J. B. Geoghegan
Joseph Bryan Geoghegan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1816 Barton-upon-Irwell, England |
| Died | 21 January 1889 (aged 72–73)[1] Bolton, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Music hall entertainer, songwriter, and manager |
| Years active | 1843–1889 |
| Notable work | Ten Thousand Miles Away, Cockles & Mussels, Down in a Coal Mine |
| Spouses | Elizabeth Hopwood
(m. 1833; died 1871)Mary Ann Birchall
(m. 1871–1873) |
| Children | 20 |
| Parents |
|
Joseph Bryan (Jack) Geoghegan (1816 – 21 January 1889), was an English music hall song writer and performer. Active from an early age, he was widely known from the 1860s until his death. Geoghegan is credited with many songs, some of which are still performed, such as Ten Thousand Miles Away, and his version of Cockles & Mussels is the likely source of at least the chorus of what has become the famous Dublin anthem.[2]
Biography
[edit]Geoghegan was born in Barton-upon-Irwell (part of Salford) in c. 1816, the son of James Geoghegan, a fustian cutter from Dublin, and Mary Ann from Manchester. Before he reached manhood he took to writing songs upon current events.[3] He left home at an early age and married Elizabeth Hopwood, a vocalist, in 1933; the couple went on to have nine children. Geoghegan also started a second family with Mary Birchall around 1850 and went on to have eleven children with her. He maintained the two families simultaneously until Elizabeth died in 1871, after which he married Mary.
Geoghegan started his professional life as a performer and songwriter. He seems to have continued to write songs throughout his career. He wrote for some of the most successful Music Hall artistes of the 1860s, '70s and '80s including Harry Liston, Sam Torr, J. W. Rowley and George Leybourne in the UK and Tony Pastor in the USA.[4]
An early written record of Geoghegan performing (in Salford in 1843) described him as an "eminent vocalist" appearing at The Polytechnic Tavern. He appeared regularly in Bolton at The Star Inn Concert Room in 1844–45 where the adverts boasted he "rendered himself a decided favourite in Bolton by the talent he has displayed in his medleys, parodies and comic songs".[5]
Geoghegan then seems to have moved to become part of the company of singers resident at The Star Hotel in Liverpool from 1847 to 1858. He may have been based in Glasgow in 1859–60, but he definitely worked in several music halls in Sheffield in 1860–64, before becoming the chairman of ceremonies at the Bolton Museum and Star Music Hall in the late 1860s and 1870s.
At the end of his life he owned and managed the Gaiety Hall in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent; it was taken over by his daughter Ellen after both Jack and his wife Mary died within 6 months of each other in 1889. His "most impressive" funeral attracted tributes from the great and the good from the theatre profession in Manchester, Liverpool and Stoke.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Death of a Well-Known Song Writer". The North-Eastern Daily Gazette. Middlesbrough, England: North-Eastern News Association Ltd. 22 January 1889. p. 2. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ Baxter, John (2020). "Cockles and Mussels". Folk Song and Music Hall. John Baxter. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
- ^ Sparke, Archibald (1913). Bibliographia Boltoniensis. Manchester: The University Press. p. 68. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ Baxter, John (2020). "Geoghegan, JB". Folk Song and Music Hall. John Baxter. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ "J. B. Geoghegan". Bolton Chronicle. London, England. 3 August 1844. p. 1. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ "The Late Mr. J. B. Geoghegan". The Era. London, England. 2 February 1889. p. 17. Retrieved 9 March 2025.