Paul Smith

Paul Smith was a traditional Irish harper in the late 19th and early 20th century. I think he was the very last professional Irish harper in the inherited tradition. He died in poverty, ignored and marginalised. This post is to begin gathering information about him.

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Harp Society House, Talbot Street, Belfast

I have already written about the Irish Harp Society running its harp school from a house in Cromac Street for 18 years, from 1820 through to about the end of 1838.

At around the end of 1838 the harp school was moved to a new premises in Talbot Street, where it ran for over a year, until some time in 1840 when it appears to have shut for good.

This post is to try and work out where on Talbot Street the Harp Society House was, and whether we can say anything useful about it.

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Andrew Bell

Andrew Bell was a traditional Irish harper in the middle of the 19th century. He had an excellent performing career, playing public concerts and being patronised by the gentry and aristocracy. This post is to try and gather everything together to start to tell the story of his life.

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Harp Society House, Cromac Street, Belfast

The Irish Harp Society in Belfast was based at a few different addresses from the beginning of the first Harp School in 1808 until the finish of the second Harp School in 1840. I have references to the Harp Society House being in three different Belfast streets at different dates: Pottinger’s Entry, Cromac Street, and Talbot Street.

This post is to collate as many references as I can, to try and work out where the house in Cromac Street was.

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Mr. Rennie

We have a few references to a harper called Rennie in the 1840s. He is obviously a different person from the famous Valentine Rennie who died in 1837.

I don’t know anything about Mr. Rennie apart from these newspaper reports of him performing in the South-East with Mr. O’Connor. I am putting him here so that we can keep an eye on him, and so that we can add any new information that turns up.

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