Patrick Byrne – Simon Chadwick

Patrick Byrne part 9: Playing for the Queen, summer 1849

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.

Patrick Byrne part 8: Christmas 1848 to July 1849

Header image courtesy of University of Glasgow Archives & Special Collections,
Papers of Henry George Farmer collection, MS Farmer 332 f5r

This post is part 8 of my series about Patrick Byrne.
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.

By the end of 1848, Patrick Byrne was in his early 50s; he was well established as a touring performer in Ireland, Scotland and England, both as a public “celebrity” and with networks of private patrons right up to the top of the social hierarchy.

This post includes two very different but equally interesting episodes in his life. One is his professional tour of the south of England; and the other is when Patrick Byrne met the antiquarian John Bell, who wrote down a load of very useful traditionary information about the Irish harp tradition which Byrne had apparently told to him.

Patrick Byrne part 7: 1847-8

We can just continue with Patrick Byrne. This post follows his trip to Scotland in the first half of 1847, and his return to Ireland for the second part of 1847; and then his work in the English midlands in the first part of 1848, and back in Ireland especially around County Cavan in the summer and early autumn of 1848.

Patrick Byrne part 6: 1845-6

We have so much information about Patrick Byrne that I am concerned whether this series of blog posts is going to get too much for me. John Scully made an entire book of “not the complete story” of Patrick Byrne’s life (Ah how d’you do sir, Carrickmacross 2024). But I think there is still value in me continuing to try and work through every single reference I can find about Patrick Byrne, in an attempt to trace his life story. So we will carry on here for now.

This post will cover Patrick Byrne’s activities from when he travelled back to Ireland at the end of June 1845. We will try to follow Byrne for about six months in Ireland to the end of 1845, and then for the first half of 1846 in England, and finally for the second half of 1846 touring the north of Ireland, including a very interesting paper trail of letters of introduction from aristocratic patrons.

Mary Kellett of Cornashesk, patron of traditional harp music

I am not usually paying much attention to the patrons of the traditional harpers, because it is enough work for me to simply track down the harpers themselves, who they were and what they were doing.

However I want to try and pin down Mary Kellett of Cornashesk, because she is mentioned in an anecdote from Patrick Byrne in the early 19th century, and we need to date the anecdote, so as to fit it in to Patrick Byrne’s life story.

Patrick Byrne part 4: 1841-4

In Part 1, I wrote about Patrick Byrne’s early years and education, down to his discharge from harp school in 1822. Then in Part 2, we looked at his early career, working for patrons in Ireland and England from 1822 to 1837. Part 3 covered his first visit to Scotland over the winter of 1837-8, and his tour of Ireland in 1839-40.

By the beginning of 1841, Patrick Byrne was in his mid 40s. His regular job at the Royal Hotel in Leamington Spa had given him access to high-ranking aristocratic patrons in England and Scotland, and he spent time visiting them at their houses around Warwickshire and near Edinburgh, as well as maintaining a circuit of patrons in Ireland. He seems to have deliberately built these networks of patronage, so that by the beginning of 1841 he got as high as he ever could, by performing for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.

Patrick Byrne part 3: 1837-1840

In Part 1, I wrote about Patrick Byrne’s early years and education. Then in Part 2, we looked at his early career, working for patrons in Ireland and England.

By the summer of 1837, Patrick Byrne was approximately 40 years old; he had made a lot of contacts amongst the English and Irish aristocracy, and he had proved himself by his regular job at the rather high-class Royal Hotel in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England.

We will continue the story on Wednesday 18th October 1837, when Patrick Byrne left Leamington Spa and began the journey North to Edinburgh.

Patrick Byrne part 2: 1822-1837

In Part 1, I wrote about Patrick Byrne’s early years and education. This post is to gather references to the first part of his professional career.

Patrick Byrne’s farm at Beagh

Because we have so many documents relating to the traditional Irish harper Patrick Byrne, there are some interesting side-lines that can be followed up, which are not strictly part of his life. The story of the farm at Beagh is one of these stories.

Patrick Byrne part 1: 1790s to 1822

Patrick Byrne is perhaps the best-known of the 19th century Irish harpers. We have a huge amount of information about him, too much for a single post. So I thought I would deal with sections of his life in turn. This first post in a series on Patrick Byrne will gather together all the information I can find about his birth, his family, his place, his early years, and his education up to the point where he was discharged from the harp school with his certificate and harp.