1970s, John Ormond Thomas, now working for the BBC in Cardiff, arrived at my mother's house wanting to speak to my grandmother. He was trying to trace the mysterious and avaricious Harley Street physician. He must have failed for nothing more was said until Souhami's book was published. In October 1988, the Independent and the Irish Times carried a letter from Michael and Anne Yeats disputing Souhami's suggestion that their father had been buried in a pauper's grave. Their mother, they said, was an "extremely able and efficient woman, speaking excellent French" and would never have made such a mistake "on a matter of such crucial importance". "In preparation for the ultimate transfer to Ireland, the remains were exhumed in March 1948 and placed in a chapel of rest. Careful measurements were made of the remains... and the task of certification was made easier by the fact that due to a long-term hernia problem, our father wore a truss. The exhumation took place in full conformity with the rigorous French laws on these matters, and in the presence of the mayor of Roquebrune, senior police officials, a medical expert, the superintendent of graves and other persons of official and expert standing." They were, they said, "satisfied beyond doubt" that there had been no confusion. My mother's reply was printed a few days later. "Amongst my family," she wrote, "it is the belief that the body which lies in Drumcliffe cemetery is that of my mother's brother, Alfred George Hollis. My family, including myself, went to Roquebrune in 1947 and found that the bodies of my uncle and of WB Yeats had been exhumed, and on a search of the cemetery neither grave was found. Investigations by journalists discovered that identification of the body sent to Ireland rested on it being encased in a steel corset such as my uncle wore, and was buried in, as his frame was bent double by disease. My father exchanged letters with Michael Yeats explaining this, but the matter was dropped because of distress caused to both families."

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/sep/09/poetry.wbyeats


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    Wolfe Tone is buried in Bodenstown Co Kildare but where are his wife and son buried.
    Martha Witherington Tone (1769 - 1849)
    Martha%20Tone21.jpgMartha Witherington was born in Dublin in June of 1769. She was one of three children born to William Witherington and his wife, Catherine Fanning The family owned a drapery business in Grafton Street close to Stephens Green on the south side of the city. Little else is known of her early childhood or education other than she lived with her paternal grandfather .
    At age sixteen she was introduced to Theobald Wolfe Tone by her brother; a fellow student of Tone’s at Trinity College. In July of 1785, after only a few months of courtship, they eloped and were married at St. Anne’s in Dawson St. at short distance from her home. Her parents strongly disapproved of her marriage to Tone and, as a consequence, she remained estranged from her family, by some accounts, for the rest of her life. Over the years she came to adopt Tone’s family as hers.
    Their marriage produced three children, two boys and one girl. Of her three children only William lived beyond their teens.
    Having missed out on the opportunity to advance her education due to her early marriage and resultant family estrangement, Martha was eager to further her learning and found a willing teacher in Tone who was well versed in politics, law and literature. The education and knowledge she gained from her teacher husband was invaluable in coping with the tragedies and travails that beset her throughout her life.
    From the onset of their marriage she fully supported Tone in his involvement in the United Irishman’ and in his efforts to achieve Irish freedom and sovereignty. She remained faithful to him during their short life together and, after his untimely death, to his memory and the cause that for which he gave his life. In spite of all the hardship brought on by his political beliefs and militaristic actions she remained a devoted wife and an able mother to their children. Of her Tone wrote in his diary;
    "My wife especially, whose courage and whose zeal for my honour and interests were not in the least abated by all her past sufferings, supplicated me to let no consideration of her or our children, stand for a moment in the way of my engagement to our friends, and my duty to my country, adding that she would answer for our family, during my absence, and that the same Providence, which had so often as it were miraculously preserved us, would, she was confident, not desert us now."
    Having started out as a reform oriented organization the ‘United Irishman’ realizing that England had no interest in political reform became more militant and by 1794 was planning the overthrow of British rule in Ireland. Their plans were betrayed by an informer, resulting in Tone's exile, an exile from which he was barred from ever returning to Ireland. Martha and their children suffered the same fate and were with Tone when he set sail for America in 1795. They arrived in in Philadelphia in May of 1795 and took up residence in Bodenstown, New Jersey just outside Philadelphia.
    His exile did not end Tone involvement in the United Irishman. Before leaving Ireland Tone was delegated the task of acting the part of ambassador for the United Irishmen. Using America as a stepping-stone Tone left for France in 1796 to petition the French government to send an expeditionary force to Ireland in support of a uprising planned for 1796. Through his ability and power of persuasion he succeeded in his mission. Subsequently, he was commissioned a general in the French Army's strike force, assembled by the French Directory for the liberation of Ireland. The fist attempt having failed due to unfavorable weather conditions, a second attempt was made in 1798. The French fleet was defeated off Lough Swilley by a superior British fleet. Tone was captured, court-marshaled and sentenced to death. Tone knew that he was doomed as Cornwallis, the same British general who surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, was determined to have his life. In November of 1798 while his sentence was being appealed he died in prison under mysterious circumstances.
    Martha remained in France after Tone’s death. In a gesture of friendship for Tone’s service to France, Napoleon arranged for Martha and her children to be provided for. Tragedy continued to dog Martha with the loss of two of her children who died in their teenage years. Her only surviving child, William, was educated at the prestigious Lycee Imperial a French military academy. On completing his studies in 1810, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the 8th Chasseurs in the Grand Army. Shortly after Napoleon's defeat at the battle of Waterloo he surrendered with the rest of the defeated French army.
    In 1816 Martha married Thomas Wilson, a friend and confidant of Tone, in Paris. Soon after her marriage she, once again, set sail for the United States with her husband and son, William. They took up residence in Washington D.C, where Martha lived for the next 33 years until her death in 1849.
    Shortly after arriving in America William was commissioned an officer in the United States army. He served at the War Department where he wrote treatises on cavalry and artillery tactics. In 1826, both he and Martha published a biography of Wolfe Tone to ensure that his memory and the ideals he lived and died for lived on.
    In the end, Matilda Tone outlived both her husband, Thomas, who died in 1824, and son, William, who died in 1828. She passed away on March 18, 1849. She now lies in a Brooklyn grave at Green-Wood Cemetery, flanked by her son, William, and his wife the daughter of famed attorney William Sampson. Her beloved, Wolfe Tone, is buried in Bodenstown, County Kildare, in a grave described by Patrick Pearse as the holiest spot in Ireland.
    Martha Tone, for her courage and devotion to her husband and the cause he gave his life for, lives forever in our memories with other brave and daring women of 1798 including Mary Doyle, Suzy Toole, Madge Dixon, Jane Barber, Elizabeth Richards, Mary Ann McCracken, Teresa Malone, Molly Weston, Margaret Bond, Anne Flood, Betsy Grey and many unnamed others.
    cemetery AND grave location
    Name: Green-Wood Cemetery PHONE NO. (718) 768-7300
    ADDRESS: 500 – 25th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215-1755
    HEADSTONE INSCRIPTION
    Martha%20Tone.jpgMatilda%20Tone1.jpg

    http://www.irishfreedom.net/Fenian%20graves/Martha%20Tone/Martha%20Tone.htm


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,511 ✭✭✭dave2pvd


    Fr. Thomas O'Reilly

    Church of the Immaculate Conception, Atlanta, Georgia.

    Father Thomas O'Reilly, a native of County Cavan, Ireland, was appointed as Pastor at The Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Atlanta in 1861. During the Civil War, Atlanta was a strategic transportation and supply depot for the Confederacy. In 1864, the Union Army, led by General Sherman, had Atlanta under siege for several months with intense artillery bombardment of the city. Eventually the city was occupied by the Union Army. During the siege of Atlanta, Father O'Reilly ministered to soldiers of the Union and Confederate armies. He became a hero to both sides while hearing confessions, answering letters, saying mass and performing last rites.

    In the autumn of 1864, General Sherman ordered the entire city to be burned, including all churches and residences. Father O'Reilly was outraged by this order and obtained a meeting with a member of Sherman's staff. He argued that the order to burn homes and churches was beyond the normal confines of warfare. Father O'Reilly pleaded for a compromise that would spare Atlanta's five churches. This request was rejected by Sherman.

    Father O'Reilly sent word to Sherman that the burning of churches was a sin against God, not an act of war. Father O'Reilly also warned Sherman that "If you burn the Catholic church, all Catholics in the Union army will mutiny" and if not, the Catholics among them would be excommunicated. Father O'Reilly reminded Sherman that his force had a high proportion of Irish Catholics and he was deep in enemy territory.

    In addition to the Catholic church, Father O'Reilly also asked that the other churches be spared, as well as City Hall and the Court House. General Sherman considered having Father O'Reilly executed, but feared the threatened mutiny among his Irish Catholic troops. Sherman changed his orders, thus sparing the five churches, City Hall and the Court House. The five churches were Immaculate Conception, Central Presbyterian, St. Phillip's Episcopal, Second Baptist (now Second Ponce de Leon Baptist) and Trinity Methodist.

    As a result of Father O'Reilly's heroic action, and the bravery of the "Hibernian Rifles", an Irish unit, the City of Atlanta deeded the Hibernian Benevolent Society a burial plot in Oakland Cemetery in 1873. The five churches and the City also erected a monument to Father O'Reilly which is on the grounds of City Hall. The courage and tenacity of Father O'Reilly is a lasting example of the ecumenical spirit in Atlanta.

    From The Hibernian Benevolent society of Atlanta.

    17497202_116904275599.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    I have come accross this wonderful page to Percy French - he wrote the Mountains of Mourne, Come Back Paddy Reilly , Phil the Fluters Ball etc.

    Catch the youtube below on an extrordinary talent
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Songwriter, Entertainer, Poet and Painter[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
    William Percy French (1854-1920) was born at Cloonyquin, County Roscommon, Ireland. He was the second son of landowner Christopher French, L.D., J.P. and his wife Susan Emma (nee Percy).The Frenches were descended from one of the famous merchant tribes of Galway but in the face of changing social and economic conditions their fortunes were somewhat on the decline.
    [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]comic1.jpg[/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
    comic2.jpg
    [/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Known to his family and friends as 'Willie', he entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1872 to study civil engineering. Here, instead of focusing on academic matters, he began to develop his remarkable talents for songwriting, dramatics, banjo playing and watercolour painting. For a college concert in 1877 he wrote a song 'Abdulla Bulbul Ameer' which was so successful that he published it. Not having registered copyright the song was pirated and became an even greater 'hit' - but without financial benefit to the author.[/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]drains.jpg[/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
    After an unusually long number of years French emerged from university with an engineering qualification. He was, however, about to emigrate to Canada in 1883 when he obtained a post on a government drainage scheme in County Cavan. Here, the self-styled 'Inspector Of Drains' also found scope to develop his interest in music and drama whilst a series of spectacular sunsets, caused by the effects of a far distant volcanic eruption, fuelled his enthusiasm for warercolour painting. His time in Cavan, which ended abruptly in 1888, also provided inspiration for two of his greatest songs - 'Phil the Fluter's Ball' and 'Slattery's Mounted Fut'.
    [/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]collison.jpg[/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
    Subsequently, in Dublin, French was for two years editor of a comic weekly magazine called 'The Jarvey'. He availed of this medium to promote a series of concerts throughout Ireland under the banner of 'The Jarvey Concert Company' and to advertise his ever increasing output of comic songs. Following the demise of 'The Jarvey', French, never far from the footlights, provided the libretto and played the leading role in two comic operas (music by his friend and collaborator, Dr.W.H.Collisson). At this time French suffered his greatest tragedy when, in 1891, his young wife, Ettie died in childbirth just one year and one day after their idyllic marriage. Their baby daughter also died some days later. These sadnesses were, it is believed, the background for those poignant poems 'Gortnamona', 'Only Goodnight' and 'Not Lost But Gone Before'.
    At this time French turned to the stage for a fulltime career. Encouraged by a friend and erstwhile partner, Richard C. Orpen, and now professionally known as 'W. Percy French' he wrote, produced and played the major part in a topical revue called 'Dublin Up To Date'. Consisting of sketches, caricatures, stories and songs, this show was to form the basis of a stage entertainment that would be his future fame and livelyhood. In 1900 following ever greater acclaim in Ireland and now known professionally as 'Percy French' he went to the richer pastures of London.
    [/FONT]
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Having played successfully in the theatres and music halls of the populous cities of Britain the career of Percy French as an entertainer reached its zenith when he and Dr. Collisson toured Canada, U.S.A. and the West Indies in 1910 and received enthusiastic notices in the major cities of the east coast. French also toured the ski resorts of Switzerland from time to time and although based in London from 1900, he returned to play the holiday resorts and towns of Ireland each year without fail. While performing in Glasgow in 1920 he was taken ill and died some days later in Formby, Lancashire.
    percy-grave.jpg
    Grave of William Percy French at St. Luke's Church, Formby, Lancashire.

    Percy French in 1894 had married his second wife Helen (Lennie) Sheldon of Burmington House, Warwickshire, England. Subsequently three daughters were born to them - Ettie, Mollie and Joan. Joan, the last surviving daughter died in 1996. Percy French loved the company of children and the following are pictograph letters which he sent to his children from Dublin.
    [/FONT]
    note1.jpg
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sunday. Dear Ettie, I got many pennies in Dublin. I am sailing in a ship to Glasgow, a town in Scotland. I saw your letter to Granny. I liked the cats very much. Your Loving Daddy.

    [/FONT]
    note2.jpg
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dear Honeybee, how are Daisey and Bunny? I hope Vic is well. Mummy and I saw the pantomime. Can you read the Pink Night Owl: I cross the sea to-day. Kisses to Ettie and Mlle Blanc.[/FONT]

    Here is a programme made about him




    Folkies would know Don McCleans Mountains of Mourne revival







    http://www.percyfrench.org/Percy%20French/percyfrench.htm


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,724 ✭✭✭The Scientician


    Miriam Daly's a locally buried person who played a minor role in recent Republicanism in Ireland. A Dublin born member of the INLA and a one time leader of its political wing the IRSP, she was killed by Loyalist terrorists in 1980. She's buried in St. Colmcille's Cemetery in Swords, Co. Dublin.
    Photo of her grave.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    CDfm - you keep on digging them up don't you. While Percy French is best remembered for his "Are you right there Michael" song and court case vs The West Clare Railway, he was also an accomplished watercolourist. Only recently the Oriel Gallery in Dublin held a major exhibition of his work, which although becoming increasingly sought after, is still in the price range of the ordinary buyer.

    percy-french.jpg?w=570&h=788
    "The Grand Canal" in 1896 by W P French

    For my money his best song by far was "The Mary Anne McHugh" - a story of mutiny and mayhem on canal barge on the Royal Canal. They are all available FREE on Grooveshark.com - how sad am I? I still have an LP of my Grandfather's which captures the spirit well I think. My Grandfather worked for the Congested Districts Board in the Claremorris/Castlebar area in the late 1890's and probably could well relate to many of the characters portrayed in the songs. :D

    percyfrench001mg.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 734 ✭✭✭doughef


    Walt Disneys Grandfather is buried in a really old over grown graveyard in Carlow,

    Its hard to get into but you can still see the Disney name on the head stone

    http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/Burials_03.htm


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,831 ✭✭✭s8n


    Doug - You are a mine of information. I look forward to your posts !!!

    Tell me - Are you from Carlow ?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    Question Who is the former Christian Brother who invented something lomg & hard and full of seamen

    Answer John P Holland and his submarine



    johnp.gif

    He is buried in New Jersey and is the father of submarines

    The Liscannor Man who invented the Sub
    HollandMarker1.GIF

    [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]John P Holland's headstone, Totowa, New Jersey.
    [/FONT]




    John P. Holland was born on February 24, 1841, in the coastguard’s residence in Liscannor, Co. Clare. Holland attended St. Macreehy’s National School and probably spent some time in the Christian Brothers School in Ennistymon. His father died in the 1840s and the family moved to Limerick in 1853. Holland joined the Christian Brothers in Limerick and taught in Limerick and many other centres in the country. Due to ill health, he left the Christian Brothers in 1873. While in the Brothers he kept up his interest in scientific experiments. It was appropriate that the young man who had been born in Liscannor should have an obsession with sea travel. He was also interested in flying and while in Cork with the Christian Brothers he drew up designs of an aeroplane. A man of many talents, he was also musically gifted.
    He was fortunate that while in Cork he had an excellent science teacher in Brother Dominic Burke, a Limerickman. Brother Burke encouraged him in his designs for a submarine and as early as 1859 he completed his first drafts for a submarine design, a design he never radically changed.
    Holland was convinced that naval warfare of the future would be run by the country that used submarines to steal close to the iron-clad battleships and attack at close range. In 1870, Jules Verne published a novel “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” and an excited Holland persisted in turning a dream into reality.
    By the time Holland left the Brothers, his mother and his two brothers had emigrated to Boston. He joined them in 1873 and worked for a time with an engineering firm. However, he took up teaching again for a further six years in St. John’s Catholic School in Paterson, New Jersey. When he submitted his design for a submarine to the U.S. Navy, the Navy Secretary rejected it as “a fantastic scheme of a civilian landsman”. Holland’s brother, Michael, had been introduced to the Fenian Movement who had organised a “skirmishing fund” administered by John Devoy. The physical force nationalism of the Fenians and the determined inventor combined in a project to build a submarine to use against the British Navy.
    The idea was to construct a submarine to hold three men. It would be carried aboard a harmless-looking merchant ship which would come close to a British war-ship. The sub would then slip out a door underneath the water, attack the warship and then return to base. The fund allowed six thousand dollars as an initial payment towards development. Holland saw it as a great opportunity to realise his life’s ambition.
    His first submarine the Holland No. 1 (see image below), was planned in St. John’s School and it was built in Todd & Raftery’s shop, Paterson, NJ. It saw the light of day in 1877. It was 14 feet long and was powered by a primitive 4 h.p. engine and carried one man. It was brought down to the Passaic River and launched before a big audience. But someone had forgotten to insert the two screw plugs and the sub began to sink underneath the water.
    The following day, however, Holland made several successful dives. The Fenians were impressed and voted more money to develop a boat “suitable for war”. Holland removed the useful parts from No. 1 and scuttled her, figuring that it was cheaper to start afresh rather than take her out of the water and put her in storage. Fifty years later, the little sub was salvaged from the Passaic river and, together with Holland’s papers, is now preserved in the Paterson town museum.
    With extra funds from the Fenians, Holland was able to give up his teaching job and concentrate on his experiment. Holland was cautious about giving information to newspapers. He seemed to think that every reporter was a British spy in disguise. A reporter from the New York Sun, unable to get information of Holland’s new sub and its Fenian connection, labelled the invention The Fenian Ram.
    The Fenian Ram, built at Delamater Iron Works, New York, was launched in May 1881. It was 31 feet long, driven by a 15 h.p. engine, could travel at 9 m.p.h. over water and 7 under water, displaced 19 tons and was armed with an underwater canon fired by compressed air. Although the Fenian Ram had marked an important stage in submarine development, the Fenians were no longer prepared to back Holland who severed all connections with the organisation after that. Indeed, twenty years later he was not slow in selling his designs to the British Navy who launched their own Holland designed sub in October 1901.
    After many frustrating efforts with the American Naval authorities Holland won an open competition for a submarine design and in 1896 the John Holland Torpedo Boat Company was set up with Charles A. Morris as Chief Engineer. From the start there were problems due to undue interference from professionals in the Navy Department who regarded Holland as a gifted amateur. They insisted on some radical changes which Holland said could not work. He was proved right in the end as the sub was far too cumbersome, “over-engineered” was Holland’s comment. It was abandoned as useless in 1900.
    Holland’s No. 6 was his most successful craft so far. It was 53 feet long and driven by a 45 h.p. gas engine for surface travel and a 45 h.p. gas engine for underwater travel. It carried a crew of fifteen, and had a torpedo tube in the bow. It took its first dive on St. Patrick’s day, 1898, in New York Harbour and was acclaimed a success.
    Despite inspections and favourable publicity and indeed the recommendation of the then Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, the Government did not buy the submarine. Holland made some alterations and after a final test in March 1900 the U.S. Government bought the Holland No. 6 on April 12, 1900 for $150,000 - a bargain price, as it had cost twice as much to produce. It was commissioned on October 12, 1900, the first submarine of the American Navy.
    As well as selling his designs to the British Navy, Holland built two submarines for Japan which were used against Russian in the war of 1904-5. He received the Rising Sun from the Emperor of Japan for his contribution to the Japanese Naval victory.
    John Philip Holland from Liscannor died on August 12, 1914. He is buried in Totowa, New Jersey, less than one mile from where he launched his first submarine. In 1976 his grave was marked with a large headstone. In 1964 a plaque was erected in Liscannor commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his death. Castle Street in Liscannor has been renamed Holland Street in his honour.
    Taken from The Phoenix, Clare Champion, Friday August 9, 1996
    HollandI.jpg
    [SIZE=-1]The 'Holland 1' Submarine[/SIZE]


    http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/holland.htm


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    James Hoban - Architect - He designed the White House and was a Catholic Freemason.



    46679306_128579591217.jpg
    http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=hoban&GSfn=james&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=27419646&

    Birth: 1758
    Callan
    County Kilkenny, IrelandDeath: Dec. 8, 1831
    Washington
    District of Columbia
    District Of Columbia, USAtrans.gif
    Born the son of a tenant farmer in County Kilkenny, James Hoban ultimately immigrated to the United States at Philadelphia in 1785.

    Selected by George Washington to design and build the US President's House, which ultimately became known as the White House.

    Also granted the honor of building the US Capitol Building, based upon the design of Dr. William Thornton.

    Present with George Washington at the laying of the cornerstone of the US Capitol Building on 18 September, 1793. The cornerstone was laid in a Masonic Ceremony, Washington and Hoban both being Freemasons.

    Founding member of the First Federal Lodge of the Freemasons, Washington, DC.
    Burial:
    Mount Olivet Cemetery
    Washington
    District of Columbia
    District Of Columbia, USA


    In 1802, Congress granted the citizenry of the District of Columbia limited local government and Hoban served on the twelve-member city council for the next two decades, except for the years during which he was rebuilding the White House.

    Founder of Grand Lodge Number One of the Masonic Order, captain of a local militia company, a city councilman, and successful real estate developer, Hoban also initiated a private fund to employ schoolteachers, raise a volunteer fire brigade, and assist Irish construction workers in need.

    In 1799, James Hoban married Susana Sewall, daughter of Clement Sewall, a Revolutionary War veteran and landholder of St. Mary's County, Maryland. With Susana he raised a family of ten children. Clement died in infancy, and his teenage daughters Helen and Catherine and wife Susana all died within the year of 1822-23. Edward and Francis became officers in the United States Navy, Henry a Jesuit priest, and James Jr. a noted orator and a respected attorney.

    James Hoban died in 1831, leaving a substantial estate of both city and farm property and assets worth more than $60,000 (approximately $1.4 million in 2006). Hoban signed a petition for the emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia and stipulated in his will that his urban slaves were to be sold in the District of Columbia to prevent their relocation to plantations.


    The House That Hoban Built
    This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Irish architect who designed the original White House. Tom Deignan takes a look at his extraordinary life.

    In 1785, a newspaper in Philadelphia carried this advertisement:

    “Any gentleman who wishes to build in an elegant style, may hear of a person properly calculated for that purpose who can execute the Joining and Carpenter’s business in the modern taste. James Hoban.”

    Hoban was an Irishman, born in Kilkenny. George Washington never did see Hoban’s ad. But he did choose the Irishman in 1792 when it came time to build the White House.

    250 Years

    This year marks the 250th anniversary of James Hoban’s birth. To honor the man who built what is arguably the most famous building in the world, the White House Visitors Center recently unveiled a new exhibit entitled “James Hoban: Architect of the White House.”

    The exhibit runs through November 2, 2008 and reminds the public about Hoban’s many accomplishments.

    This was no easy task. Many of Hoban’s personal belongings – including his personal papers – were destroyed in a fire 50 years after Hoban died in 1831. The White House Historical Association had to use creative methods to assemble his life story, and explain how Hoban came to design the White House and earn the title of “First Federal Architect.”

    As a recent reviewer of the Hoban exhibit noted, “The show conveys enough facts and images to form an intriguing portrait of this designer, builder and developer, who wasn’t the most creative talent of his day but nevertheless devised a lasting symbol of the presidency.”

    All in all, it is easy to see Hoban as the ultimate Irish immigrant success story in young America.

    So, who was James Hoban? How did he come to design the most important building for a young America? And what famous building in Dublin is the White House based upon?

    Kilkenny Native

    Hoban was born near Callan, Kilkenny in 1758, to a tenant farming family. A locally prominent family, the Cuffes, offered tutoring services on their estate in skills such as carpentry. Hoban took advantage of these services, and later attended the Dublin Society’s Drawing School, where his work caught the eye of Thomas Ivory, the school’s principal. Ivory also had a private design practice. It is believed that Hoban, working with Ivory, worked on the construction of notable Irish buildings such as Dublin’s City Hall and the Custom House. Though Hoban was making a name for himself in Ireland, he decided to relocate to America in 1785.

    Hoban first went to Philadelphia, where he took out newspaper ads offering his services, but he ended up settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Though a seemingly odd choice, moving to Charleston proved to be a fateful decision for Hoban.

    Hoban teamed up with fellow Irish designer Pierce Purcell and went on to design some private residences and worked on two of Charleston’s most prominent public buildings – a 1200-seat theater and the refurbishing of the old colonial state house as a courthouse. Still in use, a portrait of Hoban hangs there to this day. While most of Hoban’s and Purcell’s architectural accomplishments in Charleston have been lost, it was while he was working in Charleston that Hoban was introduced to General George Washington.

    This certainly gave Hoban an advantage in 1792, when he entered the competition to design the new home for America’s president.

    A House for the President

    It’s important to remember that while Hoban was building a name for himself in the U.S., the young nation was in turmoil. True, the Revolutionary War against England was over by the early 1780s. Still, America experienced serious growing pains. It is often forgotten that under the Articles of Confederation describing “America’s first system of government” there was no provision for a president of the United States. That’s because, in the wake of the war against the British crown, it was feared that a single presidential leader would inevitably become a tyrant.

    It was not until the U.S. Constitution was adopted in the late 1780s that the U.S. presidency was created. One reason people were willing to accept a president was because they knew George Washington would fill the role. The question now was: Where would President Washington – and all future presidents – reside?

    Inspiration from Dublin

    Interestingly, the American fear of a royal president is evident even in Hoban’s design of the White House. It is believed that Hoban’s design appealed to American government officials because it was simple and conservative, rather than ornate, which would have led many to view the White House as some sort of palace. When it came to inspiration, meanwhile, Hoban looked to his native country.

    Hoban based his White House design on Leinster House, the stone residence in Dublin constructed around 1750 for the Duke of Leinster (now used as the seat of Dáil éireann). Hoban is said to have admired the structure designed by Richard Cassels, while he was attending the Dublin Society Drawing School.

    Hoban played a key role in not only the design but also the actual construction of the White House, which took about eight years. Hoban was widely respected for his efficiency and problem-solving skills. So, when construction of the U.S Capitol got underway, Hoban was called in to oversee that project as well. He was also involved in the construction of the U.S. Treasury building as well as offices for the State Department, War Department and U.S. Navy.

    Prominent Catholic

    While he was rubbing shoulders with Washington, D.C.’s most powerful people, Hoban was also establishing himself as one of America’s first prominent Irish Catholic citizens. This at a time when anti-Catholicism was a very strong force in the U.S. It was not even legal in most states to practice Catholicism before the Revolution. Hoban, however, was a lifelong parishioner at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and established various aid funds, including one for Irish immigrant laborers.

    Along with George Washington’s close aide Stephen Moylan (born in Cork) and Commodore John Barry (from Wexford), Hoban completed a trailblazing triumvirate of Irish Catholic power brokers in the nation’s capital.

    Still, for all his other accomplishments, it was the White House with which Hoban was most closely associated. And so, when America and Britain took up arms again during the War of 1812, Hoban was called upon again when his most famous work was burned to the ground.

    White House Burned

    In August of 1814, British troops first marched upon the U.S. capital. Since it did not appear that they would be able to take control of the city, British officials told soldiers to simply destroy as much property as possible. Soon enough, British soldiers entered the White House, which President James Madison and his cabinet had already evacuated. With them they took as many records and valuables as possible. Most famously, Gilbert Stuart’s painting of George Washington – the man who made Hoban famous – was shuttled off to a safe place. British soldiers are said to have eaten all the food in the White House before setting it ablaze. Only the strong sandstone walls were left standing. For another decade, Hoban oversaw the rebuilding of the White House, and numerous adjacent government buildings.

    The White House today, of course, does not resemble even the one Hoban helped reconstruct following the fire of 1814. The famous East and West Wings were added decades later. Still, Hoban’s influence and legacy are clear.

    When they say the Irish built America, there’s no need to think only of anonymous, poorly paid laborers toiling on the Erie Canal and frontier railroads. The President, visiting dignitaries, and thousands of tourists marvel at an Irishman’s work each and every day.

    http://www.irishabroad.com/irishworld/irishamericamag/junejuly08/features/white-house-hoban-junejuly08.asp

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