20th century – Simon Chadwick

Another traditional Irish harper in the 20th century

In my timeline of traditional Irish harpers through the Long 19th Century, I have listed three people who were still alive after 1900. Peter Dowdall in Drogheda died in 1902; Paul Smith in Dublin died in 1904, and George Jackson in Belfast died in 1909. All three of these had learned to play the traditional wire-strung Irish harp from teachers who themselves had learned in the inherited tradition with lineages going back to the 18th century and beyond.

This post is to discuss a very brief mention of an un-named harper in 1906.

“…George Jackson when he was stringing my Harp…”

In the early 1900s, the Belfast carpenter William Savage and his younger brother Robert made a very decorative copy of the medieval Brian Boru (Trinity College) harp. When the harp was finished, brass wire strings were fitted by George Jackson.

George Jackson had learned harp from Patrick Murney, in a lineage going back to the 18th century Irish harpers. I recently started to wonder if some of Jackson’s strings might still be on the harp.