De Blaquiere Family, William J. Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Delia Parnell, Sir John T. Gilbert.

Chapter XIX.

Several members of the De Blaquiere family were buried at Glasnevin. They were amongst the nearest relatives of Lord de Blaquiere. As Sir John Blaquiere, he played an important part as Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Member of the Irish Parliament. He had been also active from 1768 as Secretary to the British Embassy in Paris, and a mass of papers dealing with the movements of the Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, were sold by Blaquiere’s relatives to the Foreign Office in 1850.

Of this fact the late John de Blaquiere informed Mr. W. J. FitzPatrick; and added that he was obliged to sign a document pledging himself not to publish copies of any of the papers thus bought. Lord Cornwallis states that Sir John governed Ireland for years. [Cornwallis’ Correspondence ii, 456.] Sir Jonah Barrington, in his “Personal Sketches,” thus describes him at the time of the Union:-” Sir John Blaquiere was a little deaf of one ear, for which circumstance he gave a very singular reason: his seat, when Secretary, was the outside one on the Treasury Bench, next to the gangway, and he said that so many members used to come perpetually to whisper to him, and the buzz of importunity was so heavy and continuous, that before one claimant’s words had got out of his ear, the demand of another forced its way in, till the ear-drum being overcharged, suddenly burst; which, he said, turned out conveniently enough, as he was then obliged to stuff the organ tight, and tell every gentleman that his physician had directed him not to use *that *ear at all, and *the other *as little as possible.”

The news of the somewhat sudden death of James Canon Daniel, P.P., St. Nicholas’s, Francis Street, on 7th April, 1895, was received by his colleagues on the Catholic Cemeteries Board with feelings of profound sorrow. This zealous and philanthropic priest was a native of Dublin, and his many years in the sacred ministry were passed in that portion of the city embracing Meath Street and Francis Street - the home of the industrious poor.

To write a history of his labours in all useful and charitable movements, which had been started in Dublin for the past 30 years, would be to write a history of the metropolitan charities for three decades. It is sufficient to indicate the scope of his labours when we say that Canon Daniel, at the time of his lamented death, was an active member of the Catholic Cemeteries Board, of the Board of the Catholic Deaf and Dumb Institution, of the Coombe Hospital, of the Royal Hospital for Incurables, and of the Loan Fund Board. The mortal remains of this widely-beloved and patriotic priest were brought to his last resting place on 10th April, 1895.

His ability and services to religion were so remarkable that he was unanimously selected by the Hierarchy of Ireland as the Secretary to the Royal College of St. Patrick, Maynooth. He successfully proposed at the Royal Hospital for Incurables, of which he was a Governor, that a Protestant Clergyman who had been a Hebrew prize-man, in Trinity College, and was at the time of Canon Daniel’s motion an inmate of the Union Workhouse, should be admitted to the Institution. This poor clergyman had received at the time of the Disestablishment a retiring composition of £800, but men of literary attainments are not always good financiers, and the money soon melted away in his hands.

The Right Rev. Monsignor Kennedy, P.P., V.G., Dean of Dublin, and Parish Priest of St. James’s, died in his 85th year, on 17th December, 1895. He had been a priest for more than half a century, and died full of years and honours. Monsignor Kennedy was a pattern of all that a zealous and pious pastor, mindful of the needs of religion and the necessities of his flock, should be. Though so long in the sacred ministry, his duties as a priest were confined to but two parishes - those of Clontarf and James’s Street, acting as pastor in the latter parish for the exceptionally long period of 39 years.

He was an ardent worker in all fields affecting the spiritual and temporal welfare of his parishioners, especially by the promotion of temperance, and by increasing the means of education. The list of new churches and schools provided in his parish through his fatherly care and energy, bear ample testimony to the success of his efforts. These edifices include a very fine church at Dolphin’s Barn, a Chapel of Ease at Golden Bridge, the Christian Brothers’ schools in James’s Street, the Convent schools in Basin Lane, and the schools at Dolphin’s Barn. This is a great record for a single parish and a single life.

Monsignor Kennedy, though deeply occupied in the duties of his sacred calling, had throughout his long life been brought into contact with many leading men in Irish political movements. He had the acquaintance and esteem of O’Connell, whom he visited in prison; and in later years, as Chaplain to Kilmainham Jail, during the exciting times of the Land League agitation, he had spiritual charge the of large number of “suspects” who were imprisoned there under the provisions of the Coercion Act; and in the same way it fell to his lot to prepare the Phoenix Park criminals for their awful doom.

Monsignor Kennedy was singularly fitted for the task of winning the lapsed back to virtue, and no one who knew him could fail to be affected by the powerful influence of his piety and charity. He had been chaplain to Golden Bridge Cemetery for 30 years. His remains now rest in Glasnevin, where his grave will be found in St. Bridget’s Section. The plot was granted free by the Cemeteries Committee.

The Freeman’s Journal of December 26th, 1895, in a long and kindly notice, tells us that “On Christmas Eve Ireland lost a distinguished son, and the Republic of Letters an eminent citizen in the person of William J. FitzPatrick, who, on the morning of that day, died in his 66th year, at his residence in Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin. With due limitation, Mr. FitzPatrick must be recognised as one who rendered valuable services to Irish National literature, and invaluable services to the Irish National cause.

Born in August, 1830, his first book was, we believe, the ‘Life and Times of Lord Cloncurry.’ Forty years have passed since the ‘Life of Lord Cloncurry’ appeared, and scarce one of the forty was unmarked by a new book from Mr. FitzPatrick’s pen. He attained much repute by his careful and interesting ‘Life of Dr. Doyle,’ (‘J. K. L’), the brilliant and famous Bishop of Kildare and Leiglin; also by his biographies of Lady Morgan, Archbishops Whately, Charles Lever, Dr. Lanigan, the great Dominican, Father Tom Burke, and other works.

During his last illness, a brief memoir of the late Father James Healy appeared anonymously, but no one who read the opening lines of this work could fail to see that it was from Mr. FitzPatrick’s pen.

The books in which Mr. FitzPatrick is seen at his best, and on which his fame will ultimately rest, are the ‘Sham Squire,’ ‘Ireland Before the Union,’ and ‘Secret Service under Pitt.’ Mr. FitzPatrick had the keen scent of a literary detective - great patience in following a clue, and unrivalled industry. The story of the ‘Betrayal of Lord Edward FitzGerald’ had a great fascination for him, and we now know every detail of that dark record of treachery and horror.

Mr. Gladstone paid a striking compliment to Mr. FitzPatrick in his lengthy review of the ‘Memoirs and Correspondence of O’Connell,’ which appeared in the Nineteenth Century a few years since. In this review Mr. Gladstone said it that Mr. FitzPatrick’s book enables Englishmen to see O’Connell as ‘a great and good man.’”

Mr. FitzPatrick was a member of the Board of the Catholic Cemeteries Committee; Professor of History in the Royal Hibernian Academy; a member of the Royal Irish Academy; a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, etc. Shortly before his death he received the Honorary Degree of LL.D. from the Royal University of Ireland. The honour which gave him most pleasure was that which he received at the hands of the Holy Father. Pope Leo XIII., when he was Nuncio at Brussels, had met the Liberator. The Pope read Mr. Fitzpatrick’s “Memoir of O’Connell,” and sent the author the insignia of St. Gregory.

The Most Rev. Dr. Duggan, Bishop of Clonfert, died in Dublin on Saturday, the 15th August 1896, and on the following Tuesday (18th) all that was mortal of one of the most revered and beloved of all Irish Bishops was laid to rest in Glasnevin. The Freeman’s Journal, in a notice of the deceased prelate, says that the Feast of the Assumption was always for him a day of special devotion. On the morning of that day, with his old and dear friend, the Most Rev. Dr. MacEvilly, Archbishop of Tuam, at his bedside he was called to the reward of a life of most fervent piety, purest patriotism, and all-embracing benevolence. From first to last his life was given absolutely to his people. In the dread crisis of the famine, no man laboured harder than he, or more successfully, to mitigate the affliction of the people. During the agrarian agitation of a generation ago, and in the famous Galway election of 1873, the Bishop of Clonfert was eloquent and strenuous on the side of the people, and by his efforts largely contributed to the victory. For this he was denounced by Judge Keogh, who recommended his prosecution. The Bishop was splendidly defended by Isaac Butt, Q.C., who in effect set the prosecutors in the dock and arraigned them in a speech of incomparable eloquence. There was no tittle of reputable evidence against the patriotic prelate, who was triumphantly acquitted, after a trial lasting from 15th to 19th February, 1874.

To the end of his life Bishop Duggan maintained his character as the fearless friend and guardian of his people with the same unshrinking devotion. His grave will be found adjacent to the tomb of his friend, Cardinal MacCabe, beside whom it was his expressed wish that his ashes should lie.

William McLaughlin, Q.C., one of the oldest and most respected members of the Irish Bar, died at his house in Mountjoy Square, Dublin, on 28th May, 1896. Mr. McLaughlin was a Derry man, and early in life was employed on the staff of the Derry Journal. He subsequently became its editor, and contributed to its columns many admirable articles on interesting questions of the time. By dint of steady industry and perseverance he advanced himself form small beginnings to a foremost position amongst the ablest advocates in the Law Courts of Ireland.

He was called to the Bar in Hilary Term, 1866, and it was not long until his abilities began to be widely recognised. He took silk in 1877, and was elected a Bencher of the King’s Inns in 1886. Mr. McLaughlin had a genial presence, and his racy wit was always keen without being unkindly. He gained great repute as a Nisi Prius pleader, and as a cross-examiner he was looked upon as quite formidable. Mr. McLoughlin had reached his 66th year, and with his death a notable figure passed out of Irish life. He was buried at Glasnevin on 30th may, 1896.

Mr. Patrick Maxwell, Knt., an eminent Dublin solicitor, died at his residence in North Great George’s Street, on the 15th January, 1897, aged 79 years. Sir Patrick Maxwell was head of the firm of Maxwell and Weldon, solicitors, and was one of the seniors of his profession having been admitted to practice as far back as 1846. In 1887, the year of her Majesty’s first Jubilee, he was President of the Incorporated Law Society, and received his knighthood in connection with the celebrations of that year. Sir Patrick Maxwell was buried in Glasnevin on the 18th January, 1897.

On the 24th April, 1897, Thomas F. O’Connell, a well-known and most respected solicitor, passed out of life. The late Mr. O’Connell was admitted to practice in 1851, and soon acquired an extensive and varied business, not only in the city of Dublin, but also in his native County of Cork, and throughout the South of Ireland generally. His reputation for legal ability and stainless integrity won for him the professional confidence of a numerous body of clients, and his sound judgment was constantly invoked by many religious and charitable institutions. Mr. O’Connell took a deep interest in the progress and welfare of the profession of which he may truly be said to have been an ornament. For many years he was a member of the Council of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, and was elected by his colleagues to the position Vice-President. Mr. O’Connell’s remains were interred in Glasnevin beneath a beautiful monumental cross, in the Circle surrounding the Liberator’s grand resting place

The Very Rev. Father Bennett D.D. O.C.C., died on 2nd November, 1897, at the Carmelite College, Terenure, Co. Dublin, and his interment took place at Glasnevin three days later. This saintly and venerable father of the Carmelite Order had arrived at the patriarchal age of 96 years.

He was born in 1803, at Arles, in the Queen’s County, and when he grew up he entered religion in the Carmelite Convent, Dublin. Having passed through the usual Novitiate, he entered the University of Louvain. Endowed with great talents, he went through a most distinguished course, and obtained the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Returning to Ireland, he laboured incessantly for the welfare of his Order. Archbishop Murray, who ordained him priest, asked him to unite with the celebrate Father Hand, Dr. Colgan, OCC and Dr. Woodlock, in found mg the great Missionary College of All Hallows. Here he afterwards occupied the Chair of Dogmatic Theology, and some of the most distinguished Bishops - in foreign missions - passed through his class, and remember with gratitude the zeal, learning and amiability of Dr. Bennett. At the Synod of Thurles, held in 1850, Cardinal Cullen selected Dr. Bennett as his theologian in the weighty matters which came before that distinguished assembly of Bishops. In the meantime, he was labouring late and early amongst the faithful in the Carmelite Church in Dublin. In appreciation of his labours and energy in building up the Order of Carmel in Ireland, the Father-General in Rome appointed him to a high post in the Irish Province. His devotion and zeal in the ministry of the Church never flagged from the date of his ordination. He celebrated his first Mass in the Convent at North William Street. He established a Novitiate for the Order in Ireland, and founded the Carmelite Academy, first in Jervis Street and afterwards in Dominick Street. He also established the College at Terenure. When Dr. Woodlock, the President of All Hallows, was named Rector of the Catholic University, Dr. Bennett succeeded him as President; still remaining Provincial of the Carmelite Order, from 1852 to 1863. Under these multitudinous labours his grand constitution at length broke down, and finally when the weight of four score years pressed heavily upon him, he retired to Terenure College. In his last illness he was frequently visited by many distinguished prelates and priests, including the Most Rev. Dr. Woodlock, who gave him the Papal Benediction shortly before he expired. Father Bennett died on the Feast of All Souls, and his remains are interred in the plot belonging to the Carmelite Community in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Mr. John Hooper - for many years a prominent figure in literary circles, and who had filled a large space in Irish National politics - was laid to rest in Glasnevin on 23rd November, 1897. In Mr. Hooper journalism lost a distinguished member. At the time of his death he was editor of the Evening Telegraph. He began his career on the Cork Herald, and later on joined the staff of the Freeman’s Journal, being its Parliamentary correspondent for a considerable time. In 1885, Mr. Hooper, under the auspices of Mr. Parnell, entered the House of Commons as Member for South-East Cork.

On 7th January, 1898, Mr. Hugh Tarpey’s remains were brought to Glasnevin for interment. He had died four days previously at the age of 77 years. He was at one time an active and well-known figure in the municipal and public life of the city of Dublin. He was a member of the Corporation from 1861 until 1886. His colleagues elevated him to the position of Lord Mayor in the years 1877-78, when he displayed the high business capacity he undoubtedly possessed. Mr. Tarpey, during his mayoralty, entertained Mr. Gladstone when Prime Minister, who, on this occasion, was presented with the freedom of the city. In the second year of Alderman Tarpey’s tenure of the mayoralty, the British Association held their meeting in Dublin, when they were hospitably received at the Mansion House.

The Society of Jesus lost a distinguished member in the late Father John Norton, who died on 23rd March, 1898, in his 77th year. Father Norton came of a well-known Dublin family, and was born in 1821. He passed his schooldays at Stonyhurst, and entered the Jesuit Novitiate in 1838. Having spent some years in Belgium and England, he was sent to Malta, and afterwards to Calcutta. On his return to Ireland, he went to Clongowes, and, later on, he was stationed at Belvedere College in Dublin, whence the scene of his labours was changed to Havana, in Cuba. But for many years before his death Father Norton’s chief work was at St. Francis Xavier’s, Gardiner Street, the beautiful church of the Jesuit Fathers in Dublin. Father Norton’s energy and vitality were so remarkable that the fatal termination of his brief illness came as a painful shock to his many friends. He is laid to rest in Glasnevin.

Owing to a shocking accident by fire, Mrs. Delia Parnell met her death at Avondale, Co. Wicklow, on the 27th March, 1898. She was the mother of Charles Stewart Parnell, and her remains were interred in Glasnevin in the same grave with her famous son. This venerable lady was in her 83rd year, and was a very remarkable woman in many ways. Mrs. Parnell was the daughter of Admiral Stewart a hero of the American Navy, a sturdy sailor who was popularly known as “Old Ironsides.”

On 2nd April, 1898, the funeral of a distinguished Jesuit Father took place at Glasnevin. The Rev. John Gaffney, S.J., died in his 85th year at Milltown Park, Co. Dublin. He was a missioner, too, and there are few dioceses in Ireland in which he did not labour often and successfully. As preacher and confessor, and kindly friend and adviser, he was one of the most loved and reverenced in the Jesuit Church. The schools of St. Francis Xavier -at one time better known as Father Gaffney’s Schools”-will long preserve the memory of this venerable priest.

The Community of the Jesuit Fathers in Dublin sustained another loss in the death of Rev. Thomas Kelly, who was called to his reward on 20th April, 1898, in his 69th year. He was born in Dublin in 1829. Having received his education first at the old Jesuit day-school in Hardwicke Street, he completed his studies at Clongowes. He entered the Novitiate of his Order at Dole, afterwards joining that at Avignon, whence, in the troubled days of ‘48, the Jesuit Fathers were expelled, and he had to fly to England. After a course of theology in St. Beuno’s, North Wales, and at Laval, he was ordained in Maynooth in 1859. He succeeded his brother, Father Edward Kelly, as Rector of the Jesuit College in Limerick, in which position he remained for eight years, during which he built the beautiful church of the Sacred Heart. Father Kelly passed the latter years of his life at Gardiner Street, where he laboured till his death.

Ireland lost a most distinguished son in Sir John T. Gilbert, who was called away quite suddenly on the 23rd May, 1898. Sir John Gilbert had reached his 68th year, having been born in Dublin in 1829. His first public appointment was as Secretary of the Record Office in Ireland, a position which he held until it was abolished in 1875. By command of her Majesty the Queen he edited “Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland.” Gilbert was also editor of a series of publications entitled “Historic Literature of Ireland,” and of the collection of “Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland.” He received the gold medal of the Royal Irish Academy for his antiquarian labours, and more particularly for his “History of the City of Dublin”; and as honorary Librarian of the Academy for a lengthy period, he gave a great impetus to Celtic studies by the publication of many of the most important manuscripts in the Irish language. The principal published works of Sir John Gilbert are:-“History of the City of Dublin,” 3 vols., 8vo., 1854-1859; “History of the Viceroys of Ireland from 1172**-**1509”; “Historical and Municipal Documents of Ireland, A.D. 1172-1320”; “National Manuscripts of Ireland,” “History of Affairs in Ireland, 1641-52”; “History of the Irish Confederation and the War in Ireland, 1641-43”; various Treatises on the History and Literature of Great Britain and Ireland, published by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts; “The Chartulary of the Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary, near Dublin”; “The Chartulary of Dunbrody Abbey”; “Register of the Abbey of St Thomas, Dublin”; “Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin,” and “Documents Relating to Ireland, 1795-1804.” This brilliant and cultured writer was laid to rest in Glasnevin on 26th May, 1898, and his grave will be found in the Chapel Circle.

On the 11th June, 1898, the remains of an eminent and venerable Dublin physician were interred in Glasnevin. The late Dr. Thomas FitzPatrick paid the last debt of nature on the 9th of that month, at his house, 31 Lower Baggot Street, having attained the great age of 91 years. By his death the *doyen *of the medical profession in Ireland passed away. Dr. FitzPatrick was a man of much force of character, despite his very quiet and unostentatious life. He came to Dublin from Trim, when only 14, and was apprenticed to Mr. Justin Kearnes, of William Street, whose niece he afterwards married, and subsequently became a student at the Meath Hospital, where he worked hard under Graves and Stokes, acquiring considerable distinction, and carrying off the prizes of the time. He went later to Edinburgh, and graduated in its University. About 1831 Dr. FitzPatrick commenced practice in Dublin, and in spite of many difficulties he steadily fought his way to a trout rank in his profession. All the honours that every medical society in Dublin could offer were readily bestowed on him, including the honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland.

Dr. FitzPatrick’s eldest surviving son is Sir Denis FitzPatrick, late Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, and now a member of the Indian Council in London. Another son is the Very Rev. Monsignor FitzPatrick, the esteemed Parish Priest of Rathgar, County Dublin. His eldest son was a member of the Vincentian Order, and died many years ago. Dr. FitzPatrick’s younger brother - the famous Abbot of Mount Melleray - died in 18q3. Dr. F. will be long and gratefully remembered in connection with the establishment of St. Vincent’s Private Lunatic Asylum for ladies, of which great good work he was the originator. This institution is situated at Fairview, Co. Dublin, and is now the most useful and successful Catholic Asylum in Ireland.

On 20th June, 1898, Mr. Edward Fottrell, J.P., died, after a very brief illness, at Mullranney, Co. Mayo, where he had just arrived for the benefit of his health. His remains were brought to Glasnevin, where they were interred on the 23rd of the same month. Mr. Fottrell had reached the ripe age of 78 years, and had long held a prominent and honoured position in mercantile life in Dublin. For close on a quarter of a century he was Chairman of the Dublin United Gas Company, and also filled for a great many years the office of Chairman of the Rathmines Township Commissioners, as well as acting as member of several other public bodies. For a considerable period Mr. Fottrell had a seat at the Board of the Catholic Cemeteries Committee, where his loss was much felt. His kindly disposition through life gained for him a host of friends, and the rectitude and courtesy which marked all his dealings, were universally recognised.

The Viceregal Court in Dublin was cast into mourning at the commencement of 1899, by the death, on the 2nd January, of the Hon. Mrs. Vincent Corbett, which sad event occurred at the Viceroy’s Lodge in Phoenix Park. Mrs. Corbett was the youngest daughter of Lord Alington, and sister to Viscountess Chelsea. She was seized with serious illness the day after her arrival in Dublin, and although every medical aid was at hand, she passed away. The remains of this young lady were brought from the Viceregal Lodge to the church of the Jesuit Fathers in Gardiner Street, where a *requiem *Mass was celebrated in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant and Lady Cadogan, and their immediate relatives and *entourage, *as well as most of the other prominent personages in Dublin. At the conclusion of the service, the remains were conveyed to Glasnevin Cemetery, where the interment took place on 5th January, 1899. The Hon. Mrs. Corbett was a convert to the Catholic Church.

The death of Dr. Michael Austin Boyd, on 6th March, 1899, came with a shock upon the medical profession and the public alike. Dr. Boyd began practice in Kingstown, where his sterling qualities and intrinsic merits gained him a large and remunerative connection. On the establishment of St. Michael’s Hospital in that township he was selected as chief of its surgical staff, and by the good work which he did amongst the sick poor of that important district, as well as by the value of his contributions to medical literature, his fame rapidly extended. In 1882 he was appointed unanimously as one of the physicians to the premier hospital of Ireland - the Mater Misericordiae, where his skilful treatment was in constant requisition up to the time of his untimely death. During those years no man ever devoted himself to the interests of the afflicted under his charge with more signal utility, more untiring zeal, greater personal kindliness and charity, and more complete self-abnegation than Dr. M. A. Boyd. In addition to his eminence in his profession, Dr. Boyd attained much distinction in the artistic world of Dublin, where he frequently exhibited his exquisite works at the Exhibition of Water Colours in Molesworth Street. At the time of his death Dr. Boyd was in the prime of life, and it was in the hunting field be contracted a chill which quickly developed into acute pneumonia. His funeral to Glasnevin on 9th March was a remarkable demonstration of the esteem in which he was held both by the members of his own profession and by the general public. What made the occasion sadder was the fact that Dr. Boyd was accompanied to the grave by the remains of his devoted mother, an estimable lady, whose strength did not withstand the shock of her son’s death, and she passed away within a few hours.

The announcement of the death of Mr. William Hague, F.R.I.A.I., on March 22nd, 1899, was received with general regret throughout Ireland. Mr. Hague was one of the ablest members of the Architectural profession in this country, and designed very many of the most important religious and secular edifices in Dublin and in the provinces. His remains were brought to Glasnevin for interment.

On the 14th of March, 1899, while riding “Dunlough” in the Meath Hunt Cup, at Navan races, Mr. Leonard Sheil, a well-known and most popular gentleman, was badly thrown, and received shocking injuries. He lingered until the 23rd, and, although attended by the most skilful doctors, he gradually grew weaker, and passed away. Mr. Sheil had formerly qualified for the Solicitors’ profession, but relinquished its practice, being more attracted by the vigorous pursuits of hunting and the training of racers. An immense following of friends attended the funeral of this popular young sportsman to the beautiful necropolis at Glasnevin on the 25th of March, 1899.

On the 25th April, 1899, a famous Irish wit passed away in the person of Dr. Thomas Nedley. At the ripe age of 80 years he died at his residence, 4 Cavendish Row, Dublin, having been in failing health for a considerable time. During his illness he had been constantly attended with skill and devotion by Dr. Conway Dwyer, one of his colleagues on the Board of the Catholic Cemeteries Committee. Dr. Nedley’s loss will long be keenly felt by his numerous friends, and his death has created a void in the Cemeteries Committee which it will not be easy to fill. This genial man was highly gifted, and with him the last - or one of the last-of the old school of Irish wits and *raconteurs *may be said to have disappeared. He was a contemporary and intimate friend of the late Father Healy, of Bray, who was still more remarkable as a brilliant wit. Mr. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., thus notices an almost national loss:- “Everybody in Dublin knew, and there were few that did not love, Tom Nedley. There was an infectious good humour, a rollicking air, a heart in the man, that made everyone take to him at once. Tall, well-proportioned, “with fine, deep brown eyes, always full of merriment, and not incapable of emotion, he was a splendid specimen of an Irish gentleman. He had almost to the end a beautiful voice, a keen appreciation of Irish humour, a ready wit, mimetic powers, and a quick ear, so that he could give you the 32 different accents of the 32 counties of Ireland. In his stories, which rolled out in a perennial stream, you saw and heard all the characters as in a play with many players, so well was he able to make his characters live by his wonderful powers. He lived till nearly his 80th year. Peace to his ashes, kind, brilliant fellow that he was.” His remains rest in a plot adjoining that in which the ashes of his life-long friend, Father Healy, repose. He was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery, 27th April, 1899.

The Very Rev. William Walsh, D.D., O.S.A., Prior of St. Augustine and John’s, died at the convent of his Order in Thomas Street, Dublin, on 2nd April, 1899. This venerable priest was in his 80th year, and had ministered for the greater part of his ecclesiastical life in the place where he passed away, and it can truly be said of him that his long years of zeal and devotion, spent in the service of religion and charity, have produced abundant fruit. The new church of St. Augustine, Thomas Street - which replaced the old “John’s Lane Chapel” - is an edifice which for architectural beauty and extent of accommodation, takes high rank amongst the most important of the city churches. Its erection is chiefly due to the combined energies of Father Walsh and another eminent member of the Order, Father Crean, subsequently Bishop of Sandhurst. The Rev. Prior Walsh’s remains were brought to Glasnevin for interment on the 5th of April, 1899.

The announcement of the death of Dr. Joseph F. Kenny, Coroner for the City of Dublin, ex-M.P., which occurred on the 9th April, 1900, came as a great shock. Although his constitution was far from being robust, his death was most unexpected. Dr. Kenny, who attained the age of 55, was born at Chapelizod. He was for several years one of the medical officers of the North Dublin Union, in which capacity he rendered valuable service to the sick poor in the small-pox hospital and Convalescent home of the Union; and the Guardians, in testimony of those services, put on record “their deep sense of the Courage, spirit, and ability with which he discharged the trying and perilous duties committed to him in time of public alarm and danger, of the kindliness and skill which marked his conduct towards the patients under his charge, and of the readiness which he at all times displayed in co-operating with the Board and the Officers of the Union in alleviating the evils caused by the lamentable epidemic.”

In 1885 he was elected Nationalist Member of Parliament for South Cork, and represented that Constituency with credit to himself and benefit to the district until Parliament was dissolved. He for some, years subsequently represented in the Imperial Parliament the College Green division, City of Dublin. He was an unflinching supporter of Mr. Charles S Parnell’s Policy, and at the time of the “split” in the National ranks, continued an ardent follower and supporter of his chief. Mr. Parnell often stayed with Dr. Kenny, and his house in Rutland Square, it is stated, was the rendezvous of the principal men of the party, where they met in Conclave and made plans when confronted with critical Issues.

Dr. Kenny was on the executive of every Nationalist movement of his day. He was imprisoned for nearly six months in Kilmainham as a “suspect” during the Chief Secretaryship of the Right Hon. Mr. Forster. He subscribed large sums of money towards the maintenance of the National struggle, while to the poor he was always a thoughtful and liberal benefactor. He was one of the founders and directors of the ‘Independent’ Newspapers Company, and Continued to be on its Board up to the time of his death. He was a man of refinement and culture, and took a deep interest in literary and artistic movements. He was elected Coroner for the City of Dublin in 1892, which post he filled up to the period of his death. The plot in Glasnevin Cemetery selected for his burial is situated in the same section as that of the late Mr. Parnell’s. Although plots are not disposed of in that section, yet on application being made by the friends of Dr. Kenny, the Cemeteries Committee in this instance allowed the site to be secured. His burial took place on the 11th April, 1900.

On the 2nd July, 1900, Sir Thomas Farrell, President of the Royal Hibernian Academy, died at his residence Redesdale, Stillorgan, County Dublin, aged 70 years. The Irish Times in its issue of the 5th July, in noticing the death of this distinguished 4! Irishman, stated that:- “The public will learn with sincere regret of the death of the distinguished President of the Royal Hibernian Academy. Sir Thomas Farrell was the successor of Foley and Hogan; he maintained after these pre-eminent masters the best traditions of the Irish School of Sculpture. His career was a most remarkable one. Himself one of the most retiring of men, he was urged by the sheer pressure of his talent into the highest position that an Irish artist can fill in his own land. He adorned his native city with some of its most exquisite artistic ornaments, which will stand for all time in our midst as monuments as much of the great genius who carved them, as of the famous personages whom they represent.

There was one unique feature in the accomplishments of Farrell - he was equally successful in relief, in bust work, and in statuary. Born in Dublin in 1829, he was the son of Terence Farrell, a Royal Hibernian academician, and reared in an atmosphere impregnated with artistic instincts, his brothers and he followed the profession of their father. His early days were passed in a time when the fine arts were more generously patronised in Ireland; and shortly after he became an exhibitor, his work came into great request. One of the first works that made him prominent was the magnificent bas-relief representing the last charge at Waterloo, designed for the Wellington Column in the Phoenix Park. His work was accepted after public competition, and has always been regarded as the glory of the great national memorial to the greatest of Irish soldiers. The action of the horses as they seem to spring from the bronze, the energy of the men, are a revelation in relief work. He was never afterwards seen to more magnificent advantage, and in a city rich in artistic treasures of the fine arts. Another of his early works which clearly revealed uncommon genius, was his memorial to Captain Boyd in the Cathedral of St. Patrick, the figure of which with its spirit of athleticism and courage can compete with anything of the kind with which we are familiar. His statue of Smith O’Brien standing at the head of D’Olier Street is another piece of sculpture which places him high in the foremost ranks of his splendid profession. The statue is one of the glories of the city, worthy of its contiguity to the masterpieces of Foley. The figures of Sir John Gray in Sackville Street, of Cardinal Cullen in the Pro-Cathedral, of Archbishop MacHale in the Square at Tuam, of Bishop Butler in Limerick, the seated figures of Sir Alexander M’Donald in front of the Central Model Schools and of Lord Ardilaun in St. Stephen’s Green Park, the full-length figure of Lord O’Hagan and of Richard Lalor Sheil in the ball of the Four Courts, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness facing Patrick’s Close, Sir Robert Stewart, the famous Irish musician, in Leinster Lawn, Denis Florence M’Carthy, the poet, a; Blackrock College, are a few of the immortal works which he chiselled. He was also the creator of the statues of Archbishop Murray in the Pro-Cathedral, Marlborough Street, of the Protestant Archbishop Whately, and of the famous Irish actor, Barry Sullivan, in Glasnevin Cemetery. Amongst his other works may be mentioned the imposing statue of the Queen at the entrance of the Guildhal in Derry, which was unveiled some 12 or 15 months ago by the Lord Lieutenant. Hkis recumbent figure of Cardinal MacCabe over that illustrious churchman’s grave at Glasnevin is one of the finest of its kind to be seen almost anywhere, and the busts from his studio, which must have been extraordinarily numerous, include those of Mr. Thomas Sexton in the City Hall, Sir John Gray in Glasnevin Cemetery, Sir Patrick Keenan at Tyrone House, and Father Reffe at Blackrock College.

On the death of Sir Thomas Jones in 1893, Farrell was elected President of the Royal Hibernian Academy, and the following year he received the honour of knighthood. In that exalted position he made strenuous efforts to secure an increased Government grant for instruction in draughtsmanship and painting in Ireland, but he failed to obtain more than the small sum of £300 annually voted. Sir Thomas was a constant exhibitor at the Royal Hibernian Academy. At the last Exhibition he showed a beautiful gilt group representing Rescue, but he was less successful in the imaginative than in the realistic branches of his art. The chief and characteristic features of his best work were strength of outline, command over facial expression and grace of pose. In private life Sir Thomas was essentially a retiring man. Diffident to an extraordinary degree, he never seemed satisfied with his finished work, and it is related that on one occasion at the moment of the unveiling of one of his most important pieces he rushed from the building lest the result of his labours might appear to him unsatisfactory. He never married, and may be said to have lived entirely with his work and his art, but by those who knew him intimately he was greatly beloved. His memory will remain green amongst Irishmen so long as his masterpieces stand in our midst, and his achievements will ever remain in conjunction with those of Foley and Hogan, Barry and Maclise, as a magnificent demonstration of the artistic instinct and capacity of Irishmen.” The burial (which was private) of Sir Thomas Farrell took place at Glasnevin Cemetery on the 4th July, 1900.

The Cemeteries Committee, in the death of Mr. James Spring, which occurred on the 12th July, 1900, lost one of its most respected and useful members. He had been a member of the Board for nearly a quarter of a century.

On the 14th July, 1900, the Cemeteries Committee lost another of its most valued and highly respected members by the death of the Right Hon. Joseph M. Meade, P.C., LL. D., When it became known in the city that Alderman Meade was dead, expressions of sorrow were heard on all sides, as he had by his many good qualities, his genial disposition, his noble and upright character, endeared himself to all with whom he came in contact. In politics, Alderman Meade was always a strong Nationalist, and backed up his opinions in a most liberal manner with his purse.

In the year 1890, when the division took place in the Nationalist ranks, the deceased alderman ranged himself on the side of Mr. Parnell, and during the time of the “split” was a most earnest supporter of the principles of Parnellism. Alderman Meade, who was born in 1839, was a son of the late Michael Meade, Esq., J.P., of St. Michael’s, Merrion, and Great Brunswick Street, Dublin. In due course Alderman Meade entered his father’s building works, and after acquiring a thorough knowledge of the trade, was taken into partnership in the firm.

On the death of his father, the deceased alderman succeeded to the business, and under his management it grew to huge dimensions, some idea of which may be gathered from the fact that, on an average, 900 men were kept employed there. Several exceedingly large contracts have been carried out by the firm since it came under the control of the late Alder man - notably all the masonry work in connection with the Loop Line railway, Bray Catholic church, numerous Artisans’ dwellings, the beautiful Convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor, South Circular Road, and Guinness’s printing works; while the firm were also contractors to the Board of Works, and at the time [“of his death were”? There is a small section torn from this paragraph. KF] engaged in erecting, amongst other buildings [?.KF] at Marino. What a busy man Alderman [“Meade was may be gathered”? KF] from the fact that, in addition to presiding so ably over the flourishing firm in Brunswick Street, he was Chairman of the Hibernian Bank; Director of Messrs. Bolands (Limited), the Ocean Accident Guarantee Corporation, the Liverpool, London, and Globe Insurance Company; Member of the Privy Council; Alderman of the Corporation, and as such, a member of the Finances and Leases and Rates Committees, and a member of the Port and Docks Board. He was elected to the Corporation on the 25th November, i886, as Alderman of the Trinity Ward, in succession to the late Sir James William Mackey.

In 1889 he was selected to fill the office of High Sheriff, and did so with honour to himself, and credit to the city. In 1891 he was appointed Lord Mayor, and so successful were his efforts in the interests of the citizens, that he was re-elected for the year 1892. During the Tercentenary celebrations of Trinity College, he had bestowed on him the honorary degree of LL.D.

In 1893 he was appointed a Privy Councillor. In 1892 he was co-opted a member of the Loan Fund Board, where his advice was always sought on account of his great business capacity. He was one of the trustees of the Cemeteries. His remains were interred in Glasnevin Cemetery on 17th July, 1900.

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