Time to remember Castlebar's forgotten Brennan brother
LAST month I recalled the 88th anniversary of the death of Castlebar-born inventor Louis Brennan, writes Tom Gillespie.
He was born at Main Street in what was later McEllin’s on January 28, 1852, the 10th child Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Brennan, who ran a hardware business. A mechanical engineer of renown, he invented the torpedo, the world’s first practical guided missile, as well as the gyroscopic monorail and a prototype helicopter.
Following the death of at least five children during the Famine years, the Brennan family emigrated in 1861 to start a new life in the gold rush boomtown of Melbourne in Australia.
The achievements of Louis have, unfortunately, overshadowed the success of his older brother, Michael George Brennan, who was an outstanding landscape and subject painter, with many outstanding oil paintings to his credit.
Local historian Brian Hoban is determined that the memory of Michael George, who died from consumption at the young age of 32, in 1871, should not be forgotten.
He said: "Michael George Brennan was a highly talented artist but has been somewhat forgotten because of the high profile of his brother Louis. He should be remembered in his own right as a highly talented artist and a proud son of Castlebar."
Louis Brennan was buried at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, London, in an unmarked plot. Following a fundraising drive, a new gravestone was unveiled at St. Mary’s Cemetery on March 11, 2014.
Now, Mr. Hoban is hopeful that a suitable memorial will be erected in memory of Michael George Brennan, who was born in Castlebar on September 28, 1839, the second son of the Brennan family.
He was educated locally and while still a small boy taught himself shorthand, and he supplied reports to The Connaught Telegraph and to Dublin national newspapers. He displayed marked artistic talent and obtained a reputation as a caricaturist.
Coming under the notice of Charles O’Donel, afterwards a police magistrate in Dublin, and of Lady Louisa Tension, daughter of the Earl of Litchfield, of Kilronan Castle, Roscommon, he was sent to Dublin at the age of 15, and became a student in the Dublin Society’s School and in the Royal Hibernian Academy in London, in 1859. In London he became connected with ‘Fun’, a paper started as a rival to ‘Punch’ or The London Charivari, a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s when it helped to coin the term ‘cartoon' in its modern sense as a humorous illustration.
After the 1940s, when its circulation peaked, it went into a long decline, closing in 1992. It was revived in 1996, but closed again in 2002.
For ‘Fun’ he drew the front piece and several of the principal cartoons, but resigned rather than caricature the Pope, much as Richard Doyle resigned his association with ‘Punch’.
While still a student in the Academy he contracted typhoid fever, and as soon as he was well enough he returned home to Castlebar to convalesce. But the dampness did not help. His health was permanently affected, and he was advised to seek a warmer climate.
In 1861 he settled in Rome where he lived in the same house with George Symonds and Keely Halswelle.
In 1865 he sent three pictures to the Royal Academy, and continued to exhibit each year. His pictures were warmly praised as admirably painted, harmonious in colour, and full of character and feeling.
It was written of his talents: "To this Roman period belong the 20 paintings on which the fame of Michael Brennan rests."
After some years in Rome he took up residence in Capri, and paid occasional visits to England and Ireland. He had long suffered from consumption, and in the 1870s was ordered to Algiers for the sake of the climate. There he was guest of Lady Kingston at the Campagna Kingstone. He had left Italy full of hope for the future. But the malady from which he suffered had gone too far.
On July 2, 1871, he fell and burst a blood vessel while dressing. He was carefully tended by Lady Kingston, but his care was hopeless, and after lingering for some time he died on July 27, 1871.
After this death it was written: "The world has forgotten the boy from Castlebar who painted beautiful pictures and dies in a foreign land.
"But the books make mention of his brother, Louis, whom inherited his father’s bent. He was honoured by Britain for his inventions. But Michael, the artist, rests under the noble column raised to his memory by Lady Louise, in far Algiers."