43-527: Robert Charles Halpin DL JP RNR FRGS , Master Mariner , (16 February 1836 – 20 January 1894) was an Irish sea captain . He captained the Brunel -designed steamship SS Great Eastern which laid transoceanic telegraph cables . A successful pioneer of this work, he earned the nickname "Mr Cable". He was the son of James and Anne Halpin (née Halbert), the youngest of 13 children. His father, James,
86-599: A seafarer . He joined the brig Briton that was engaged in the Cumberland coal trade and was shipwrecked off Bude , Cornwall in 1851 with many lives lost, but Halpin managed to reach the shore. He joined the crew of the 388-ton barque Henry Tanner , later that same year. Henry Tanner plied the Britain – Australia run and Halpin's first voyage to Australia coincided with the Australian Gold Rush of 1852. Over half
129-678: A brief residence near London, Halpin became chairman of the Wicklow Gas Company, Wicklow Harbour Master and Secretary of Wicklow Harbour Commissioners. He was Secretary of the Wicklow Harbour Commissioners in 1880 when the East Breakwater was built – arguably the most important built structure in the small maritime port's history. He ran for Member of Parliament for East Wicklow as a Unionist in July 1892, losing to John Sweetman ,
172-401: A cable layer and Halpin was given the post of First Engineer. Their task was to lay a submarine transatlantic telegraph cable from Valentia Island, County Kerry to Heart's Content , Newfoundland. The cable, 2,600 miles long was stored in the ship's tanks and weighed 6,000 tons. 1,862 miles from Valentia, the cable broke and Great Eastern returned to Europe. In 1866, with Halpin at the helm,
215-459: A career dogged by misfortune. She was designed for the longer Britain to Australia run and proved uneconomical when used on the shorter Atlantic routes. Her maiden voyage was to the United States, leaving Southampton on 16 June 1860 with 418 crew, but only 35 paying passengers, and arriving on 28 June. Never filled to capacity and losing money, the vessel was sold from company to company and in 1867
258-563: A decree stating that an international exposition should be held in Paris in 1867. A commission was appointed with Prince Jerome Napoleon as president, under whose direction the preliminary work began. The site chosen for the Exposition Universelle of 1867 was the Champ de Mars , the great military parade ground of Paris, which covered an area of 119 acres (48 hectares) and to which was added
301-419: A display of dried specimens of some 450 species of useful plant, collected in the course of his recent explorations of Gabon and annotated with accounts of the uses to which they were put in their native land. Most notable among these were the powerful stimulant and hallucinogen Tabernanthe iboga , containing the alkaloid ibogaine , (currently being investigated as a cure for heroin and other addictions),
344-649: A minor cut while trimming his toenails. He is buried, as are others in his family, at the Wicklow Parish Church with a Celtic Cross headstone marking the grave. Many artefacts from his life were donated by his daughters to the Maritime Institute of Ireland . There is a display in the National Maritime Museum of Ireland , Dún Laoghaire . A granite obelisk, erected in 1897, in the centre of Wicklow town commemorates his life and career. The land for
387-566: A quicker, shorter Atlantic crossing. Emigration from Europe to North America was the new large shipping trade and operated from major ports such as Liverpool, Hamburg and Galway. By 1859 the Galway line was prospering and the popular S.S. Argo was commanded by Halpin, then aged 24. Disaster struck in August 1859 while in thick fog at the Newfoundland fishing banks when Argo struck an iceberg and sank. At
430-625: A wool clipper on the Australia run, before he transferred over from sail to steam ships. Halpin believed steam was the future of shipping and became first officer in Khersonese . At 22 years of age, he was given command of the S.S. Propellor , later joining Circassian , both steamships belonging to the Atlantic Royal Company. In 1858 Halpin became involved in a new sea route that had started from Galway, Ireland to St. John's, Newfoundland, giving
473-632: Is an appointment in the gift of the Sovereign, the position of deputy lieutenant is an appointment of the Sovereign's appointee, and therefore not a direct appointment of the Sovereign per se . Deputy lieutenant commissions are published by the clerk of the lieutenancy, as a State Appointment, in either the London Gazette or the Edinburgh Gazette , as appropriate, with the names of the persons appointed deputy lieutenants for that county or area, and
SECTION 10
#1732845109557516-727: The College of St. Thomas in Rome. One of the Egyptian exhibits was designed by Auguste Mariette , and featured ancient Egyptian monuments. The Suez Canal Company had an exhibit within the Egyptian exhibits, taking up two rooms at the event. Which it used to sell bonds for funding. The German manufacturer Krupp displayed a 50-ton cannon made of steel. Americans displayed their latest telegraph technology and both Cyrus Field and Samuel Morse provided speeches. French explorer and early ethnobotanist Marie-Théophile Griffon du Bellay exhibited
559-623: The Royal Naval Reserve . His circle included Lord Kelvin , who had been aboard Great Eastern overseeing the cable laying, Admiral Sherard Osborn , who proposed him for Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society, the American oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury , Alfred Lord Tennyson , Ferdinand de Lesseps , and Edmund Dickens, nephew of Charles Dickens amongst other notables of the day. On returning to Wicklow c.1875 after
602-544: The Anti-Parnell Home Rule candidate. He was married to Jessica Munn of Heart's Content, Newfoundland. They had three daughters, Ethel, Belle and Edith. The last daughter, Belle, died in 1952. Halpin was rewarded by the British Government for his contribution to improving world communications and thereby world trade. In 1876 Halpin purchased a site on elevated ground two miles north of Wicklow Town, overlooking
645-632: The Irish Sea. Here he built a house, named Tinakilly , the name derived from the townland of Tinakilly on which the house is built. He recruited the fashionable Irish architect James Franklin Fuller to design the house. It had many opulent features and cost £40,000 to build, (equivalent to £5,088,767 in 2023), its 400 acres including an extensive rose garden. The house is now a hotel and retains many of its original features. At Tinakilly on 20 January 1894 Robert Halpin, aged 57, died of gangrene resulting from
688-472: The Isle of Dogs, Kent, on 31 January 1858, she was 693 feet in length (over 200 metres), 22,500 tons dead weight, and had accommodations for over 3,000 passengers. Five times larger than any other ship then built, she had six masts, five funnels, 6,500 yards of sail, two 58 ft paddle wheels, a 24 ft screw (which remains the biggest ever built) and a coal-carrying capacity of 15,000 tons. Great Eastern had
731-546: The Royal Merchant Navy School and then Bearwood College ). The annual award continued for about seventy years until the 1960s. The award was a silver medal, 50 millimetres (2.0 in) in diameter, bearing on the obverse the image of Halpin in Royal Naval Reserve uniform with the inscription ' IN MEMORIAM. ROBERT C HALPIN, DL, JP, RNR. ' The reverse design varied over time but included the current name of
774-577: The United Kingdom exchanged congratulations briefly with the American President James Buchanan . This first success proved the telegraph could be done underwater, but it didn't last a week after a workman applied too much voltage and overheated the cable. Pioneered by Cyrus Field , mainland Europe had been connected by telegraphy, as had Europe to Britain and Britain to Ireland. A company was formed that converted Great Eastern into
817-464: The construction and maintenance of the exposition consisted of grants of $ 1,165,020 from the French government, a like amount from the city of Paris, and about $ 2,000,000 from public subscription, making a total of $ 5,883,400; while the receipts were estimated to have been but $ 2,822,900, thus leaving a deficit, which, however, was offset by the subscriptions from the government and the city of Paris, so that
860-487: The crew jumped ship to seek their fortunes in the gold fields. Unable to muster a crew, Henry Tanner was forced to remain in port until the absent crewmen returned to their posts. Halpin then joined the ship Boomerang as a third mate. Boomerang worked on the Liverpool to Melbourne to Kio (Ecuador) route, returning with a cargo of guano , bird droppings used as fertiliser . Halpin was promoted to second mate of Salem ,
903-490: The dates of their commissions. Exposition Universelle (1867) The Exposition Universelle of 1867 ( French pronunciation: [ɛkspozisjɔ̃ ynivɛʁsɛl] ), better known in English as the 1867 Paris Exposition , was a world's fair held in Paris , France , from 1 April to 3 November 1867. It was the second of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. A number of nations were represented at
SECTION 20
#1732845109557946-473: The displays seen here, and wrote often of the Japanese woodcut prints "that one sees everywhere, landscapes and figures." Not only was Van Gogh a collector of the new art brought to Europe from a newly opened Japan , but many other French artists from the late 19th century were also influenced by the Japanese artistic world-view, to develop into Japonism . The Paris street near Champs de Mars, Rue de L'Exposition
989-628: The fair. Following a decree of Emperor Napoleon III , the exposition was prepared as early as 1864, in the midst of the renovation of Paris , marking the culmination of the Second French Empire . Visitors included Tsar Alexander II of Russia, a brother of the King William and Otto von Bismarck of Prussia, Prince Metternich and Franz Josef of Austria, Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz , and the Khedive of Egypt Isma'il . In 1864, Napoleon III issued
1032-458: The famous photographer Nadar . Nadar would take groups of 12 or more people for flights above the grounds, where they could enjoy views of the site and Paris. In the "gallery of Labour History" Jacques Boucher de Perthes , exposes one of the first prehistoric tools whose authenticity has been recognized with the accuracy of these theories. Napoléon III was particularly interested in exhibiting prototypes, designs, and models of workers' housing in
1075-598: The final report was made to show a gain. Bateaux Mouches , boats capable of carrying 150 passengers, entered service conveying visitors along the Seine to and from the exhibition. There was also a new railway line built to convey passengers around the outer edge of Paris to the Champ de Mars. Two double-decker hot air balloons, the Géant and the Céleste , were moored to the site and manned by
1118-558: The institution. Deputy Lieutenant In the United Kingdom , a deputy lieutenant is a Crown appointment and one of several deputies to the lord-lieutenant of a lieutenancy area – an English ceremonial county , Welsh preserved county , Scottish lieutenancy area , or Northern Irish county borough or county . Before the creation of the Irish Free State , all Irish counties had deputy lieutenants. In formal style ,
1161-403: The island of Billancourt , of 52 acres (21 hectares). The principal building was rectangular in shape with rounded ends, having a length of 1,608 feet (490 m) and a width of 1,247 feet (380 m), and in the center was a pavilion surmounted by a dome and surrounded by a garden, 545 feet (166 m) long and 184 feet (56 m) wide, with a gallery built completely around it. In addition to
1204-474: The legume Griffonia simplicifolia (found, subsequently, to be rich in the serotonin precursor 5-HTP ), and Strophanthus hispidus , an effective arrow poison , due to its containing cardiac glycosides with digoxin -like effects. Griffon du Bellay was awarded two medals for his exhibit. The exposition was formally opened on 1 April and closed on 31 October 1867, and was visited by 9,238,967 persons, including exhibitors and employees. This exposition
1247-455: The main building, there were nearly 100 smaller buildings on the grounds. Victor Hugo , Alexandre Dumas , Ernest Renan , and Theophile Gautier all wrote publications to promote the event. There were 50,226 exhibitors, of whom 15,055 were from France and its colonies, 6176 from Great Britain and Ireland , 703 from the United States and a small contingent from Canada . The funds for
1290-642: The minister responsible for most appointments is the Lord Chancellor , with exceptions such as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . In Scotland, since July 1999, it has been the Scottish Ministers . Decades ago, the number of deputy lieutenants for each county could be as few as three. Today, however, there may be well over a dozen that are appointed, as the number of deputy lieutenants today correlates with
1333-621: The obelisk was donated by William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam and has since been called Fitzwilliam Square. After the fund closed for the Wicklow obelisk, a further £397 and 13 shillings came from London. Not being required for the obelisk, this sum funded the Halpin Memorial Medal, an annual prize for the best boy and girl swimmer at the Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum (Royal Merchant Seamen's Orphanage from 1922, and later
Robert Halpin - Misplaced Pages Continue
1376-698: The patronage of Paul Julius Reuter ), the 1869 Bombay-Aden-Suez cable, and the Australia-New Zealand-East Indies, Madras-Singapore-Penang, and Madeira-Brazil. For Halpin's services, Brazilian Emperor Pedro II made him Knight of the Order of the Rose . He was also awarded the Legion d'honeur and elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society . In 1889 he was appointed an honorary Commander in
1419-673: The population of each respective county. Deputy lieutenants tend to be people who either have served the local community, or have a history of public service in other fields. Deputy lieutenants represent the lord-lieutenant in his or her absence, including at local ceremonies and official events, from opening exhibitions to inductions of vicars (as requested by the Church of England ). They must live within their lieutenancy area, or within seven miles (11 km) of its boundary. Their appointments do not terminate with any change of lord-lieutenant, but they are legally required to retire at age 75. One of
1462-554: The postnominal letters DL may be added after a deputy lieutenant's surname and other postnominals – e.g. John Brown, CBE, DL. Deputy lieutenants are nominated by a lord-lieutenant, to assist with any duties as may be required (see the Lieutenancies Act 1997 ). Deputy lieutenants receive their commission of appointment via the appropriate government minister by command of the British monarch . In England and Wales, since November 2001,
1505-519: The section of the exposition dedicated to workers' living conditions. He commissioned the architect Eugène Lacroix to design and build a set of four buildings on the rue de Monttessuy, at the edge of the exposition grounds, to demonstrate that affordable, decent housing for the working classes could be built at a profit. The exhibition also included two prototypes of the much acclaimed and prize-winning hydrochronometer invented in 1867 by Gian Battista Embriaco, O.P. (Ceriana 1829 - Rome 1903), professor at
1548-416: The serving deputy lieutenants is appointed to be vice lord-lieutenant, who in most circumstances will stand in for a lord-lieutenant who cannot be present. The appointment as vice lord-lieutenant usually expires upon the retirement of the lord-lieutenant who made the choice. Generally, the vice lord-lieutenant would then revert to being a regular deputy lieutenant. Unlike the office of lord-lieutenant, which
1591-551: The ship returned to the exact spot, recovered and repaired the broken cable. In July that year, Great Eastern arrived at Heart's Content, Newfoundland and completed the connection between the continents which has never been interrupted since. Later, as captain, Halpin laid an estimated 26,000 miles (41,800 km) of cable (more than enough to circle the globe). The cable routes included the French Transatlantic Cable from Brest to St. Pierre and Miquelon in 1866 (under
1634-669: The subsequent enquiry, Halpin lost his master's ticket. Despite this setback in 1860 the Spanish Government commissioned him to deliver two troop ships, Isla de Cuba and Isla de Puerto Rica , to South America. At the break out of the American Civil War, Halpin ran the Union blockade bringing supplies to the Confederate States and returning with cotton to Europe. In 1864 he was forced to run his ship aground to evade capture but
1677-556: Was chartered by a French syndicate to bring American visitors to the Paris World Exhibition . She attracted only 191 passengers including Jules Verne who later wrote a book about her called A Floating City ( Une ville flottante , 1871). Before the 1860s there was great interest in Telegraphy and the linking of Europe to North America by telegraphic cable. The first successful cable was laid in August 1858. Queen Victoria of
1720-653: Was named in hommage to this 1867 universal exhibition. Jules Verne visited the exhibition in 1867, his take on the newly publicized discovery of electricity inspiring him heavily in his writing of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas . A famous revival of the ballet Le Corsaire was staged by the Ballet Master Joseph Mazilier in honor of the exhibition at the Théâtre Impérial de l'Opéra on 21 October 1867. The World Rowing Championships were held on
1763-634: Was the greatest up to its time of all international expositions, both with respect to its extent and to the scope of its plan. For the first time Japan presented art pieces to the world in a national pavilion, especially pieces from the Satsuma and Saga domains in Kyushu. Vincent van Gogh and other artists of the Post-Impressionism movement of the late 19th century were part of the European art craze inspired by
Robert Halpin - Misplaced Pages Continue
1806-399: Was the proprietor of a small tavern and the family were reasonably well off. From an early age, Robert showed a fondness for the sea. He received his early education at a nearby private school. Halpin appears to have shown little interest in formal education and with his imagination fueled by tales of faraway lands recounted by mariners in his father's tavern, he left home at age ten to become
1849-607: Was then detained by the Northern Union forces. The case against him was unproven and he was released after the Battle of Mobile Bay . It was then that Halpin began his association with the steamship Great Eastern . In his book The Great Iron Ship , author James Dugan states, "the first and in some ways the most interesting of the ocean liners was the Great Eastern , brainchild of the legendary Isambard Kingdom Brunel ." Launched at
#556443