May Day

The first of the month, I walk by the bay

Weather is glorious, oh do try and stay

Gentle breeze embraces

My heart now races

Feeling lucky, on this beautiful May Day

Scotsman’s Bay, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin

Count John McCormack

John McCormack, the lyric tenor, was born on the 14^th June 1884 in Athlone, County Westmeath. He was one of eleven children born to Andrew McCormack and Hannah Watson, both of whom were from Galashiels, Scotland and his father was foreman in the Athlone Woollen Mills. He was baptised in St Mary’s Church, Athlone, on 23 June 1884.

Count John McCormack

He went to school in Athlone before attending Summerhill College, Sligo. When his family moved to Dublin he sang in the St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral choir, and it was here that his young talent was first noticed. In 1903 he entered the prestigious Feis Ceoil competition and won the gold medal. The following year he practised with and helped James Joyce, a young man who also had ambitions of becoming a singer, but sadly for Joyce he only won the bronze medal.

In 1905 he set off for Italy where he was trained by Vincenzo Sabatini, the renowned voice coach, before making his operatic debut on the 13th of January 1906 in Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz at the Teatro Chiabrera, Savona. In 1907 he had his first operatic performance in Covent Garden, London, in Cavalleria rusticana, becoming the theatre’s youngest principal tenor. Later, he partnered Nellie Melba, the most famous soprano at the time, and performed there for eight consecutive seasons.

In 1909 he toured the major cities of America, and his recordings were hugely successful. Later he stepped back from appearing in operas and preferred to give recitals which proved to be both perfect, and profitable, for him. He was the first artist to record It’s a Long Way to Tipperary; and Keep The Home Fires Burning in 1917. And, due to his singing and support of various Catholic charities he received the title of Papal Count in 1928.

He returned to Ireland and bought Glena on Rock Road, Booterstown for the fresh, sea air as his health was suffering due to worsening emphysema. He died on 16^th September 1945 and was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin.

Glena, Rock Road, Booterstown

Photo: Eddie Hanlon

James Joyce’s Houses

If James Joyce was familiar with anything he certainly knew what it was like to change address. From the time he was born – 2^nd February 1882 – he and his family lived a peripatetic existence moving from one house to another, sometimes only staying in a place for a few months. This downward spiral was due to his father’s misuse of money and his increasing consumption of alcohol.

41 Brighton Square, Rathgar

There are at least eighteen addresses recorded before James Joyce decided to leave Dublin in 1904 with Nora Barnacle, and begin a new life in Europe. Three addresses of note are: 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar; 7 St Peter’s Road, Phibsborough and the Martello Tower in Sandycove.

James Joyce was born at 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, a new and fashionable neighbourhood in the southwest of the city. By 1884, however, the pattern of ‘upping sticks’ and moving on had begun with each subsequent house reflecting Joyce senior’s dwindling finances.

By 1902 the family arrived at 7 St. Peter’s Road, Phibsborough. And it was here that Joyce’s mother, May, died, something that troubled him greatly for the rest of his life. He uses it in Ulysses where Stephen Dedalus ponders the loss of his mother and the burden it is to him. A plaque on the front of the house says, ‘The Family Home of James Joyce, author of Ulysses, 1902-1904’.

In the summer of 1904 he was invited by a friend, Oliver St. John Gogarty, to share his new abode in Sandycove. Gogarty had just rented the vacant Martello Tower and needed another paying tenant to cover the bills. Joyce moved in on the 9^th September but left on the 14^th. Gogarty reckoned that Joyce’s departure was due to an incident that involved a loaded gun late one night. However traumatised Joyce was from the experience he still deemed the place important enough to set the opening scene of his magnum opus on the roof as Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus take in the view of Dublin Bay.

Martello Tower, Sandycove

Dublin’s Georgian Squares – Southside

St Stephen’s Green: Of all the Georgian squares in Dublin St Stephen’s has the longest history having been an area where farm animals once grazed. It gets its name from an old leper hospital dedicated to St Stephen where Mercer’s Hospital now stands. In 1663 the Dublin Corporation decided to raise funds by selling land for the construction of 96 plots, and a wall was erected around the green in 1664. Many two-storey houses were built, but by the mid-1750s these were replaced by the Georgian houses with which we are familiar.

The pond from O’Connell Bridge

The layout of 22-acre site was carried out by William Sheppard, and it comprises many interesting features, notably a pond that is crossed by O’Connell Bridge – the second bridge in the city with that name!

The land was purchased by Lord Aridlaun (a member of the Guinness family) in 1880, and access was made available to the general public. There are many statues on show, including those of James Joyce, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Theobald Wolf Tone and the Fusiliers’ Arch.

Merrion Square: When the Duke of Leinster built his palatial home (now Leinster House) in 1748 it was the impetus for many developers to start building south of the Liffey. The layout of Merrion Square (11 acres) started in 1762 and continued for 30 years. Owned by the Catholic Church, which had planned to erect a cathedral there, access was made available to the general public in 1974 when Archbishop Dermot Ryan leased the property to Dublin Corporation. Some of the famous people who have lived ‘on the square’ include Oscar Wilde, Daniel O’Connell, AE Russell, WB Yeats and Sheridan Le Fanu.

Oscar Wilde relaxing in Merrion Square

Fitzwilliam Square: it is the smallest of the city’s Georgian squares (3.7 acres) and also the last to be completed. Richard Fitzwilliam developed the site, hence its name, and work continued from 1789 for three years. It comprised 69 townhouses, and access to the park is available to these keyholders only. The artist Jack B. Yeats lived in No. 18.

Blooming Great!

Bloomsday 100 was a bright and memorable experience. The sun shone and the Bloomers (those partaking in the celebrations) were in fine fettle, whether singing, dancing or just looking properly suited and booted for the Big Day. The large crowd in Glasthule, a short walk from the famous Martello Tower in Sandycove, was colourful with quite a few James Joyce lookalikes on show. The music from a local group was engaging and had many feet happily tapping along. Enticing aromas drifted from the restaurants and there was much chat and laughter in the air. My friends (Brendan & Luke) suspected that if Joyce had arrived into the lively scene he would definitely have approved – and had a glass or two! YES, I said, oh YESSSS!

A Bloomin’ Great Day!

Bloomsday Breakfast

Breakfast of kidney, and a cup of tea

Licking his lips, Bloom’s near rea-dy

One bite to savour

Oh, what a flavour

Must have more, before serving Moll-y

Blooming Breakfast!

She lay in bed, as he entered the room

Darling, tea and toast, just as you like

Ah, ta, she said from her sleepy gloom

Yes, and an obsequious pose he did strike

Tea, my dear

Don Cameron 2022

The Little Museum of Dublin

It may indeed be little but the museum is big on the history of Dublin, with many pictures, drawings and artifacts bringing the story to life. Our tour guide, Trevor, was engaging with those in the group, as he pointed to various items in the collection before telling of their background, and often with a humorous tale to add to its importance.

The museum is ten years old, and many of the exhibits have been donated by Dubliners who wished for them to be seen in such a place. These treasured items – movie posters, road signs, a milk bottle from the 1988 one thousandth year celebration of Dublin’s beginning, and many more – have now found a fine home, and they help ‘flesh out’ the city’s history in a way that is accessible, and fun.

Harry Clarke’s glass is class!

We found out about the history of St Stephen’s Green, its development, and the part it played in the Easter Rising. After a few questions from various group members I was amazed to find out that during the fighting in and around The Green there was a one-hour ceasefire each day during hostilities. What for, we thought, only to find out that the time was used by Park Rangers to feed the local ducks! That, not surprisingly, got a warm response, as did many of the other stories we heard.

There are signed papers by Eamon de Valera, Countess Markievicz and a beautiful piece of stained-glass by Harry Clarke, that shimmered in the sunlight. I noted a key to The Green that a resident would have owned, before the place was bought by Lord Ardilaun (Sir Arthur Guinness) and opened to the public on the 27^th July 1880.

You can see photographs of Dublin from over the years, and of many of its native sons and daughters and their contribution to the world of arts, sports and beyond.

It’s a must see.

On your bike!

Dublin Writers Museum – House of Words

The Georgian building, is the perfect place

With works so fine, for us to embrace

From bottom to top

It’s got such a lot

Be in literary heaven, a state of grace

A wordy place

Take in books and papers, from Swift to Joyce

And paintings aplenty, there’s so much choice

First editions to savour

Many styles and flavour

Great images created, by each unique voice

Room with a Few…famous names

Handel waved music, while he sat on his chair

Beckett hated the phone, he just didn’t care

From Stoker to Drac

Just watch your back

As there’s much to enjoy, of their wordy flair

Dublin Writers’ Museum – House of Words

Oliver St. John Gogarty – Polymath

He was a man of many talents and was born in 5, Rutland Square (now Parnell Square) on 17^th August 1878 the eldest of four children. His father, Henry, was a successful physician and his mother, Margaret, who was from Galway. Henry died when Oliver was eight years old, and he was sent to school in Mungret College in Limerick before transferring to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire which he described as ‘a religious jail’.  He returned to Ireland in 1896 and attended Clongowes Wood College, Kildare, before studying medicine in Trinity College, and graduated in 1907. He went to Vienna to finish his studies and specialised in otolaryngology (Ear, Nose & Throat). Later, he had consulting rooms in Ely Place and was a member of staff at the Meath Hospital until he went to America. 

Plaque outside 5, Parnell Square East, Dublin

A keen sportsman he enjoyed cricket, football (he played for Bohemians FC) and a fine swimmer who saved four people from drowning. He wrote poetry and his poem Tailteann Ode won a bronze medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Among his friends he counted WB Yeats, AE Russell, James Stephens and James Joyce. When Gogarty rented the Martello Tower at Sandycove in 1904 he invited Joyce to stay. He, however, stayed only a few nights, but used the place in the opening scene of Ulysses and immortalised Gogarty in his character Malachi ‘Buck’ Mulligan. 

Martello Tower in Sandycove, Dublin

A close friend of Arthur Griffith he was an early member of Sinn Fein, and became a Senator. In 1922 when Griffith died on 12th August 1922 he performed the autopsy, and did the same for Michael Collins who died less than two weeks later.

In 1917 he and his wife Martha Duane, who was from Galway, bought Renvyle, a large house in Connemara. It was burnt down in 1923 but was rebuilt and operates to this day as Renvyle House. He moved to America where he spent his final years, and he died on the 22nd September 1957 in New York. He is buried in Ballinakill cemetery, near Renvyle.  

Portrait by Sir William Orpen

Birthday Boy

J ust another day, but what a real treat

A ll are ready, they’re out in the street

M any a loud cheer

E cho far and near

S alute to you, sir, now I must send a tweet!

James Joyce in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin

J immy’s big day, and we all wish him well

O ver in Paris, his book he can now sell

Y ES, it’s a winner

C ome saint or sinner

E veryone can enjoy, the story he does tell

My beautiful three-volume Ulysses, signed by Seamus Heaney on Bloomsday 2009. James Joyce was born in Rathgar, Dublin on 2-February-1882