Header image © National Galleries Scotland, used under license CC-BY-NC
As we get further and further on in Patrick Byrne’s life-story, we have more and more information. So this post deals with just three months, from July to October 1849, following Patrick Byrne as he chases Queen Victoria around different parts of her realm.
By summer 1849, Patrick Byrne was aged in his early to mid 50s. You can catch up with his life and work up to this point, in my previous posts about him:
Part 1 covers Patrick Byrne’s early years and education, down to his discharge from harp school in 1822.
Part 2, looks at his early career, working for patrons in Ireland and England from 1822 to 1837.
Part 3 covers his first visit to Scotland over the winter of 1837-8, and his tour of Ireland in 1839-40.
Part 4 looks at him playing for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, and then touring mostly in Ireland and a bit in England in 1841-4.
Part 5 covers just six months, from when he went to Scotland at the beginning of 1845 until he headed back to Belfast on 25th June, including the Waverley Ball and having his photographs taken.
Part 6 covers the rest of 1845, and the whole of 1846, touring in the north of Ireland and the English midlands.
Part 7 covers Scotland in the first half of 1847, Ireland for the second part of 1847; England in the first part of 1848, and back in Ireland in Autumn 1848.
Part 8 covers Byrne’s trip to the south of England over Christmas 1848, where he played events in Hampshire and Wiltshire; and then the first half of 1849, when he went to Staffordshire and then came back to Ireland and met the antiquarian John Bell in Dungannon.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were doing a Royal visit to Ireland in the first half of August 1849. The Royal party arrived in Cobh on Thursday 2nd August, and then they were in Dublin from Monday 6th August through to when they departed from Dún Laoghaire on Friday 10th August. The Royal party also spent five hours in Belfast on Saturday 11th August, before leaving Ireland and heading for Glasgow.
Between 1801 and 1922, the whole of Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; Victoria was head of state of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, and so this was not an international state visit like when Elizabeth visited Dublin in 2011, but simply Victoria as Queen travelling from one part of her country to another.
Patrick Byrne had been touring in Ulster in late spring and early summer 1849. I don’t know if Patrick Byrne got a letter from the Viceregal Palace some time in July, or if he got word-of-mouth instruction via one of his patrons, or if he just decided to go to Dublin on his own initiative, hoping to be asked to play. But he was in Dublin by the end of July, a week before the Queen was due to be in town.
IRISH MINSTRELSEY. – Mr. Patrick Byrne, the celebrated Irish minstrel, and who has the honour of being harper to Prince Albert, has arrived in Dublin in anticipation of her Majesty’s visit. Already this eminent performer of our national instrument has had the privilege of playing before the Queen and court at Windsor, and we believe he is no stranger at the Viceregal Court. This will be the first opportunity her Majesty has had of hearing Irish music upon Irish soil, and we have no doubt that during her visit the Irish harp will be heard in the Castle halls. – The Press
Freeman’s Journal, Tue 31 July 1849 p3
As usual with these royal gossip articles, this was reprinted in slightly truncated forms by a number of different newspapers; I have clippings from the Dublin Evening Post Tue 31 Jul 1849 p3; Limerick Reporter Tue 31 Jul 1849 p3; Athlone Sentinel Wed 1 Aug 1849 p2; Globe Wed 1 Aug 1849 p3; Morning Advertiser Wed 1 Aug 1849 p3; Dublin Evening Mail Wed 1 Aug 1849 p3; Newry Telegraph Thu 2 Aug 1849 p3; North British Daily Mail Thu 2 Aug 1849 p4; Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier Thu 2 Aug 1849 p4; Banner of Ulster Fri 3 Aug 1849 p3; Kilkenny Moderator Sat 4 Aug 1849 p1; Westmeath Independent Sat 4 Aug 1849 p2. A reprint of the information with elaborations in the Leamington Spa Courier Sat 11 Aug 1849 p2 (ref via John Scully) seems to have got the wrong end of the stick.
Presumably Patrick Byrne, or one of his patrons, had informed the newspapers that Byrne was in town, and that he was expecting to be ordered to attend at the Viceregal Lodge, to play for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
It looks like no-one at the Lodge had been in touch with Byrne, because on Saturday 4th August he wrote a letter to the Viceregal Lodge asking for instructions. We don’t have this letter but it is mentioned in the reply to him (see below).
We can read Victoria’s diary to see what she was doing. On Saturday 4th August she was still around Cork area; on Sunday 5th August 1849 she left Cork harbour on the Royal yacht, and sailed around the coast to Dún Laoghaire.
The next morning, Monday 6th, at 10am, the Royal party came ashore at Dún Laoghaire, and travelled by train into Dublin. They went though the city centre and out to Phoenix Park where they were staying at the Viceregal Lodge. After dinner loads of people came in to see the Queen; she wrote “I felt somewhat knocked up”, which I think means she was very tired.
On Tuesday 7th, they had a quiet morning in the Viceregal Lodge, and then at 11am they set off in a carriage, to go into town. They went to Trinity College, and viewed the Book of Kells, “in which we wrote our names”, and they also saw “the original harp of King O’Brien”. They went back to the Viceregal Lodge for lunch, and then at 5pm they set off again to visit and see places around Dublin. They were back at the Viceregal Lodge by 7pm for the evening’s entertainments.
Patrick Byrne summoned to the Lodge, Tue 7th Aug
In Patrick Byrne’s papers, there is a letter written to Byrne by an Aide-de-Camp at the Viceregal Lodge, on Tuesday 7th August, asking him to come to the Lodge straight away that evening.
The envelope is addressed:
Mr. Patrick Byrne
Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, D3531/G/5
56. Bolton street
Dublin
The back of the envelope is sealed with wax with a rather complicated heraldic design. Across the top of the seal impression are the letters “AID DE CAMP”; the main central motif is two oval heraldic shields, side by side, each surrounded by a belt, quite worn away. The left shield could be the blazon of the arms of the Earl of Clarendon (who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at this time); on the belt is written “T[ria] iuncta in uno”, the motto of the Order of the Bath. The second shield is worn away, though it appears to be a quartering of Clarendon’s arms with something else; the belt is not lettered. Under the shields is the Clarendon motto “Fidei Coticula Crux”, and above the ovals is a crown. On each side is a vicious looking bird with a crown on its head.
56 Bolton Street is listed as the Northern Hotel in Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland (1846) p76. I think this site on the north corner of Yarnhall Street was renumbered from being previously no.55 at about this time. In the 1970s and 80s it was a pub called the Bolton Horse which was destroyed by a gas explosion in 1982.
Anyway, the letter reads:
V. R. Lodge
PRONI D3531/G/5
Augt. 7th 1849
Sir,
In answer to your note
of the 4th August, I think it
would be advisable for you to
be in attendance this evening
at the V. R. Lodge in the event of
your performance being required
I am
[???] C B Phipps
—
Patrick Byrne
Irish Piper
I think this is Charles Beaumont Phipps (1801-1866). I assume he was an Aide de Camp; there were lots of them. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland had 12 aides-de-camp apparently, and the Queen and Prince Albert must have had a load themselves as well.
There are a few things that are off about this letter. Phipps is writing with very short notice; and he does not command Byrne to come to the Lodge, but he only thinks it “would be advisable” for Byrne to come in case he is needed. And Phipps does not even take the trouble to check what instrument Byrne plays.
At the Lodge, the evening of Tue 7th
When the Royal party got back to the Viceregal Lodge at about 7pm, they had dinner with some select guests. Then, Victoria tells us, “After dinner 200 or 300 people came, including most of the Irish nobility & many of the Gentry, — & there was a dance. We opened it with Ld & Ly Clarendon & I danced 3 Quadrilles & several Valses. After supper, we retired.”
We can see that Victoria, in her account of the day, makes no mention of Byrne being there and playing. We can see why, in a later newspaper report:
Mr. Patrick Byrne, the celebrated Irish minstrel, appointed by his Royal Highness Prince Albert as his Irish Harper, having been in Dublin in attendance upon his Royal master, was commanded by the Hon. Captain Phipps to be in attendance at the Viceregal Lodge on Tuesday evening, but the Hon. and gallant Colonel’s letter did not reach him until the night was far advanced. Mr. Byrne suffered bitter chagrin under the disappointment, but, next morning, in his waiting on Colonel Phipps, his explanation was most graciously accepted.
Dublin Evening Post, Tue 14 Aug 1849 p4 (reference via John Scully)
So, what happened, is that Phipps wrote the letter on Tuesday 7th August, and sent it to Byrne, telling him to come that same evening. But the letter did not get to Byrne until late, too late for Byrne to head out to Phoenix Park.
We can wonder what Byrne was doing. He had been staying in the little hotel on the corner of Bolton Street and Yarnhall Street for over a week by this point. I don’t imagine him just sitting in his room waiting all day every day for the letter from the Viceregal Lodge. I imagine his patrons in Dublin would want to have him at their private evening parties as usual. So I imagine that maybe on the evening of Tuesday 7th, Byrne could have been out playing at a private house for a Gentleman and Lady and their family and dinner guests. Perhaps he was out from late afternoon until late in the evening. Perhaps he finally went back to the hotel late on, maybe midnight even, after a successful and well-paid evening, and there was Phipps’s letter waiting for him. I am just guessing here.
Anyway the next morning, on Wednesday 8th, Byrne went to the Viceregal Lodge, and met Phipps, and explained and apologised. His apology was apparently accepted “most graciously”. But he had missed out on playing for the Queen. He was not invited to come back.
Not being asked to play, Wed 8th
Wednesday and Thursday were busy days for the Royal party. On the evening of Wednesday 8th there was a classical music performance at the Lodge which Victoria describes in her diary: “There was a very nice Concert, partly amateur, & partly professional & the selection of music was very good, chiefly from German composers, including Mendelssohn but, all, sung in English. The amateur performers were, Mrs.. Macdonell, Miss O’Connor & Mr.. Stamford, & the professional, 2 Mr.. Robinsons & Mrs. Robinson, a young & very good Pianiste.”
On Thursday Victoria writes that they were out working all evening, and only got back to the Lodge “at 1/2 past 12”, so there was no entertainments that evening; then on Friday 10th the Royal party departed on the Royal yacht from Dún Laoghaire, without hearing the Irish harp being played.
However, Byrne’s absence was noted. I think this writer is more outraged about Byrne not being invited to play on the Thursday evening, rather than the mess-up of the invitation on the Wednesday:
THE QUEEN’S VISIT – MUSICAL PARTY AT THE VICEREGAL LODGE
Freeman’s Journal, Wed 15 Aug 1849 p3, reprinted in Limerick and Clare Examiner Sat 18 Aug 1849 p1
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMAN
14th August, 1849.
Sir – Whist her Majesty was in Dublin I did not wish to make any remarks calculated to interfere with the general harmony, but I now venture to ask why there were no Irish airs played before the Queen at the musical soiree given at the Viceregal Lodge? I perceive by the Post of this evening that even the command for the attendance of Byrne, the celebrated Irish harper, met with some mischance. It is only fair to say that I believe the anxiety of Lord Clarendon and his accomplished Countess was to bring under her Majesty’s notice not only Irish music, but Irish talent; but unfortunately the programme and arrangements on the occasion to which I refer were entrusted to hands who managed the matter in the way most calculated to insure the exclusion of both. The fanatico was played to to the life. Until the present occasion I never was – indeed I never had the opportunity of being a court newsman, but in my little experience during the week of the royal visit I heard such gossip, particularly about the musical party and the spirit of petty and party cabals which had the daring to intrude itself in the arrangement of the airs and the selection of the prominent performers, as certainly astonished me, and will, when I come to state facts, amuse you and your readers. Of itself the circumstance seems a trifling one, but it becomes important as a demonstration of the truth that in Dublin there is a clique, and unscrupulous clique, which would infect everything they touch with the distemper by which they themselves are affected. They bawl as factionists – they dissemble as jobbers – they sip their coffee as hypocrites, and upon all occasions, not even excepting a musical entertainment for the Sovereign, they play their own dirty selfish factious game.
Yours,
AN IDLER.
If we believe this correspondent, then it could have been more than mischance that delayed Byrne receiving his summons. Perhaps Phipps reluctantly wrote to Byrne as late as he decently could, hoping that the letter would not get there in time. We can wonder what was said by Phipps to Byrne on the Wednesday morning? Did he offer Byrne a cup of coffee to sip? Phipps must have known about the plans for Wednesday evening’s musical entertainment with piano and singers. Obviously there were people at the Lodge who did not want a blind Irish harper to be there.
I think this episode highlights as well how deeply stratified and hierarchical the society was at that time. We can get a glimpse from Victoria’s diaries, how insulated she must have been from any kind of actual control over or interaction with the people she saw; it is possible that neither Victoria nor Albert even knew that Byrne was in town and willing to play. They may have just been swept along on the agendas of the layers and layers of staff and administrators all jostling for power and influence within the Royal and Viceregal households.
Summoned again a week later
Perhaps most fascinatingly, there is another letter in Byrne’s papers, from the following week, after the Royal party had left Ireland. The letter is addressed to:
Mr. Patrick Byrne
PRONI D3531/G/5
56 Bolton Street
Dublin
The back of the envelope has a wax seal, with a large and much-divided shield, and a motto; but the seal impression is quite damaged so I can’t really make it out.
The letter reads:
Captain Bagot [ADC begs]
PRONI D3531/G/5
to inform Mr. Patrick Byrne
that his Excellency and the
Countess of Clarendon wish
him to attend at the V. R. Lodge
tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7 oclock
in the evening, to play on the
Irish Harp.
V. R. Lodge
Tuesday August 14th 1849
His Excellency George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870) was the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with the Viceregal Lodge as his official residence. Lady Clarendon his wife was Lady Catherine Villiers née Grimston (1810-1874)
George Bagot (1818-1867) was promoted after the Queen’s visit; he is listed as “Captain G. Bagot, 41st Foot, fourteen years’ service. Aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant” in Hansard 109, Fri 8 Mar 1850, col540. He had been one of two military officers attending Victoria when she visited Trinity College and viewed the Brian Boru harp and wrote her name in the Book of Kells (Kilkenny Journal, Sat 11 Aug 1849 p1).
We can see that George Bagot’s letter is much more straightforward and to the point than Phipps’s was the week before: He gives Byrne a whole day’s notice; he says that Byrne is wanted to play; and he even gets Byrne’s instrument correct.
And so on Wednesday 15th August 1849, Byrne went to the Viceregal Lodge in Phoenix Park, to play for George and Catherine Villiers.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert’s Irish Minstrel, Mr. Patrick Byrne, had the honour of playing on the Irish harp before their Excellencies the Lord Lieutenant and the Countess of Clarendon, on Wednesday evening at the Viceregal Lodge.
Dublin Evening Post, Sat 18 Aug 1849 p3; reprinted in Cork Examiner Mon 20 Aug 1849 p3; there is also a similar notice with the same content but differently worded, in the Newry Telegraph of the same day, Sat 18 Aug 1849 p3
We can only imagine the conversation between Patrick Byrne and the people at the Lodge – probably not with Villiers, but more likely with Bagot and other senior household staff. They likely discussed the right royal mess of the previous week’s letter; and they will also have discussed the Queen’s forthcoming itinerary. By Wednesday 15th August, Victoria and Albert were already at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire. Patrick Byrne may have been advised to head over to Scotland at once; or he may have independently decided to try his luck. Either way, he set off from Dublin.
In Edinburgh, late August 1849
Patrick Byrne travelled to Edinburgh, and booked himself in at his usual lodgings at 3 West Register Street, Edinburgh. This is where he had previously stayed with Mrs Thompson in March 1845, and again in February 1847.
Patrick Byrne must have written a letter to his contact at the Royal court, offering his services or saying that he would be available to play. We don’t have Byrne’s letter, but we do have the reply. On Saturday 25th August 1849, one of the secretaries at Balmoral wrote a reply to Patrick Byrne. The letter must have been delivered to Byrne in Edinburgh a day or two later. The envelope is addressed:
[M Th????n] at 3 west Register [??]
PRONI D3531/G/5
Mr. Patrick Byrne
9 West Register St.
Edinburgh
[?? Anson]
As you can see the handwriting is bad and I can’t really read it; there is also a (missing) stamp and postmark which obscures the end of the first line. It looks like it has been mis-addressed and the correct address added by a different hand across the top. On the back, the envelope has a wax seal with what may be the Royal arms embossed on it, and also a postmark in blueish ink, “ABERDEEN / E / AU25 / 1849”. A second postmark superimposed on top is much weaker black print, and I think reads “A[ ] / F 26 A / 1849”. The missing text (in square brackets) is concealed under a fold in the photo I took of the envelope. Though I am usually happy to travel to a library or archive to check a reading, it seems excessive to go in to Belfast just to see the missing characters of this postmark. Perhaps next time I am in for something else, I will remember to order it up.
The letter inside reads:
Balmoral
PRONI D3531/G/5
Augt. 25. 1849
Mr. Byrne –
I have received your letter –
you must not come to Aberdeenshire
on purpose – but if you do come
I will arrange for you to
play before her majesty –
Yr. [Obedt.] S[erv]t.
[G E Anson]
I am struggling to read the sender’s signature, both on the envelope and on the letter; but I think it could be George Edward Anson (1812 – 8 October 1849). He was private secretary to Prince Albert, and in 1849 he was with Victoria and Albert on their trip to Ireland and then in Balmoral (Gentleman’s Magazine Nov 1849 p540).
Patrick Byrne must have received the letter on Sunday 26th August at the very earliest, or perhaps a day or so later. As soon as he had received it, he must have started preparing to travel to Aberdeenshire – not on purpose of course, but for some other spurious reason. He would have to get a helpful aristocratic patron to invite him to their Aberdeenshire house; that way he would have a genuine non-Royal purpose for being in Aberdeenshire.
At Mar Lodge
he had the honour of performing … before their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Leeds, at Mar Lodge, who detained him for a fortnight
The Scotsman, Sat 6 Oct 1849 p2
We don’t know when Patrick Byrne arrived at Mar Lodge, which is only about 20km from Balmoral. We know he left the area to go into Aberdeen by Thursday 13th Sep 1849; if we believe the Scotsman‘s two weeks, then he may have arrived at Mar Lodge at the end of August, just a few days after receiving Anson’s letter.
This was not the first time that Patrick Byrne had been at Mar Lodge. Francis Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds was an old patron of Byrne; we have already discussed in part 5 how Byrne had visited Osborne at Mar Lodge four-and-a-half years before. I think this shows Byrne’s resourcefulness in using his networks of patrons. I imagine he was in touch with Osborne to try and get the invitation as soon as Anson’s letter got to him in Edinburgh, or perhaps even before then.
There is a bit of confusion about the different rebuildings of Mar Lodge; I found a reference in the Illustrated London News Sat 23 Sep 1848 p8 which explains how the old Mar Lodge was held by the Duke of Leeds, while Corriemulzie Cottage on the south side of the river was held by General Duff; the article helpfully includes a drawing of both. So it seems clear to me that Byrne was at Old Mar Lodge, not at Corriemulzie Cottage, and so I have re-positioned the marker on my map. You can see Old Mar Lodge (about on the site of the current Mar Lodge, on the north side of the river Dee), on the 1866/69 OS map.
Anyway, once Byrne was in Aberdeenshire (definitely not on purpose at all, but only because of this offer of work at Mar Lodge), Anson was as good as his word.
Playing before Queen Victoria, 1 Sep 1849
On Saturday 1st September, Patrick Byrne played before the Queen at Balmoral.
COURT CIRCULAR
Evening Mail, Wed 5 Sep 1849 p8
—–
BALMORAL, Sep. 2.
The Royal dinner party last night included Lord John Russell, Lord Portman, Mr. and Mrs. Farquharson, of Invercauld, and Sir Charles Lyall.
Mr. Patrick Byrne, the Irish harper, had the honour of playing some of his national airs before the Queen.
Her Majesty and the Prince, attended by the Marchioness of Douro, the Hon. Miss Dawson, Lord John Russell, Mr. Anson, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Alexander Gordon, and Mr. Birch, attended Divine service to-day at the parish church.
As usual for these court circular notices, loads of other newspapers reprinted the same text. I have clippings from the Sun Wed 5 Sep 1849 p6; Morning Post Wed 5 Sep 1849 p3; Morning Herald Wed 5 Sep 1849 p5; Dublin Evening Post Thu 6 Sep 1849; Freeman’s Journal Thu 6 Sep 1849 (via John Scully p68); Belfast News Letter Fri 7 Sep 1849 p1; Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald and North and South Wales Independent Sat 8 Sep 1849 p6; Nenagh Guardian Sat 8 Sep 1849 p3; Glasgow Gazette Sat 8 Sep 1849 p4; and the Cork Examiner Mon 10 Sep 1849 p3. We also have a wee bit of over-eager embellishment; the Kings County Chronicle Wed 12 Sep 1849 p1 says “Mr. Patrick Byrne, the Irish harper, from Dublin, performs every evening on the national instrument before the Royal party at Balmoral”. But we shouldn’t believe everything we read in the newspapers.
Farquharson of Invercauld of course was the descendent of Beatrix Gardyne who had supposedly got the Queen Mary harp as a gift from Mary Queen of Scots, but that was many generations previously and the harp was owned by a completely different branch of Gardyne’s descendents by then, so I don’t think this is very relevant to us.
We also have a slightly different take from one of the Dublin papers:
IRISH MUSIC. – It gives us great pleasure to perceive that Mr. Byrne, the Irish harper, had the honour of playing before the Queen at Balmoral, on Saturday last. Lord John Russell was one of the party present. It is understood that her Majesty was pleased to express her approbation of the performance. This high testimony must have been very gratifying to the Irish minstrel, and will form a proud addition to the reputation he has already earned. …
Dublin Weekly Register Sat 8 Sep 1849 p5 (via John Scully p68)
Victoria’s diary entry for Saturday 1st September is much terser than many others; she is mainly interested to describe their wanders during the day. Her only comment on the evening is “Ld Portman, The Farquharsons, & Sir C. Lyall dined.” No comment about the music. Perhaps she was not very interested. This was the second time that she had heard Patrick Byrne play; the first time had been eight-and-a-half years previously, on Wed 6th Jan 1841 at Windsor Castle (see part 4). Her comment then was that Byrne’s played “the real old Irish Harp, which is a very peculiar instrument”. And back then it was Albert who had given Patrick Byrne his Royal Appointment. But unfortunately for us, Albert did not write his personal thoughts and opinions into a journal every day.
Back at Mar Lodge
I imagine that Patrick Byrne may have travelled from Mar Lodge the 20km to Balmoral, to play for Victoria, and then travelled straight back to Mar Lodge that same evening. I suppose it is possible that he may have been provided with a room to stay in at Balmoral but to me this seems less likely. I am not sure how we could find out this information.
The Dublin Weekly Register story about Byrne playing at Balmoral continues with him back at Mar Lodge.
… Mr. Byrne is at present with the Duke of Leeds, at his grace’s very romantically circumstanced shooting lodge, about 13 miles from the royal residence; and nightly may be heard, in the Highland hall, the strains of Erin’s harp.
Dublin Weekly Register Sat 8 Sep 1849 p5 (via John Scully p68)
This clipping is presumably the source for the Kings County Chronicle’s garbled story mentioned above.
We can imagine that Byrne would most likely have stayed in the senior servants’ rooms at Mar Lodge, but that probably every evening he would be summoned through to the drawing room or the hall or the dining room, to play for Francis Osborne’s house-guests. I’m sure that being fresh from his Royal performance would have given Byrne’s presence at Mar Lodge a bit of cachet, and would have boosted Louisa and Francis Osborne’s status as hosts.
This photo of the drawing room at Mar Lodge was taken fourteen years after Patrick Byrne was there. I don’t know how much the decor of this room may have changed over that time.
Anyway after a couple of weeks at Mar Lodge, Byrne headed off. His route would have taken him down the river to Aberdeen.
Aberdeen, mid September 1849
Patrick Byrne was in Aberdeen by (I think) Thursday 13 September, when he played a private concert:
THE IRISH HARPER. – We understand that Mr. Patrick Byrne, the Irish Harper, who performed, the other day, before the Queen, at Balmoral, is at present in town, and that he played some of his favourite to a private company, in the Royal Hotel, last night. The few gentlemen who had the pleasure of hearing him, were so delighted with his performances, that they have prevailed upon him to remain here one day longer, although he has pressing engagements in the south. Want of time prevents the possibility of getting up a public concert; but, we believe, the lovers of music may have an opportunity of hearing him in the same place. – (The foregoing paragraph was sent to us by a respected correspondent, last night. Somewhat later, we had an opportunity of listening to the “blind old harper,” and we can only say, without pretending to musical skill, that it is quite a treat to hear him. – ED.)
Aberdeen Herald, Sat 15 Sep 1849 p3 (via John Scully p69), reprinted in Dublin Weekly Register, Sat 22 Sep 1849 p5
The old Royal Hotel was on Union Street; the building was later occupied by Falconer’s department store.
The newspaper was printed on Sat 15; the correspondent wrote this “last night” i.e. on the evening of Fri 14th; and so Byrne’s performance must have been on Thur 13th. Presumably he was installed at the hotel and so people could go there, as the Editor apparently did presumably later on Friday night or early on Saturday, to hear Byrne play.
People must have read this article in the Aberdeen Herald, because a whole load of people went to the Royal Hotel that same evening, Saturday 15th, to hear Byrne play:
“STILL HARPING.” – Mr. Byrne, the blind Irish harper, to whom we briefly alluded, last week, afforded a great treat to a numerous party in one of the halls of the Royal Hotel, on Saturday evening. No formal arrangements for an entertainment had been made, but our notice, and the hints of a friend or two, brought together a numerous company, who listened, with the highest delight, to a number of Scottish and Irish tunes, played in a style that they had hardly any conception of. The beautiful national air, “Erin go bragh,” had a peculiarly fine effect, and was encored three or four times.
Aberdeen Herald, Sat 22 Sep 1849 p3 (via John Scully p69)
Three or four times, the audience excitedly shouted “again! again!” and Patrick Byrne had to play “Erin go Bragh” again and again. But as I said before I am not sure what this tune actually is.
After this, Patrick Byrne left Aberdeen and headed south.
Morbid thoughts, early October 1849
We have a document in Patrick Byrne’s private papers, which presumably was intended for him to carry with him, so that if he fell ill or died, people would be able to track down his relatives.
The Bearer Patrick Byrne, Irish Harper, is a native of the Co. of Monaghan Ireland. – Should he fall suddenly by the stroke of death where he is unknown a letter addressed
PRONI D3531/G/1
to Patrick Ward. Beagh
Shercock Ireland
will reach his nearest relatives, and his last will and testament will be found in the possession of Geo. Sudden, Mertoun, St Boswells Green Scotland when applied for by his nearest of kin, or another duly authorised to call for it.
October 2nd. 1849
Patrick Ward was the husband of Patrick Byrne’s sister Alice; they lived at the farm at Beagh that Patrick Byrne had bought for them.
George Sudden (c.1798/9 – 1862) was an architect, stonemason, and clerk of works. He was originally from the parish of Mertoun, near St Boswells in the Scottish borders. He worked for 21 years as superintendent of works at Lough Fea House (Kelso Chronicle, Fri 18 Jul 1862 p2), including designing the great hall; presumably he was there from the late 1820s when the house was started. We met him back on 30th September 1846 when he presided at the workmen’s dinner at Derrylavin Mills, and the two Mrs Shirleys came after the dinner and went into Sudden’s house at the mills to watch the dancing in the mill yard (see part 6). Sudden had witnessed Byrne’s will at Lough Fea on Mon 2 Nov 1846. Some time after that he left Lough Fea and went home to Mertoun; Keith Sanger implies this was about 1848, which seems about right if Byrne’s piece of paper gives Sudden’s address in Mertoun in October 1849. The Chronicle says he retired due to ill health, and returned to Mertoun to live with his sister, and that he was also a Presbyterian elder, spending one season as a missionary in Berwick. I’m not finding him in the 1851 census; perhaps this was when he was in Berwick. In the 1857 Post Office directory he is listed at Clintmains in the parish of Mertoun. We can find him in the 1861 census, aged 62, living on his own in a 2-room house. He died at Clintmains on 9th Jul 1862 (Kelso Chronicle, Fri 11 Jul 1862 p3).
Anyway, was Patrick Byrne at George Sudden’s house in Clintmains on 2nd October 1849? Was Sudden having morbid thoughts, having retired due to ill health? The two men were similar ages, though Byrne was probably a few years older. This is interesting the connection or friendship between the two of them.
Writing to Lady Lothian
It looks like while he was with George Sudden at Clintmains, Patrick Byrne wrote a letter to Lady Lothian, at Monteviot House, just 12 km south. We don’t have the letter that Byrne wrote, but we do have the reply from a secretary of Lady Lothian, written on black-bordered mourning paper.
Lady Lothian has received
PRONI D3531/G/5
Mr Patrick Byrne’s letter
& begs to inform him that
Lord Lothian is absent
from home, & that as
she has an Invalid
in the House, she must
decline Mr. Byrne’s
offer of coming to Monte
:viot with his harp –
Ly Lothian regrets
that Mr. Byrne’s visit
to Scotland should have
been at a time when
it is not convenient to
receive him –
Monteviot
Oct. 3/49-
This gives us some great insight into how Byrne was operating. He was in the area and so he wrote to a local patron offering to come to their house and play. It is not clear if Byrne would have written to Cecil Chetwynd Kerr, Marchioness of Lothian (1808-1877), or if he had written to her son William Kerr, 8th Marquess of Lothian, and she was replying on his behalf. The post was very quick back in those days so it is entirely possible that Byrne had written (or rather, dictated perhaps to George Sudden) on Tue 2 Oct 1849, and Cecil’s secretary had replied the next day, Wed 3 Oct 1849.
Back in Edinburgh, mid October 1849
IRISH HARPER. – We understand Mr Patrick Byrne, the Irish harper, is in town at present, having just returned from Balmoral, where he had the honour of performing before her Majesty, Prince Albert, and the Court, and afterwards before their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Leeds, at Mar Lodge, who detained him for a fortnight. Mr. Byrne seldom performs in public, but a number of his friends here have prevailed upon him to give an entertainment next week. In our next we hope to be able to announce the evening and place of performance, and we doubt not, from Mr Byrne’s respectability, and proficiency on this ancient instrument, he will draw a numerous audience.
The Scotsman, Sat 6 Oct 1849 p2 (via John Scully p69)
This little notice in the Scotsman was reprinted by other newspapers interested in following Patrick Byrne’s career; I have clippings from the Westmeath Guardian and Longford News letter Thu 11 Oct 1849 p4; Dublin Evening Post Sat 13 Oct 1849 p2; Derry Journal Wed 17 Oct 1849 p1.
The comment that “Byrne seldom performs in public” is interesting; looking at my map there are plenty enough blue dots (for public concerts). Perhaps he did fewer concerts and more private engagements in Scotland, compared to his work in Ireland and England where we have seen quite a few concerts.
The announcement for the concert duly appeared a few days later:
ANCIENT IRISH MUSIC.
The Scotsman, Wed 10 Oct 1849 p1
—-
Under the Patronage of
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN,
His Royal Highness PRINCE ALBERT,
and the QUEEN-DOWAGER.
—–
MR BYRNE, the BLIND IRISH HARPER, begs to intimate to the Nobility, Gentry, and Public of Edinburgh and vicinity, that he will give a Performance on the IRISH HARP,
IN MR DOWELL’S ROOMS, 18 GEORGE STREET,
On Tuesday Evening, October 16, 1849.
Doors open at Eight – To commence at
Half past Eight o’clock.
Admission, 1s. Children, Half-Price.
Byrne is not holding back with his credentials in this advertisement! The concert was held on Tue 16 Oct 1849; Dowell’s auction rooms at no.18 were where the Hard Rock cafe is now, just to the right of The Dome and almost opposite St Andrews and St George’s church. We have a brief review:
THE PERFORMANCE BY THE IRISH HARPER. – Mr Byrne, the blind Irish Harper, performed at Mr Dowell’s rooms on Tuesday last, on which occasion the large room was filled with a very numerous audience, who were much delighted with the whole entertainment. Mr Byrne played with great taste and feeling a number of the finest Irish airs, and also a few Scotch tunes, to which he did much justice. Mr Dowell very kindly gave the use of his rooms gratuitously.
The Scotsman, Sat 20 Oct 1849 p3, reprinted in the Greenock Advertiser, Tue 23 Oct 1849 p1
Was Byrne on his way through Greenock by Tue 23 Oct 1849? At the end of previous trips to Scotland, he seems to have taken this route home, from Edinburgh to Greenock, where he would board a steamer to Ireland.
However, I have no references to any of this, and in fact I have nothing more now for the next month, until we find Patrick Byrne back at Lough Fea house near Carrickmacross. But that can wait for the next part.
My map shows the places in Aberdeenshire that we mentioned in this post. You can zoom out to see other places that Byrne was at. Touch a marker to see its name, click a marker to read more about it.