The Legend of Dan Donnelly

Patrick Myler wrote in his book Regency Rogue-Dan Donnelly his life and legends that the Regency Period (1811-20) goes down in history as one of the most bizarre, romantic, brutal, elegant and morally debased of any era.

It gave birth to and nurtured its fair share of larger than life characters, none greater than the Prince Regent himself.

In Ireland, the mass of people was illiterate, poor and downtrodden. Having seen several armed rebellions flicker and fail, the poorer classes yearned for a symbolic champion, someone who could lift their jaded spirits in those dark days. They found their champion in the prize-fighter Dan Donnelly.

Some 33 years ago I purchased the book not realising that the story and mystique of Donnelly would become a passion or even a mission in my life.

The author, who spent more than three years researching the life and times of Donnelly, uncovered many unknown facts and exposed some of the myths of the man who was born the ninth child in a family of 17 in Dublin, Ireland, in 1788.

After reading the book the first time I never really put it down, as every few years I would browse through it again.

In 1995 my son Dennis, while on holiday in Ireland, visited Kilcullen in County Kildare where in the Hideout Pub and Restaurant the right arm of the celebrated 18th century pugilist Dan Donnelly is preserved and set out in a glass case for all to see.

When he related his story on the town and the arm it was all systems go for me to plan a trip to Ireland to visit the pub and fight site where Donnelly’s famous contest with the Englishman George Cooper took place in 1815.Donnelly was in his early 20s and enjoying a drink in a public house with his ailing father, who took a sudden fit of coughing when he was reluctantly launched on his path to fame as a prize-fighter.

A tough looking sailor derided the feeble old man. Donnelly asked him to show some respect and after an exchange of words they ended up in a fight with the younger Donnelly smashing the bully to the ground.

He was prevailed upon by a racehorse owner, Captain Kelly of Curragh, to become a prize-fighter and in December 1815 became the first British heavyweight champion of Irish descent when he beat the Englishman George Cooper in 11 rounds.

The fight took place before a crowd estimated at 20 000 outside Kilcullen. The current population is only around 2 600. The fight site became known as Donnelly’s Hollow where a monument to commemorate the fight was erected in 1888.

ARM ON DISPLAY

A successful career followed in England where he defeated Tom Oliver at Crawley Hurst in Sussex on July 21, 1819 and legend has it that he so impressed the Prince regent that he was awarded the first knighthood to be given to a boxer. However, this has never been confirmed.

Dublin vintners held the pugilist in high esteem as he was presented with no fewer than four public houses. Unfortunately, Donnelly was his own best customer and died on February 18, 1820, penniless at the age of 32.

Donnelly’s popularity was so great, it was reported by the Sporting Magazine that at least 80 000 men, woman and children attended his funeral, on roads and streets leading to the burial ground in Dublin.

On the very night of his burial, the body was snatched from the grave by grave robbers, for the high price it would fetch by the anatomy schools for “working material”.

The grave robbery is part of legend and clouded in mystery. However, author Patrick Myler who conducted in depth research is prepared to accept that the story of the theft is factual and states that if we are prepared accept the story of Dan Donnelly’s removal from the grave, we learn that the body is eventually traced to the home of a Dublin surgeon named Hall.

After being threatened with grim consequences Doctor Hall consented to return the body to its rightful resting place, but not before he be allowed to cut off the corpse’s right arm.

The story goes that the arm was slipped away to Scotland, where it was coated with preservative and used by medical students in medical classes at Edinburgh University for many years.

Towards the end of the 19th century the boxer’s limb was passed on to a travelling circus owner, who made money exhibiting the arm on many tours of Britain.

In 1904, Hugh “Texas” McAlevey, a well-known Belfast bookmaker and sports enthusiast, rediscovered the arm and brought it back to Ireland.

It was on display at his public house, the Duncairn Arms in Belfast for many years, before being relegated to the dusty attic of McAlevey’s bookmakers shop in Winetavern Street in the same city.

On the bookmaker's death the arm was given to a wine merchant and sportsman, Tom Donnelly (no relation to the Irish champion).

And, in 1953 came nearer “home” when James Byrne junior, the then owner of the Hideout public house in Kilcullen, County Kildare put it on display in the pub.

The Hideout pub has subsequently been taken over by a new owner and I was able to view the arm together with other exhibits.

There are also placards on the wall telling the colourful story of the famed Irish prize-fighter. Some of them are tall tales, like the caption on the sketch of Donnelly looking like a gorilla, which claims that Dan’s arms were the longest in the history of pugilism and that “he could button his knee breeches without stooping”.

There is nothing abnormal in the length of the arm displayed in the glass case in the pub. It is about the right size for a man just under six feet, which Donnelly was.

Myler asks the question, “Is the arm displayed in the Kilcullen bar, two miles from the scene of Donnelly’s greatest ring triumph, over Englishman George Cooper on the Curragh of Kildare, actually a severed limb of the great hero?” However, the one-time owner of the arm the late Jim Byrne had no doubt about its authenticity.

Patrick Myler must be commended for a well-researched story on the life and myths of Dan Donnelly. His book is possibly one of the best written on a bare-knuckle pugilist.

I have subsequently read that the owner of the arm has removed the arm from the Hideout pub.