Edward Harrison

performer

b. Dublin City, Ireland Dec. 16, 1887
d. Dublin City, Ireland Feb. 3, 1957

Left to Right: unknown female dancer; The Kelly Trio, dancers; Pat Touhey; probably Edward Harrison, at the Irish Village, St Louis World's Fair, 1904.
From Inside the World's Fair of 1904 Volume Two by Elana V. Fox 2003 p. 53

The above photograph is the reason for this entry about Edward Harrison.

The Irish Village, at the St. Louis World's Fair, 1904, was a big project. The fair ran from April 31 to December 1. Newspaper accounts claimed that at least 130 people were hired in Ireland to come and work at the Village, including musicians, actors, singers, lacemakers, carpet weavers. Among them were Edward, William and Simon Harrison from Dublin. Accounts of their ages vary, but the ship passenger list presented on their arrival at New York City gives 16, 15 and 11 years, respectively.

They were the sons of William and Cecilia Harrison. William was a clerk, later overseer at the General Post Office in Dublin according to Ireland Censuses of 1901 and 1911.

At the fair the Harrisons are mentioned as a separate performing act, most often as dancers. Sometimes as one piper, two dancers. References from before and after their St. Louis experience confirm Edward was a piper; he placed in piping competitions in Dublin, 1903 and 1906. William was on a list of pipers compiled by Seamus O'Casaide; he died in 1905, aged 16. No evidence has been found that Simon played pipes.

Tommy Martin informed me that "In 1903 Edward Harrison came 4th place in an Oireachtas Ceol piping competition. One of the adjudicators was Arthur Darley." Michael Kelly of Dublin has done considerable research on Harrison and found references to participation in competitions as early as 1902. In August 1903 he played at a concert in Cork, 'Ned Harrison, the talented young Piper from Dublin'. These and similar accomplishments may have brought Edward to the attention of James A. Reardon, a St. Louis businessman who was in Ireland in early 1904. Reardon was there to collect exhibits for and hire people to work at the Irish Village.

The Village was large, and included replicas of the old Irish House of Parliament, St. Laurence's Gate at Drogheda, and Blarney Castle, which contained a 1,800 seat theatre. There were performances in the theater four times a day, closed Sundays. There was also a central outdoor area with a bandstand.

The photograph shows four dancers and two pipers. The dancer on the left is unknown. The other three were The Kelly Trio of Dublin (although some accounts say Cork), Jeremiah, age 20, Sydney, age 16, and Susan Kelly, age 15, presumably brothers and sister. The piper on the left is Pat Touhey.

Commentators have suggested that the younger piper is Tom Ennis, and the picture commemorates a visit to the Fair from Ennis' home in Chicago. This is not impossible but unlikely. Ennis, born 1888, would have been nearly the same age as Edward Harrison. He and his father John Ennis were active in Irish music circles in Chicago and had probably met Pat Touhey before.

On the other hand, this was a promotional photograph, and appeared in at least one newspaper describing the "Odd Amusements" at the Fair. Why indulge a visitor from Chicago when a competent piper, part of the show, is present? Also, the set of the pipes in the photo has a Irish-made look; a tied-in reedcap, for example. Such pictures as exist of Ennis show him playing Irish-American or Taylor style pipes.

There is no certain proof either way. Here is a picture of Ennis, unknown date or origin. Judge or guess for yourself.

Received from Richie Piggott, Feb. 2018. He found it in a book given or bequeathed to him by a old Irish musician in Chicago. Looks to him like a clipping from a magazine. To the right may be John McNamara who ran a dancing school in Chicago.

Edward Harrison returned to Dublin and continued piping at least until 1910; he is mentioned in concerts and at least one contest. Nothing further is heard of Harrison musically except in the memories of two old timers, looking back at piping activities in Dublin.

Seasamh Breathnach wrote, "I joined the [Dublin] Piper's Club in 1906 and continued as a member till it ceased to meet a few years later. ... Ned Harrison, a Dubliner and the youngest in the Club except myself, was a very good piper. He had a grand set of pipes made by Bill Rowesome. Ned was one of the Irish group sent over to the St. Louis Exposition in 1907 and his father got the set especially made for the occasion. They had four drones and four regulators and sounded like a small organ."

Leo Purcell (1900-1993), in reminiscenses taken down by his son Al in 1980, said, "In later years I was appointed a teacher of the Piob Mor at the Municipal School of Music. This was in 1928. There I became acquainted with Leo Rowsome, Sean Reid, Peadar Broe, Tommy Reck and many others. After attending lessons at Bill Andrews [music shop] for some time I was told of a man by the name of Harrison who was selling his pipes. Harrison told me that as a boy he had played at the exhibition in the United States around 1900."

Harrison worked as a clerk and lived in Glasnevin, Dublin. He married Josephine Edwina Murray in 1919. They had four children. Edward Harrison died Feb. 3, 1957 in Glasnevin.

Thank you to Michael Kelly for information about Harrison's life and family in Ireland.

Selected References

Breathnach, Seasamh "Baile Atha Cliath" An Píobaire vol. 1 no. 3 Mi Na Samhna 1969 p. 12
https://pipers.ie/source/media/?galleryId=1010&mediaId=25880

"The Dublin Feis Ceoil." NY Gaelic American June 9, 1906 p. 3 column 5
GenealogyBank.com

"Irish Industrial Exhibit." St. Louis Globe-Democrat Nov. 22?, 1903 from clipping book vol. 16, Concessions, The Pike, etc. p. 147, Saint Louis Public Library Special Collections

"Irish Lads and Lassies Stop Off in Syracuse" Telegram, Syracuse, N.Y. April 26, 1904 p. 7 column 2
Newspapers Syracuse NY Evening Telegram 1904 - 3661.pdf

Kelly, Michael, of Dublin, "Ned Harrison (1887-1957), Dublin piper" [birth and death dates, concert in Cork citing Cork Examiner Aug. 21, 1903, etc.] unpublished article 2018

Martin, Tommy, of Dublin by way of St. Louis, private communications Oct. and Nov. 2014

"Odd Amusements of All Countries on the Pike" Los Angeles Herald Oct. 2, 1904 Sunday Supplement p. 10 column 5 California Digital Newspaper Collection
ODD AMUSEMENTS OF ALL COUNTRIES ON THE PIKE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

"Pipers, cont. ..." [compiled by Seamus Ó Casaide] Barry O'Neill notebook no. 5 [begin], 1970s, PDF p. 11 right side Irish portion translated by Michael Kelly of Dublin, Oct. 2017

Purcell, Leo "Leo Purcell, 1900 - 1993" An Píobaire vol. 3 no. 24 November 1995 p. 24
https://pipers.ie/source/media/?galleryId=1012&mediaId=25970

Whitmer, Nick "Trouble in the Irish Village" An Píobaire Vol. 11 No. 3 July 2015 pp. 26-8
https://pipers.ie/source/media/?galleryId=1035&mediaId=26647

Nick Whitmer
July 2018 additions Dec. 2018