Life
1799-1867; b. Carlow, 28 Feb.; ed. England; employed as surveyor by Telford
on Holyhead road in 1820; constructed first railway, Dublin-Kingstown,
1831; constructed 600 miles of railway as well as the Ulster Canal, connecting
Lough Erne with Belfast; organised and financed Dublin Exhibition, 1853,
losing heavily (£20,000); National Gallery built to commemorate his services,
with a statue of him on the lawn; declined baronetcy [DNB 1853]; Queen
Victoria visited his house, Mount Anville; Dargan lent funds for establishment
of National Gallery of Ireland at 5% and established the flax mill at
Chapelizod which was later acquired as premisses for the Chapelizod Distillery
in which John Stanislaus Joyce, father of the novelist, was concerned;
d. at 2 Fitzwilliam Sq., consequent on fall from horse in 1866 which incapacitated
him and impaired his management of business. DNB DIB
[ top ]
Notes
Portrait by Will. Dargan oil by Stephen Catterson Smith, RHA 1862
[NGI] (see Anne Crookshank, Ulster Mus. [Exhibition Cat.], 1965).
‘“Never show your teeth”, old Dargan had said, “unless you mean to bite”.’ (Benedict Kiely, ‘The Artist on the Giant’s Grave’, in A Bash in the Tunnel, ed. John Ryan, Clifton Books 1970, p.238.)
[ top ]
Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)