William Magrath

[Debra A]

Hi Chris,
I found this photograph of William Magrath, artist, in an 1894 magazine.
The photograph itself isn't dated but must be before 1894 and certainly after the 1873 self portrait you found.
Perhaps a closer likeness of how Magrath may have looked in 1888?

Muncey's Magazine, Volume 11. page 344. 1894

[Chris]

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't suggesting it was a photograph of the artist William Magrath. Although the address matches, we could well be wrong about him having been under suspicion. I was therefore suggesting that on the strength of the exactly matching name and Irish criminal connection this man might actually be the William McGrath recorded in Clutterbuck's thesis.

I see what you mean. As I said to Tom above, we can't be 100% certain there weren't two Irishmen with (essentially) the same name both living at 57 Bedford Gardens, but I think it's very unlikely, particularly as I found no mention of an artist named William McGrath when I looked.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Chris and Rob,

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't suggesting it was a photograph of the artist William Magrath. Although the address matches, we could well be wrong about him having been under suspicion. I was therefore suggesting that on the strength of the exactly matching name and Irish criminal connection this man might actually be the William McGrath recorded in Clutterbuck's thesis.

Regards,

Simon

[Chris]

I'm playing a long shot, but could this be our man?

This is from the Thomas A. Larcom photographs collection in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery "of some of the more serious offenders confined under Penal and Reformatory Discipline in Mountjoy Cellular Prison, Dublin", between 1857 and 1866.

That's interesting, but unfortunately I have to agree with Rob that it doesn't look like the man in the self-portrait.

[robhouse]

Simon -

Very interesting... well the artist Magrath would have been about the right age I guess... Between 1857 and 1866 he would have been age 19-28. Still, the guy in the photo does not really look much like the painted self portrait (in my opinion.) But it is certainly interesting. I wonder if Magrath was a common name in Ireland at the time?

RH

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

I'm playing a long shot, but could this be our man?

This is from the Thomas A. Larcom photographs collection in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery "of some of the more serious offenders confined under Penal and Reformatory Discipline in Mountjoy Cellular Prison, Dublin", between 1857 and 1866.



The title page bears the latin inscription "Nemo adeo ferus est, ut non mitescere possit". [No one is so wild that he cannot become gentle].

Regards,

Simon

[caz]

Many thanks for posting the extract, Stewart.

To me, the relevant words here would be the annoyingly vague 'appears' followed by 'with':

Macnaghten appears to identify the ripper with... [the leader of a political assassination plot]

This is quite different in meaning from, say:

"Mac entertained a theory that the leader of this plot was also the ripper"

or:

"Mac apparently identified the ripper as the leader..."

It actually reads to me, in the context of all the weird, wonderful and diverse theories that had been individually embraced, more like an old-fashioned way of saying:

"Mac seems to have likened the ripper to..."

Love,

Caz
X

[Debra A]

Here is a self-portrait, painted by William Magrath in 1873 (from David Bernard Dearinger, Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925, p. 376 (2004)).

[ATTACH]9617[/ATTACH]

Thanks for tracking down and posting those portraits, Chris.

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

If Macnaghten was correct, the closest we can place "Jack" and Balfour in anything approaching a possible assassination context is on 9th November 1888, the day of the Millers Court murder, when the Chief Secretary for Ireland was a guest of honour at the Guildhall dinner for the new Lord Mayor of London.

Regards,

Simon

[Stewart P Evans]

Douglas Browne

I don't really know much about the "Balfour Plot" story, but it certainly seems difficult to reconcile with Macnaghten's other writings. And if Magrath had really been believed to be "the leader of a plot to assassinate Mr Balfour", I find it very difficult to believe that there would only have been these two references to him in the ledger.
...

Chris, I don't think it's a question of the 'Balfour plot' story being difficult 'to reconcile with Macnaghten's other writing, this has to be read in context.

There is no doubt that Macnaghten's personal preference with regard to a Ripper suspect was Druitt. However, the reference to Macnaghten identifying the Ripper with 'the leader of a plot to assassinate Mr. Balfour at the Irish Office' comes from the 1956 book The Rise of Scotland Yard by Douglas G. Browne. The full extract is shown below. Browne had unique access to the official files at New Scotland Yard when writing this history and saw documents some of which are now missing.

Now this does not mean that Macnaghten claimed that the 'leader of the plot to assassinate Mr. Balfour' as his personal belief. What it means is that in some official document, now apparently missing but seen by Browne in the early 1950s, bore something written by Macnaghten that made this basic statement from some official source. It doesn't mean he was stating a personal preference or belief.

[Zodiac]

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I'll get my coat...

Zodiac.

[Chris]

And here is the photograph of William Magrath in old age which accompanied his obituary in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in 1918, the text of which I posted above:

[Chris]

Here is a self-portrait, painted by William Magrath in 1873 (from David Bernard Dearinger, Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925, p. 376 (2004)).

[Chris]

Do you personally see any validity to the idea that Magrath was involved in a plot to assassinate Balfour or do you agree with Hainsworth that the 'Balfour Plot' was more or less a red herring?

I don't really know much about the "Balfour Plot" story, but it certainly seems difficult to reconcile with Macnaghten's other writings. And if Magrath had really been believed to be "the leader of a plot to assassinate Mr Balfour", I find it very difficult to believe that there would only have been these two references to him in the ledger.

Also, can we pinpoint the time that the references to Magrath were made in the ledger?

I don't think we can, except that it would presumably have been before he left for America, around 12 December 1888. As far as we know he didn't return to the British Isles until June 1890.

[Tom_Wescott]

Chris,

Do you personally see any validity to the idea that Magrath was involved in a plot to assassinate Balfour or do you agree with Hainsworth that the 'Balfour Plot' was more or less a red herring?

Also, can we pinpoint the time that the references to Magrath were made in the ledger?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott