Delia Murphy and Thomas Joseph Kiernan
Item
Format
JPG
Title
Delia Murphy and Thomas Joseph Kiernan
Identifier
VHG0010
Depiction
A picture of a woman and man
Description
Delia Murphy was born on 16 February 1902 at Ardoe, Claremorris, Co. Mayo. Delia was educated at the local primary school, then at the Dominican Convent, Eccles St., Dublin, where she was taught singing by Mother Clement Burke. She went to UCG in 1920 and graduated with a B.Comm. degree in 1923 (Special Collections). While studying for her degree, she sang at student and minor concerts. She married Thomas Joseph (T.J. / Tommy) Kiernan, civil servant, on 24 February 1924. She died in St Kevin's Hospital, Dublin, on 12 February 1971 (civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie).
Delia Murphy was the second of eight daughters of John Murphy and Anna Agnes Fanning. She dated her introduction to traditional Irish ballads from her primary school days to the ballads she learned from Tom Maughan, a local itinerant boy who taught her to sing ‘If I were a blackbird’.
Shortly after their marriage, T.J. Kiernan was appointed secretary to the Irish High Commission in London, and during their time there, their four children were born: Blon, Naula, Colm, and Orla. In 1935 the family returned to Dublin where T.J. Kiernan took up the post of Director of Broadcasting at Radio Éireann, which he held on secondment until 1939. During these years, Delia's singing career reached its heights, when she recorded almost 100 songs with HMV. From this time until the mid-1950s, she was the most important exponent of Irish ballad singing to reach an audience on an international scale. She broadcast numerous times from Radio Éireann, becoming a household name. She wrote many of the songs herself and attributed much of her inspiration to itinerants' songs. Songs she made famous included ‘The spinning wheel’, ‘I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler’, and ‘Three lovely lassies from Bannion’, (Wikipedia/Delia Murphy).
She accompanied her husband on all his postings (Dictionary of Irish Biography), (doi.org/10.3318/dib). In 1941, T.J. Kiernan was appointed Irish Minister to the Vatican. In 1946 the Holy See made her a Dame of the Holy Sepulchre. 1946 saw the Kiernans posted to Canberra, Australia; 1952, Bonn, West Germany; 1957, Ottawa, Canada; 1961, Washington, DC, USA. Delia did not spend a lot of time in Washington, and lived on the family farm in Ottawa. It was while they were in Washington that Delia recorded her last record, The Queen of Connemara, the only LP she made. When her husband died (December 1967), Delia stayed in Ottawa and it was there that she gave her last concert at Camp Fortune in the Gatineau Hills. In November 1969 she sold the farm and returned to Dublin, where she purchased Liscannor Cottage, Chapelizod. She died in St Kevin's Hospital, Dublin, on 12 February 1971.
Delia Murphy was the second of eight daughters of John Murphy and Anna Agnes Fanning. She dated her introduction to traditional Irish ballads from her primary school days to the ballads she learned from Tom Maughan, a local itinerant boy who taught her to sing ‘If I were a blackbird’.
Shortly after their marriage, T.J. Kiernan was appointed secretary to the Irish High Commission in London, and during their time there, their four children were born: Blon, Naula, Colm, and Orla. In 1935 the family returned to Dublin where T.J. Kiernan took up the post of Director of Broadcasting at Radio Éireann, which he held on secondment until 1939. During these years, Delia's singing career reached its heights, when she recorded almost 100 songs with HMV. From this time until the mid-1950s, she was the most important exponent of Irish ballad singing to reach an audience on an international scale. She broadcast numerous times from Radio Éireann, becoming a household name. She wrote many of the songs herself and attributed much of her inspiration to itinerants' songs. Songs she made famous included ‘The spinning wheel’, ‘I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler’, and ‘Three lovely lassies from Bannion’, (Wikipedia/Delia Murphy).
She accompanied her husband on all his postings (Dictionary of Irish Biography), (doi.org/10.3318/dib). In 1941, T.J. Kiernan was appointed Irish Minister to the Vatican. In 1946 the Holy See made her a Dame of the Holy Sepulchre. 1946 saw the Kiernans posted to Canberra, Australia; 1952, Bonn, West Germany; 1957, Ottawa, Canada; 1961, Washington, DC, USA. Delia did not spend a lot of time in Washington, and lived on the family farm in Ottawa. It was while they were in Washington that Delia recorded her last record, The Queen of Connemara, the only LP she made. When her husband died (December 1967), Delia stayed in Ottawa and it was there that she gave her last concert at Camp Fortune in the Gatineau Hills. In November 1969 she sold the farm and returned to Dublin, where she purchased Liscannor Cottage, Chapelizod. She died in St Kevin's Hospital, Dublin, on 12 February 1971.
References
Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy.
Wikipedia contributors, 'Delia Murphy', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delia_Murphy.
https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.004539.v1.
Special Collections, University of Galway Library
Wikipedia contributors, 'Delia Murphy', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delia_Murphy.
https://doi.org/10.3318/dib.004539.v1.
Special Collections, University of Galway Library
Contributor
Bibliographic Citation
P. Larkin, S.G. Jennings, ‘Delia Murphy and Thomas Joseph Kiernan’, Visual History Retired Staff Collection, University of Galway Digital Collections, Asset Id 13863, Archival Record Id VHRS
Spatial Coverage
Temporal Coverage
Period
1920s
Category
b&w
group
off-campus
indoors
Subject
Keywords
Songs
Language
English
Publisher
University of Galway Library
Rights
This image may be used for non-commercial purposes under CC BY-NC-SA
see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/