Poet, Madman, Scoundrel

by David Slattery

  17 See the opening of Chapter 2 – Saints and Sinners of the Irish Tradition – for more details on Palladian’s very brief missionary career in Ireland.

  18 Marwood appears at another hanging in Rope for Humanity in Chapter 2.

  19 Hall collected a selection of his (Hall’s) journalism in Random Records of a Reporter (The Fodhla Printing Company, Dublin 1928). Hall wrote for the Freeman’s Journal, or the Journal as it was popularly called, which was Ireland’s oldest nationalist newspaper and was in print from 1763 to 1924.

  20 This conflict was known outside of Ireland as the Russo-Turkish Wars.

  21 The Irish Land League was a nineteenth-century political organisation that campaigned for the transfer of landlords’ estates to their tenant farmers who actually worked the land.

  22 Also known as the Home Rule Party, this political party sought to establish an Irish Parliament, as a constituent part of the United Kingdom, to exercise a range of powers devolved to it from Westminster. While Home Rule was a legally complex proposal that made many attorneys happy, in the Irish context it usually simply meant independence.

  23 A career in Irish history often involved quotation marks. Being a “doctor” is a recurring historical profession in Ireland.

  24 The Irish Citizen Army was a group organised from trade union volunteers, specifically for the protection of workers from the police during labour demonstrations. It was formed by James Larkin (1876–1947) and Jack White (1879–1946). It took part, along with the Irish Volunteers (a nationalist military organisation) and the IRB, in the 1916 Rising.

  25 The 1916 Rising took place in the middle of the First World War, 1914–1918, which provided the wider backdrop to events in Ireland.

  26 See A Musing in Chapter 6 for more details on Maud Gonne and her relationship with the poet and playwright William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), who was obsessed with her. Gonne was an English-born Irish revolutionary, feminist and actress. She turned down at least four proposals of marriage from Yeats, so he greatly resented her marrying MacBride.

  27 There is a mesmerising range of republican organisations in Irish history because new ones were springing up all the time, splitting, reforming and merging with others. Some were just for women. Cumann na mBan (the Irish Women’s Council) was a republican organisation formed in 1914 as the women’s branch of the Irish Volunteers.

  28 Clan na Gael (the Family of the Gaels) was formed in the late nineteenth century in America as the successor to the Fenian Brotherhood – see Beneath the Green Waves in Chapter 5 for details on some of the activities of the Brotherhood.

  29 The Fianna was not another organisation. It is used as another name for the Irish Volunteers.

  30 The reason why Markievicz was not executed is explained in Only Men Go Out with a Bang below. There are several controversial suggestions as to why de Valera was not shot but one plausible reason was the fact that he was an American citizen, which may have saved his life. It is unclear why Ashe was not shot. One theory is that he was amongst the last to be tried and by then the authorities had tired of shooting people. In any case, he died in September of the following year after being force-fed on hunger strike in Mountjoy Gaol.

  31 The national theatre founded in 1903 by W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory (1852–1932). The theatre’s agenda was to invest in and promote Irish writers and artists.

  32 Sinn Féin (We Ourselves) is a republican political party founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith (1872–1922). Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland) was a radical nationalist women’s organisation led by Maud Gonne from 1900 until 1914, when it merged with Cumann na mBan.

  33 The Dublin Lockout was an often violent industrial dispute involving 300 employers and 20,000 workers that lasted from August 1913 until January 1914, when the beaten workforce went back to work.

  34 This was the name given to the mass resignation of commissions by British Army officers stationed in Kildare when apparently ordered to march against Ulster Unionists. The British Government backed down, claiming the original order had been misinterpreted by the commanding officer.

  35 Seán T. O’Kelly (1882–1966) became the second president of Ireland in 1945.

  36 For more on Joyce see Sticking with Joyce in Chapter 6.

  37 Herbert Kitchener (1850–1916) was an Irish-born British field marshal who became Secretary of State for War during the First World War. His was the face on the famous British “Wants You” war recruitment poster.

  38 Daniel M’Naghten gave his name to these tests for insanity, which must have pleased him. He had attempted to assassinate the British Prime Minister in 1843. If you pass the tests you may be found “not guilty by reason of insanity” or “guilty but insane”.

  39 Stockholm syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy with, and even develop positive feelings towards, their captors, usually to the point of defending them.

  40 A Psalter is a book containing the Book of Psalms. Many were highly illuminated and were objects of great value.

  41 Many people think he came to Galway in 1497 but by then he had already discovered America so why would he still be gathering evidence of a land to the west? Perhaps he returned to the city several times like most contemporary tourists.

  42 About €5.3 million in contemporary currency values.

  43 Devil’s Island (Île du Diable) was a notorious island prison used to detain French convicts between 1852 and 1946. Henri Charrière wrote the bestselling Papillon, later made into a film with Dustin Hoffman, detailing his successful escape from the island on a raft made from coconuts. A surprising number of Irish people ended up there by breaking the law in a French jurisdiction. Guerin was sent there because he committed his robbery in Paris.

  44 For more on the life and death of Markievicz, see Only Men Go Out with a Bang in Chapter 1.

  45 In the nineteenth century the demand for human cadavers soared with the growth of anatomy demonstrations in medical colleges. In the beginning, demand was met through the use of bodies of executed criminals. However, as demand outstripped supply and criminals couldn’t get themselves executed in sufficient numbers, the shortage of corpses discouraged many medical schools from questioning their suppliers too closely. Criminal elements were attracted to this lucrative trade and body snatchers, also known as resurrectionists, resorted to grave robbing to supply the market.

  46 About €450 in contemporary currency values.

  47 Like public hanging, this is yet another one-time popular entertainment no longer available to us. See the section Rope for Humanity at the end of this chapter for an example of the decline in the public nature of hanging.

  48 The celebration of a saint’s feast day was known as a pattern.

  49 In the days of sailing ships, old or worn-out ships that had their rigging removed were called “hulks”. These were sometimes used as floating prisons where prisoners would serve out their sentences or wait to be transported overseas.

  50 Parramatta is now a suburb of Sydney.

  51 This is an expansion rate to rival that of the great Anglo Irish Bank at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

  52 You may, like me, not be familiar with what are called “complex financial instruments”. But, as they say in the banking world, there is no need for you to understand these instruments. Just trust them.

  53 Prussic acid is better known as cyanide.

  54 About €88,000 and €220,000 respectively in contemporary currency values.

  55 About €350 in contemporary currency values.

  56 Approximately €500,000 in contemporary currency values.

  57 About €3 million in contemporary currency values.

  58 These rules are discussed in Murder in a Time of War in Chapter 1.

  59 The Letterfrack murders remain shrouded in mystery. From the vague reports in the Irish Times in 1882, it is difficult to unravel the facts. John Lydon and his son Martin were attacked at their home in April 1881. Seven or eight men
were involved. The two were dragged outside and shot. John died immediately but Martin lived long enough, according to his mother, to supposedly identify one of the killers as Patrick Walsh. But, while dying after the assault, Martin Lydon swore a deposition that he couldn’t identify his assassins. However, Patrick Walsh was twice put on trial. While his defence team argued that Lydon had been unable to identify his attacker, John Lydon’s wife contributed damning hearsay evidence of Martin’s dying testimony. Other witnesses, who were popularly believed to be the real culprits, changed their evidence about Patrick Walsh’s dress in what seemed like an afterthought to clinch a conviction. There was definitely reasonable doubt, as having to stage two trials proves. A leading witness for the prosecution, Constable Kavanagh, was subsequently shot dead outside Letterfrack Barracks in February 1882. Walsh’s brother Michael was also sentenced to death for the murder but that sentence was commuted to penal servitude.

  60 For more on Marwood’s work see The Vincible Invincibles in Chapter 1.

  61 In the tenth century, Ireland was divided into six centres of power. These were the five provinces of Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, Munster and Meath, which comprised parts of Leinster and Ulster. The sixth was the mainly Norse or Viking Dublin.

  62 The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil Wars. It was comprised of full-time professionals rather than the more usual part-time militia. Its leaders were prohibited from taking seats in Parliament, which encouraged a separation between them and the political and religious factions among the Parliamentarians. The army’s generals could rely both on its internal discipline and its religious zeal to maintain a dictatorial rule. In the end it went out of control, ultimately overthrowing Parliament as well as the King, and enforcing a Commonwealth by direct military rule. The English were almost as happy as the Irish to see the end of Cromwell and his newfangled army.

  63 About €23 in contemporary currency values.

  64 Nowadays these are called drinking toasts. While it is now common practice to use a toast to praise someone, back then they were often opportunities to make vulgar comments in public on unpopular officers, and their wives and daughters.

  65 Asunción was later renamed Paraguay.

  66 An outnumbered Indian and British force under the command of Wellesley defeated the Maratha Imperial Army at the Battle of Assaye in 1803. This battle was part of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. The battle was Wellesley’s first major victory. This success, combined with others, ultimately led to the defeat of the Maratha Empire in 1804, which in turn led to the British becoming the dominant power in India.

  67 During the wider Napoleonic Wars, the Peninsular War was the name given to the conflict which was fought on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from 1807 to 1814, between France and Spain against Britain and Portugal, and then France against Spain, Britain and Portugal.

  68 Approximately €16.5 million in contemporary currency values.

  69 Daniel O’Connell, who is often referred to as “The Liberator” or “The Emancipator”, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the nineteenth century.

  70 The Black and Tans were a makeshift paramilitary unit, composed largely of British veterans of the First World War, who were employed by the British authorities to suppress the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence. The moniker arose from the colour of the improvised uniforms worn by its members. Although originally established to target the IRA, the Black and Tans became notorious for their attacks on the Irish civilian population.

  71 Séan Russell was the leader of a faction following a post-1922 split within the IRA.

  72 University College Dublin is the largest university in Ireland. While Trinity College is known as Trinners, surprisingly UCD has no diminutive form.

  73 See the example of Percy French in The Non-Applications of Engineering in Chapter 7 for a guide on how best to spend your time as an engineering student.

  74 The Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake was a lottery established in 1930 to finance hospitals. One of the organisers was Richard Duggan, who was a bookmaker. This sweepstake was popular in Britain and America. The winner was determined on the outcome of several horse races, including the Irish Grand National. Because the Adelaide Hospital’s governors disapproved of gambling, that was the only hospital not to accept money from the Hospitals Trust, which distributed the profits.

  75 There are three mainstream traditional forms of wrestling: Cumberland, Freestyle and Greco-Roman. In Cumberland wrestling, both contestants start with their arms locked around each other, their chins resting on the right shoulder of the other. You lose if you lose your grip or if any part of your body except your feet touches the ground. Freestyle wrestling is also called catch-as-catch-can because it allows the wrestler to catch hold of his opponent anywhere he can. No holds are barred. It is derived from a number of traditional styles, including English folk and Irish collar-and-elbow wrestling. Freestyle wresters win by their opponent’s submission or pinning. Greco-Roman doesn’t allow holding below the waist and wrestlers in this style win through throws, pin falls or points scored during three two-minute rounds.

  76 This enlightened boxing code was published in 1867 as “The Queensberry Rules for the Sport of Boxing”. There are twelve Queensberry Rules. John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, publicly endorsed the code, thereby giving it his name. This is the same Queensberry who was sued for libel by Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), whose family are detailed in Family Ties in Chapter 6. By 1889 the Queensberry Rules had come into use in America.

  77 John L. (Lawrence) Sullivan, also known as the Boston Strong Boy, was the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle boxing under the London Prize Ring Rules and the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing under the Queensberry Rules. He was the first American sports hero to become a national celebrity and the first American athlete to earn over one million dollars.

  78 Hermann Göring was a leading member of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. He was commander-in-chief of the air force from 1935 until the final days of the Second World War in 1945. In 1941 Hitler designated him as his successor and deputy in all his offices. Göring commited suicide after being sentenced to death by the Nuremberg Trials, which were a series of military tribunals held by the victorious Allied Forces to prosecute the leaders of Hitler’s Third Reich.

  Joseph Goebbels, who had a doctorate in literature, was the Nazi Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He was probably Hitler’s most devoted follower. As a one-time failed novelist he ultimately exercised total control over the German media, arts and all public communications. Goebbels had his six children killed before both he and his wife committed suicide in Hitler’s bunker in Berlin at the end of the Second World War.

  79 It is traditional in football circles to claim that Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known by his nickname Pelé, is the best footballer ever, but naturally fans will persist in debating these matters forever.

  80 Collectively, the Vanderbilts are the seventh wealthiest family in history. Their fortune was established by Cornelius Vanderbilt, who left school aged eleven and went on to build a railroad and shipping empire. Cornelius’s son and heir William Henry extended the family fortune to become the richest man in the world by the time of his death in 1877. The family’s prominence lasted until the late twentieth century when most of their many mansions were torn down. Other Vanderbilt homes have been sold or turned into museums.

  81 See Beneath the Green Waves in Chapter 5 for details of the Fenian invasion of Canada.

  82 Approximately €65,000 in contemporary currency values.

  83 See footnote on “doctoring” in Chapter 1. Quotation marks are not needed in the horse doctoring profession because “horse doctor” and horse doctor is the same thing in the imagination of a nervous sick horse.

  84 The “Hall”, which served as the Tammany Society’s headquarte
rs, was built in 1830 on East 14th St in New York. Tammany Hall became the centre for the Democratic Party’s control of most of the New York City elections. It played a major role in dominating New York politics by helping immigrants, most notably the influx of Irish after the Famine, to rise up in American politics. Many became ward bosses.

  85 The Tammany Hall ward boss served as the local vote gatherer and provider of patronage. Effectively, they were enforcers of party policy. Tammany Hall became synonymous with wide-spread political corruption, most notably under William H. “Boss” Tweed.

  86 The lowest estimate of contemporary values is about €160 million.

  87 Guineas were gold coins minted between 1663 and 1813. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa where much of the gold used to make the coins originated. The value of a guinea was officially fixed at £1.s. (21s.) in 1816 or £1.05 in modern decimalised currency. Although no longer circulated, guineas are still used for pricing race horses, where the purchaser pays in guineas while the seller receives payment in an equal number of pounds with the difference traditionally going to the auctioneer as commission.

  88 Shorter races without obstacles for novice horses that have not yet run over obstacles are usually referred to as Bumpers. National Hunt races are usually over obstacles. Steeplechasing, or chases, are over fences that are a minimum of 4.5 feet high. Hurdling takes place over hurdles that are a minimum of 3.5 feet high.