William Dargan
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William Dargan | |
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Born | County Carlow, Ireland | 28 February 1799
Died | 7 February 1867 Dublin, Ireland | (aged 67)
Other names | The Father of Irish Railways |
William Dargan
Biography
Dargan was born on 28 February 1799, in rural Queen's County (Laois) not far from Carlow town. He was the eldest in a large family of
On 13 October 1828, William Dargan married Jane Arkinstall in the Anglican Church of St Michael & All Angels, Adbaston, Staffordshire. He and Jane did not produce any offspring.[4]
When Dargan came back to Ireland, he was occupied by minor construction projects, including rebuilding the main street of Banbridge and the 13 kilometers long Kilbeggan branch of the Grand Canal. After Irish parliament decided to launch a plan for the very first railway, the Dublin & Kingstown Railway in 1825, Dargan had become increasingly invested in this project. To fight against the skepticism of any railway program in Ireland, Dargan spent a considerable amount of unpaid time promoting this first railway of Ireland, working along with engineer Charles Vignoles to plan the route. After a persistent effort of Dargan, Dublin & Kingstown Railway was able to be opened on 17 December 1834, with eight trains in each direction, at full capacity. He next constructed the water communication between Lough Erne and Belfast, afterwards known as the Ulster Canal, a signal triumph of engineering and constructive ability.[4]
Other great works followed – the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, the Great Southern and Western Railway and the Midland Great Western Railway. By 1853 he had constructed over six hundred miles of railway, and he had then contracts for two hundred more. He paid the highest wages with the greatest punctuality, and his credit was unbounded. At one time he was the largest railway projector in Ireland and one of its greatest capitalists.
Dargan had a strong sense of
In 1860, continuing his branching out into different business ventures, Dargan brought the International Hotel in Bray from John Quin.[8] Another hotel named Hayes Royal Hotel in Kingstown was also subsequently bought in 1863 by Dargan with elaborate plans for extension.[8] Financial issues meant that these plans were abandoned, and the original hotel was simply remodelled to fit Dargan's original purpose. From the original design envisioned, the only pieces realised were the centrepiece and south wing.[8] Architect John McCurdy had originally intended to add a right-hand wing to the hotel but none of this came to be.[8] The hotel was rechristened as the Royal Marine Hotel and opened in September 1865.[8] It is understood that the financial difficulties encountered during the purchasing and building of the hotel exacerbated Dargan's financial issues, eventually leading to economic ruin.[8]
Latterly he devoted himself chiefly to the working and extension of the
William Dargan and 1853 Dublin Exhibition
The
As the committee of the 1853 Exhibition believed that this event would be self-financing, mainly relying on Dargan's contribution of £20,000, it was announced that there would be no cash donations taken.[9] After the building costs had risen by the autumn of 1852, the committee was forced to make a public subscription, but Dargan offered another £6,000 as patronage.[9] It eventually reached to the point that Dargan personally funded this exhibition with a considerable amount of £88,000.[9] Dublin Exhibition received many visitors. Although there were only 400 people on the first two days, this number rose to 4,000 a week later, and to 5,000 on the following day.[9] The British royal party arrived at Dun Laoghaire on 29 August 1853 at the purpose to attend the exhibition, and Queen Victoria personally met William Dargan.[9]
Prince Albert commented both on Dargan and the Dublin Exhibition, "Mr Dargan is the man of the people. He is a simple, unobtrusive, retiring man, a thorough Irishman, not always quite sober of an evening, industrious, kind to his workmen, but the only man who has by his own determination & courage put a stop to every strike or combination of workmen, of which the Irish are so fond. All he has done has been done on the field of Industry & not of politics or Religion, without the Priest or factious conspiracy, without the promise of distant extraordinary advantages but with immediate apparent benefit. The Exhibition, which must be pronounced to be very successful, has done wonders in this respect. A private undertaking, unaided by Govt, or any Commission with Royal Authority, made and erected at the sole expense of a single Individual, & this an Irish Road contractor, not long ago a common labourer himself, who had raised himself solely by his own industry & energy, - it deserves the greatest credit & is looked upon by the Irish with infinite self-satisfaction as an emblem of national hope".[9]
William Dargan ultimately lost £20,000 on the venture. At the close of the exhibition, the Irish National Gallery was built on Leinster Lawn, as a monument to Dargan, with a fine bronze statue of him in front of it, looking out upon Merrion Square.
Works
See also
Notes
- ^ "William Dargan – the engineer who rejuvenated a nation on its knees". Engineers Ireland. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- ^ "Dargan, William | Dictionary of Irish Biography". www.dib.ie. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- ^ a b Mulligan, Fergus (2009). "Dargan, William". Dictionary of Irish Biography - Cambridge University Press. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ JSTOR 24347797.
- ^ Alexander Montgomery, The Illustrated magazine of art, Vol. 3–4 (1854), p. 170
- ^ Illustrated London News, 10 September 1853, p. 205
- ^ Siobhán Marie Kilfeather, Dublin: a cultural history (Oxford, 2005), p. 143
- ^ a b c d e f Comerford, Patrick (3 January 2019). "Did the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire financially ruin William Dargan?". Patrick Comerford. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
- ^ JSTOR 24615994.
References
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Dargan, William". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 14. London: Smith, Elder & Co.