Hugh O’Hagan

Hugh O’Hagan has been known as a harper from the Oriel region for a long time, but there has been very little information about him. I have done some digging over the past few months and this post draws together what I know now.

I first came across Hugh O’Hagan back in 2006, when Ann Heymann gave me a photocopied page with a photograph of a harp and a caption:

Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society Vol. 1, No. 4, Oct, 1907

However, way back then I did not know how to understand this information and so I filed it away.

Padraigín Ní Uallacháin mentioned Hugh O’Hagan in her book A Hidden Ulster (2003), in a brief footnote on p357, and again on her Oriel Arts website. These mentions made me look again for the references in the Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society; as well as the page that Ann had sent me, I found a list of the “Collection of Antiquities Belonging to Mr. Henry Morris”, published the previous month, in Vol. 1, No. 3, Sep, 1906, p93-94:

26. Harp, standing 4ft. 9ins. high, with 38 metallic strings, ornamented body, bears maker’s name “Francis Hewson.” This harp belonged to the last native harper of Louth–O’Hagan.
He was blind and died about 40 years ago.

The Dundalk musician Jim Johnston gave me a tip-off in 2019 that a harp connected to O’Hagan was in storage at the County Museum in Dundalk. But again I did not really follow up on this information at the time.

Now that I am actively chasing 19th century Irish harpers, Hugh O’Hagan came to mind and so I have been digging, and I have found a load of fascinating new information about him.

Birth and death

I do not have a birth record or any information about Hugh O’Hagan’s early years, but I did find his death record online. The death record shows that he died on 15th May 1886, in Park Street, Dundalk. His name is give as Hugh O’Hagan; male, bachelor, aged 64 years. His occupation is listed as “Harper”. The informant who reported the death, was his brother Patrick who was present when Hugh died.

If we believe the age at death (often not reliable at this time), Hugh O’Hagan would have been born around 1821-22.

Information provided by Dundalk Museum says “Hugh O’Hagan of Rampart Lane, blind harper born 1822” but I don’t know the source of this information.

You can see both Park Street and Rampart Lane next to each other on the map.

Education

If Hugh O’Hagan was born in the early 1820s, then he could have gone to Belfast to study the harp at the Irish Harp Society school, under Valentine Rennie (d. 1837) or his successor Jackson who was master until the school was wound up in about 1840. O’Hagan would have been about 18 when the Belfast school came to an end.

The first reference to O’Hagan I have found so far is at a concert given by the Drogheda Irish Harp Society on 19th February 1844. The master of the school, Hugh Frazer, performed along with “six of his pupils” (Drogheda Conservative Journal, 17th Feb 1844). Hugh O’Hagan is listed along with five other names, and so he must have been a student of Fraser at that time.

Performing career

I have found a few newspaper reports of Hugh O’Hagan performing at various public events, starting with the Drogheda concert mentioned above. A review of the concert in the Galway Vindicator and Connaught Advertiser, Sat 9 March 1844, lists three tunes played (presumably as a duet) by Hugh O’Hagan and J. Branagan: the traditional harp air “The song of sorrow” (better known now as Uilleacán Dubh O), the set dance tune “The Sprig of Shillelah”, and the Tom Moore song air “The meeting of the Waters”. These three titles all appear in my top 20 Irish harp tunes of the 19th century (though I notice I missed the O’Hagan and Branagan attribution for two of them!). I don’t have much information about Branagan; apart from him being at the Drogheda school in 1843-4, the only reference to him I have so far is in 1849 when he played at the Harvest Home at Rokeby Hall (Drogheda Argus and Leinster Journal, 3 Nov 1849).

By 1853, Hugh O’Hagan was associated with Dundalk, and we find this wonderful review of a boat trip from Dundalk to Dublin in 1853:

Pleasure excursion.
On Wednesday morning, as previously advertised, the ‘Pride of Erin’, Captain Williams, commander, left our Quays on a pleasure excursion to Dublin. The weather was beautiful, and about 400 persons of all classes of this town and neighbourhood availed themselves of the opportunity, thus liberally given by the directors, to visit the Great Exhibition. The sea was as smooth as a lake, and the splendid vessel made the run to Kingstown in four hours, the company having been amused during the time by the performances of sundry musicians and amongst others Mr O’Hagan, the celebrated performer on the ancient Irish harp. The visitors having made the most of their time time in Dublin returned on board on Thursday evening, and were landed at Dundalk Quay at 12 o’clock night.

Dundalk Democrat and People’s Journal, Sat 25th June 1853

Seventeen years later, Hugh O’Hagan was working in Dublin, performing for four-and-a-half hours every evening at a hotel. The Ship Tavern on Lower Abbey Street was notable for employing harpers through much of the 19th century, including Welsh harpers and classical pedal harpists as well as traditional Irish harpers playing wire-strung Irish harps. The Ship Tavern’s resident Irish harper, Joseph Craven, died on 14 Sep 1869, and six months later the hotel’s proprietor John Cunningham ran a series of newspaper advertisements:

Ship Hotel and Tavern,
5 Lower Abbey Street
and 14, Sackville Place, Dublin,
John Cunningham, Proprietor
J.C. wishes to inform his Friends and the Public that he has secured the services of Mr. O’Hagan, the celebrated Irish Harper and Vocalist, who will perform in the Coffee room every Evening, from Half past Seven o’Clock to Twelve, it being the only house in Dublin where an Irish harper performs.

The Irishman, Sat 19th Feb, Sat 5th March, Sat 26th March & Sat 2nd April 1870

By early 1872, the classical pedal-harp player Owen Lloyd seems to have replaced Hugh O’Hagan at the Ship, but O’Hagan was still in Dublin. On (I think) Sunday 8th September 1872, O’Hagan was engaged to perform at a temperance meeting in Dublin:

Dublin Temperance Union
To the Editor of the Flag of Ireland
Dear Sir–it is seldom that an Irish harper can be found at any of our public meetings in Dublin, and strangers may think that the sounds of “The Harp That Once” had faded out of the memory of Irishmen. But anyone present on last Sunday night in the Mechanic’s institute, where the Dublin Temperance Union holds its weekly meetings, can no longer doubt the fidelity of the people of Dublin to the traditions of their country.
In that hall there could be no less than 600 persons, and on the platform were some of the most able of our temperance advocates. Amongst them were the following gentlemen: Mr. P. McGrade (in the chair); Mr T. Mooney, of the London Home Rule Association, and Mr. Boyles, of London also; Mr. Church, of Belfast; Messrs. Foxwell, Fair, Kavanagh, Walsh and Neill; though last, not least, Mr. O’Hagan, the blind Irish harper, who played and sung some of his best and most patriotic songs.
A few well-delivered and telling speeches were then given on the subject of temperance, and was warmly received, after which the harp was again tuned to the soul-stirring strains of “The Chiefs of Old”.
The audience could no longer restrain itself, and gave vent to its feelings in wild bursts of cheers, again and again renewed, which compelled the chairman to announce to the excited audience that the committee had made arrangements which would secure the attendance of the harper upon every Sunday evening in the future. At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Mooney, of the Home Rule Association, took out his card of membership, an example which was followed by over two dozen others. The meeting separated cheering lustily for the Irish harper – Yours, &c., J.J. Casey

Flag of Ireland, 14 Sep 1872, p5

Hugh O’Hagan must have returned to Dundalk in the mid 1870s. We have a nice newspaper advertisement for the musical entertainments at Middletown Bazaar in 1878:

Middletown Bazaar
A Grand Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music Under the patronage of his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. McGettigan, Primate of all Ireland, will be given in the New Convent Schools, Middletown, On Friday 13th September, 1878 in connexion with the Middletown Bazaar
A number of distinguished amateur Vocalists and Instrumentalists from Armagh, Keady, Lurgan and Monaghan have kindly consented to attend.
On Wednesday, first day of the drawing of Prizes, the Monaghan National Brass Band will attend; on Thursday, the second day, the Armagh Christian Doctrine Band will be present; and on Friday, the third day, the Monaghan, Armagh, and Keady Brass Bands will be in attendance, and perform alternately a choice selection of favourite airs.
The services of Mr. Hugh O’Hagan, of Dundalk, the celebrated Irish Harper, have been secured for the occasion, who will perform a grand selection of Irish National Melodies.
Doors open at 6:30; Concert to commence at 7.

Peoples Advocate and Monaghan Fermanagh and Tyrone News, Sat 7th Sept 1878

These give just a few fragmentary glimpses of O’Hagan’s performing career. I am sure that in time we will find more references to his music and his performances.

Hugh O’Hagan’s harp

I made an appointment with the Louth County Museum, Dundalk to go to the storage facility and view the harp. It belongs to the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, and is deposited on loan to the Museum, where it has the accession number 1998.1164.1(L). The Dundalk Museum catalogue gives a provenance from the beginning of the 20th century, starting with the antiquarian Henry Morris, who sold it to Dr. J.V. O’Hagan of Fairymount, Blackrock, whose daughter Miss Mary O’Hagan presented it to the Society before 1961.

At Dundalk Museum Store with Hugh O’Hagan’s harp

The harp is in very poor condition, apparently from damage and repairs sustained during its working life. It seems to have been terribly smashed, and crudely repaired, and then brought up to tension and used, so that it twisted and warped. Both the neck and the pillar are broken right through, and repaired with bolted on iron plates; the soundbox is collapsed at both bass and treble ends.

You can clearly see the wear-marks from how Hugh O’Hagan played this harp, with his left hand resting against the soundbox in the treble, and his right hand resting halfway down the soundbox to play the bass, and a worn area on the back where he rested the side of the harp against his left leg.

From a superficial point of view the harp looks crudely made and finished; the soundboard is painted with a kind of purple thick paint, and has glued on printed paper decorations, enhanced by crudely drawn on line-work. But when I looked closely, I could see traces of an earlier and very high quality layer of decoration, fine gilded line-work and sprays of gilded shamrocks. And I could read gilded lettering displayed on the right side of the bass end of the neck:

[ ]FRANCIS,HEWSO[N ]
[ A]GAN.

Lettering on Hugh O’Hagan’s harp, Dundalk Museum 1988.1104.1(L)

I know of two other harps made by Francis Hewson, both of them in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. One of them has the same lettering on the bass end of the neck, reading:

MADE By FRANCIS, HEWSON.
For PAUL, SMITH.

Lettering on Paul Smith’s harp, National Museum of Ireland DF:1906.64

I think the decoration on Paul Smith’s harp gives us some kind of clue as to how Hugh O’Hagan’s must have looked when it was new. Paul Smith’s harp is dated 1840 on the soundboard; perhaps Hugh O’Hagan’s harp was a similar date. The other Hewson harp in the NMI (DF:1951.2) is dated 1849 on the soundboard, but it is lying down on its right side and so I haven’t been able to see if it has the gilded lettering on the neck. The Dublin harp-maker Francis Hewson was a nephew and successor of John Egan, and these big wire-strung harps are slightly enlarged copies of the big wire-strung Irish harps that Egan had made for the Belfast Irish Harp Society from about 1820 onwards.

I measured the strings that are on Hugh O’Hagan’s harp; they are all iron wire, and seem to be only two gauges. They may be later cosmetic replacements. They don’t seem to be strung properly. I need to do more work on this, and compare them with the strings on other Hewson and Egan and similar 19th century Irish harps. I would expect the harp to have been strung with brass wire strings, as described by contemporary tradition-bearers Patrick Byrne and Patrick Murney. However, I have seen other 19th century Irish harps with iron strings, and also with only two gauges of strings, so it is possible that this was a traditional way of setting the harp up. On Hugh O’Hagan’s harp, the change over from thin (approx 0.5mm) to thick (approx. 1mm) is at about position 25 from the treble, which may be about where the sister strings (na comhluighe) may have been if O’Hagan used that system.

Tuning pins, bridge pins and iron wire strings on Hugh O’Hagan’s harp, Dundalk Museum 1988.1104.1(L)

The tuning pins on Hugh O’Hagan’s harp are very crude, completely different from the neat 19th-century-style pins on the other Hewson harps. They remind me of the style of pins shown in the Drogheda Society harp photographed by Nancy Hurrell (History Ireland Jan/Feb 2013). We know that the Drogheda society made its own harps, and a review of the 1844 concert (which O’Hagan had performed in) says “All the harps used on the occasion were made in Drogheda” (Drogheda Conservative Journal, Sat 24 Feb 1844)

I am speculatively wondering if there might be a story here. Was O’Hagan given his harp on graduating from Belfast in about 1840? Did he damage it seriously? Did he take the wreck of it to Drogheda where he was studying, and was it repaired there? Were the pins made in Drogheda, were the metal repair straps fitted there, was the soundboard painted purple and were the paper decorations stuck on there? I don’t know. If we could find more about O’Hagan’s youth and education we could think more about these things.

Summary

Hugh O’Hagan was one of the last generation of Irish harpers in the inherited tradition, playing on a big wire-strung Irish harp. He learned to play the harp in the old tradition, when he was young, learning from teachers who had inherited their tradition through a lineage of masters going back through Arthur O’Neil to the 18th and 17th century Irish harpers.

O’Hagan’s formal tuition in traditional Irish harp playing was right at the end of the teaching; I think by about 1850 all tuition had stopped, and no new harpers were being trained. When Hugh O’Hagan died in 1886, I only know of five other harpers who had learned in the inherited tradition: Samuel Patrick, Patrick Murney, and George Jackson in Belfast; Roger Begley in Dewsbury; and Paul Smith in Dublin. There were probably one or two others who I have not managed to track down yet but that is it. All of these men learned to play before 1850 and were getting on in years by 1886. All were poor and were struggling to make a living.

Many thanks to the curator and staff of the County Museum Dundalk for facilitating my visit to view Hugh O’Hagan’s harp.

Many thanks to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for helping to provide the equipment used for these posts, and also for supporting the writing of these blog posts.

18 thoughts on “Hugh O’Hagan”

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  3. A brilliant article, thanks for sharing this info. – great to have such a detailed profile of an important 19th C. harper. Enjoying all of the info. you have on here, keep up the great work.

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  5. Hi Simon

    I so love all this research you’re doing on these 19th century players. And you’re finding harps! How cool is that!

    It’s such a pleasure to read these posts. Thanks for being so dogged in your work. I love that these people are being remembered here — their little mysteries, the showbiz realities of their lives — I find it moving.

    Good work!

    Reply
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  7. We find Hugh O’Hagan playing at the Dublin Temperance Union meeting on 6th October 1872, a month after his inaugural appearance there:

    DUBLIN TEMPERANCE UNION
    On last evening, Sunday, 6th inst., the usual weekly meeting of the above association was held in the Mechanics’ Institute, Lower Abbey-street; the chair was occupied by Mr. John Curtis. Among those on the platform we notice Messrs. Thompson, Neill, J. Walsh, Secretary of the Irish Working Men’s Friendly Association; A. Varian, M, Walsh, M. Cavanagh, M’Grade, J. Collier, W. Collins, J. J. Casey, and W. Anderson. The Irish harper, O’Hagan, played a large variety of national airs, songs, &c. The choir of young ladies and gentlemen sang an interesting selection of temperance melodies, &c. A series of able, vigorous addresses were delivered by Messrs. Walsh, Cavanagh, Landy, T. Neill, especially Mr. Kavanagh, who delivered a most able and vigorous discourse which elicited repeated bursts of applause. Mr. Dooley recited a magnificent poem on the blessings of cold water. The meeting concluded by the harper and choir singing the memory of Father Matthew.
    Freeman’s Journal, Mon 7 Oct 1872 p3

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  9. Here’s Hugh O’Hagan, playing at a public dinner in Jan 1854, six months after his boat trip from Dundalk to Dublin.

    PUBLIC BANQUET TO TRISTRAM KENNEDY, ESQ., M.P. IN DUNDALK
    On Wednesday, the 4th inst., a most magnificent exhibition of the confidence which his constituents had in this gentleman, for the zeal which, during the last session, he evinced in Parliament in sustainment of the great principles of independent opposition, took place in Dundalk.
    A conference having been first held, at which Rev. Mr. [Bannon], P.P., presided, a report, on the social and political condition of Louth, was read by Mr. J. Cashel Hoey, and resolutions in honour of Mr. Kennedy, and in advocacy of the principles he was so intrepid in maintaining, were proposed and carried with the utmost enthusiasm. After this, the gentlemen present proceeded to the banquet room, which was most tastefully fitted up and adorned with most expressive mottos – “We honour Tristram Kennedy for his honest observation of his pledges: Cead mille failte‘ ‘Kennedy and the People.’ ‘No Place-hunting.’ ‘Political and Religious Equality.’ ‘Vote by ballot.’ ‘The Irish Parliamentary Party of Independent Opposition;’ &c. &c. Shortly after 5 o’clock the chair was taken by
    REV P BANNON, P.P., OF LOUTH.
    [then there is a very long list of people who were there] and several others whose names we were unable to collect.
    Mr. O’Hagan, of Dundalk, the celebrated harper, played several appropriate airs during the evening, which contributed much to the amusement of the company.
    Letters of apology, and affirming the deepest interest in the cause, were read from [list of people who were not there] and from several other highly influential and respectable gentlemen.
    We regret that our space will not allow us to publish the admirable orations delivered by Rev. Mr. Lennon, the guest of the evening, Mr. C. G. Duffy, Mr Lucas, Dr. Gray, and the other speakers. let it suffice that they all breathed fervently the spirit of Irish nationalism, that they were high in praise of independent opposition, and profuse and earnest in pledges to advocate, and continue, and enlarge it.
    Anglo Celt, Thu 12 Jan 1854, p2

    Tristram Kennedy (1805-1885) had been elected as an MP for County Louth in the 1852 General Election; he stood as a Whig party candidate but switched to the Independent Irish Party soon after the election. He lost his seat at the next election in 1857.

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    1. Hugh O’Hagan played at a workmen’s dinner at James Shekleton’s Foundry, on Tuesday 4th October 1853. The long report (Newry Telegraph, Tue 11 Oct 1853 p4) explains that the dinner was to welcome James’s brother, Lieut. John Sheckleton, home from India. The workmen were treated to a grand dinner in the Carriage Department of the factory, which was “splendidly decorated and fitted up as a banqueting hall”. We are told that “Mr. O’Hagan, the Irish harper, and Mr. Crilly, the celebrated violinist, contributed their professional services to the enjoyment of the evening”. I don’t know if they might have played together, or done separate turns.

      Shekleton’s foundry was on the east side of the Long Walk, running from the Market Square north as far as where the car park is now.

      Reply

  10. Here’s Hugh O’Hagan, playing a concert I think in Dundalk on Wed 28 Jun 1848, though the newspaper unhelpfully just says “this town”. The newspaper is the Newry Examiner and Louth Advertiser but its editorial office appears to have been in Dundalk.

    IRISH MUSIC. – On Wednesday evening, Mr. Hugh O’Hagan, the Irish Harper, gave a musical entertainment in the Guildhall of this town, (kindly granted for the occasion by John Stratton Esq.,) which was fully attended. He performed several of our noblest native airs with great taste and thrilling power of execution, and sang a number of songs in a very superior manner. This meritorious young artist was loudly and deservedly applauded.
    Newry Examiner and Louth Advertiser, Sat 1 Jul 1848 p2

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  12. Here’s Hugh O’Hagan doing a concert in 1861, nicely filling the gap between his boat trip in 1853 and the dinner in 1854, and working in the Ship Tavern in 1870.

    I assume this is in Dundalk.

    MR O’HAGAN,
    The celebrated Irish Harper, will give an entertainment in the Assembly Room on Thursday evening next, when a rare treat may be expected by the lovers of music and song. Let us hope that this kind-hearted Bard of Erin will be generously supported on the occasion.
    Dundalk Democrat and Peoples Journal, Sat 27 Jul 1861 p5

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  15. Hugh O’Hagan appeared in court, at Dundalk Petty Sessions on Thursday 4th November 1859, charged with assault and theft. You can read the report in the Dundalk Democrat, Fri 5 Nov 1859 p5. The report is quite long and not entirely clearly laid out, and so I will add comments in square brackets to help you read it and work out who is saying what.

    Patrick Cunningham [who brought the case] charged Felix O’Hanlon, Peter Connolly, James Gorman, James Connor, and Hugh O’Hagan (the celebrated harper of Park-street) with having assaulted him in his house, in Rampart-lane, on the 15th October, and taking from him £3 5s.

    Mr McMahon appeared for the defence [representing the accused including Hugh O’Hagan].
    [Cunningham was sworn in to tell the truth etc. and then made his statement to the court:] that on Saturday night, the 15th of last month [Sat 15 Oct 1859], about 11 o’clock [in the evening], [Cunningham] was in bed in his own house, and the prisoners [O’Hanlon, Connolly, Gorman, Connor, and Hugh O’Hagan] came in; O’Hagan asked him was he in bed, and called him out of his name.
    Mr McMahon [for the defense, cross-examining Cunningham] – What did he call you?
    [Cunningham replied] – Why ‘Forty.’
    Mr McMahon – Well I believe you are 40 anyhow.
    [Cunningham continued his account, speaking to the court] – O’Hagan told me to get up out of that [bed] and leave the house; they then blew out the candle, and took [Cunningham’s] frock coat, in which was a sum of £3 5s. [Cunningham] rose up and got hold of a stoole, whilst his wife was lighted the candle. [The accused men including O’Hagan] then went out, and tied the hasp of the door to a cart that was in the lane; [Cunningham] barred the door and then they wanted to force it; [Cunningham] lost the £3 5s which was made up of three pound notes and 5s in silver.
    [Cunningham turned and addressed Mr McMahon, saying] – The house I live in belongs to O’Hagan’s mother; I believe this long fellow (Gorman) was one of the party, but I won’t go farther than that. And you sent him to gaol for a week because you believed he was there. In a fortnight after this occurrence I made an information against Gorman; O’Hagan’s sister can say if Gorman was there or not.
    [Someone, probably McMahon, asked Cunningham] How many live in your house?
    [Cunningham replied,] a boy named Duffy [who was a lodger], and myself and my wife; I don’t take young ladies in to lodge. my wife and her brother were in at the time, and sitting at the fire; I was in bed; Duffy was also in his bed.
    [The questioner asked,] Are you not in the habit of beating the brains out of your wife?
    [Cunningham replied,] She and her brother were drunk, and we had some noise.
    [The questioner asked,] Is it not a fact that you have the whole lane in an uproar by your conduct?
    [Cunningham replied,] No such thing; my wife shouts as if I were beating her, when there is nothing of the kind (laughter)
    [The questioner asked,] Did not O’Hagan go and ask what noise you were making?
    [Cunningham replied], That was not the word at all; he said I should leave the house. I did not get up till I saw the tall man coming over to me; I did not tear O’Hagan’s shirt, except that I caught him in the dark; the others did not come in to separate O’Hagan and me; I told the police the next day; my wife had a drop in her and also her brother; I was sober and so was Duffy the lodger; I did not catch O’Hagan to my knowledge; my wife and her brother were drunk on the night previous, and a girl named Biddy Duffy and my wife were scolding; I saw the tall boy (Gorman) going into Kennedy the coach maker’s yard, and I thought he was one of the party, and I had him arrested.
    Mr McMahon [asked] – They called you ‘Old Forty’ (laughter. Have you any other witness?
    [Cunningham answered] No
    [Mr McMahon asked] Where is Duffy?
    [Cunningham replied] I don’t know.
    [Mr McMahon said,] Your wife, I suppose, is as full as a tick (laughter)

    [McMahon now stood up to present the case for the defense.] Mr McMahon said his case was, that O’Hagan, who plays on the harp to amuse his mother’s customers, generally went out after performing; and on the night in question he went down the lane, and Connolly was with him. He heard great noise in Cunningham’s house, and on going in he asked what it was about. Cunningham at once attacked him, and tore his shirt, and the others went in to seperate them.

    Alexander Thompson [we are not told who he is] was then called and examined. He proved that Hugh O’Hagan, on hearing loud noise in Cunningham’s, went in and asked him why he was disturbing the neighbourhood; Cunningham then got up and tore O’Hagan’s shirt; [Thompson] and [the accused men, O’Hanlon, Connolly, & Connor] went in to seperate them; Gorman was not there; did not see anyone tying the door outside.
    [One of the two judges, Mr. John Townley, asked Thompson] Did you see anyone tying the hasp to a cart?
    [Thompson replied] I did not, but I saw Cunningham coming to the door with a hatchet.
    [Cunningham interjected] This is the man I took to be Gorman, and who was one of the first to assault me. I had not a hatchet in the house, but I had a tongs in my hand.
    [The judge, Townley, asked Cunningham] Did you see them tying the door?
    [Cunningham replied] No, but they must have been the [people] who did it.

    Mr. McMahon said he could give evidence of the sort of house Cunningham kept, and called Arthur Connully.
    [Arthur Connully said] that he lived four doors from [Cunningham]. The night before the present occurrence, he saved Cunningham’s life, by taking him up out of the [water] channel where he was lying drunk. When [Cunningham] came to himself, his language to his wife was abominable.

    The Bench fined each of the defendants, except Gorman, 2s 6d and 1s 6d costs.
    Hugh O’Hagan complained that the costs were too high, and the Bench reduced them to 1s each.

    O’Hagan [said] – Thank you your worships; good-by Mr McMahon.
    Mr McMahon [replied] – Good by Hugh, I wish you had the harp here.
    O’Hagan [said] – If I had I would play, ‘O blame not the bard’ (great laughter)

    Mr Townley [the judge] advised Cunningham to pay Gorman 10s for the week he had been in gaol. He said so in order to prevent Mr McMahon from bringing an action.
    Mr McMahon [said] – There is no fear of that, your worship; I never bring an action of the kind except to punish a wilful wrong.
    Dundalk Democrat, Fri 5 Nov 1859 p5

    There is a huge amount to unpick here. Reading the evidence, it is really not clear who is telling the truth; the judge obviously thought Hugh O’Hagan and the other three were up to no good, but the fines are fairly small compared with the alleged theft of £3 5s. The total fines of the four men come to 10s (half a pound since £1 = 20s) and the total costs 6s, reduced to 4s in total. As a rough comparison we can think that today, a pound represents a few hundred £/€, a shilling would be something like ten or twenty £/€, and a penny would be something like one £/€.

    At the end, the tune title Hugh O’Hagan mentions is the 19th century name of the old traditional Irish harp tune of Caitlín Triall (Kitty Tyrrell).

    There is incidental information about Hugh O’Hagan’s life in Dundalk. We are told that he “plays on the harp to amuse his mother’s customers” in the evenings, and also that his mother owned the house where Cunningham was living, on Rampart Lane. Hugh O’Hagan is described in the trial as “of Park Street”, and he later died in a house on Park Street. We know that Hugh O’Hagan had a sister, mentioned in the trial, and a brother Patrick O’Hagan who reported Hugh’s death.

    I am not sure how to track down the mother and sister; if we had a street directory of Dundalk in 1860 then we could look Mrs Hagan up, and see what kind of a business she was running. I am not finding her listed in the Griffiths valuation of 1854, but we do see Patrick O’Hagan apparently owning property on the corner of Park Street and Rampart Lane, about where the Punter’s bar is now. None of the other people involved in this trial are listed as householders on Rampart Lane in the 1854 Griffiths valuation.

    Unfortunately the Griffiths town map only shows the very first houses at the top of Park Street, from the junction of Earl Street and Frances Street: nos. 1 to 7 on the right, and no.97 on the left. But at least that gives us some context for locating Patrick O’Hagan’s houses at no.90 and 91 Park Street, and also nos. 1-6 Rampart Lane, with the comment that the office at 2 Rampart Lane is “valued with No. 91, Park-street”. No.90 Park St. is held by Patrick O’Hagan from the Earl of Roden; and Patrick O’Hagan is sub-letting no. 91 Park Street and all his houses on Rampart Lane to other people.

    I am guessing that this Patrick O’Hagan may possibly be Hugh O’Hagan’s father, and that he may have died in the mid 1850s, and then Hugh O’Hagan’s mother may have inherited the business and the properties. But this is just pure guesswork. edit 13 Dec of course it must be his brother.

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    1. I went through the birth, marriage, and death records, and also the will calendars (all online), and I have put together a family tree showing Hugh O’Hagan and his sister and brothers, and his nephews and niece. Then there are his great-nephew and great-niece.

      Hugh O’Hagan’s father is named as Edward O’Hagan on brother Patrick Byrne’s marriage certificate. I have not yet found their mother’s name. Presumably both parents died before death records started in 1864. Brother John’s marriage was late 1840s or 1850, from before Catholic marriages were recorded, so we don’t know his wife Anne’s maiden name.

      After this the tree continues down, but I have only included people who lived while Hugh O’Hagan was alive. There are living descendents of great-nephew Dr. John Vincent O’Hagan and his wife Mary.

      Brother John O’Hagan and his wife Anne moved away from Dundalk and set up business in Carrickmacross, as a spirit merchant. The business was carried on by the nephew Joseph; the other nephew Patrick John was a medical doctor in Castlebellingham. His son was great-nephew John Vincent who was a medical doctor in Dundalk and Blackrock near Dundalk. John Vincent O’Hagan MD purchased the harp from the antiquarian Henry Morris, and on his death in 1960 his daughter Mary O’Hagan gave it to the Society and that is how it came to the Museum. However I still don’t understand how Henry Morris got hold of it. And I assume that John Vincent knew it was the harp of his great-uncle.

      Anyway it seems likely to me that brother John and his family did not have so much to do with the other siblings who all lived together in the house in Park Street. After sister Anne and brother Hugh the harper had died, neither leaving a will, brother John claimed their estates. Hugh’s was valued at £121 14s 8d and Anne’s at £148 2s 2d. This claim was done on 23 Feb 1891, but brother John died within a year and never actually finished the probate, and so the claim was re-done by his two sons, nephew Dr. Patrick and nephew Joseph.

      Brother Patrick married very late, when he was aged about 68, and Alice was about 39. The wedding certificate lists them as bachelor and spinster, both of Dundalk with no address given. He is listed as a Clerk, but she is illiterate and signs with an X. She is listed as a housekeeper. Anyway, the wedding was 5 Sep 1889. Four months later, Patrick wrote his will, on 4 Jan 1890, basically leaving everything to Alice. Three months later, on 9 April 1890, Patrick died, and so Alice got all his stuff. Then two years later, on 6 Feb 1892, Alice died, without a will, and her half-brother James Byrne (of Donacarney, Co. Meath) claimed her estate, valued at £98.

      An interesting item in brother Patrick’s will is the giving of “£5 for Tomb Stone to be erected in memory of my Mother Brother & Sister & Self in Haggardstown Cemetry”. He only mentions the one brother, presumably Hugh who was already dead by then. Brother John, still alive and away in Carrickmacross, is not mentioned in Patrick’s will. So we can imagine the tombstone would have named Hugh O’Hagan the harper, Anne, Patrick, and their mother. If we could find out about the tombstone we would have the name of their mother.

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