Cathal O'Byrne

Cathal O'Byrne (1867 – 1 August 1957) was an Irish singer, poet and writer.

O'Byrne was born and raised at Balmoral County Down, the son of parents from County Wicklow. He was employed at a grocery on Beersbridge Road in Ballymacarret where he would befriend Joseph Devlin. He settled in the Falls Road area of Belfast where he lived with his sister in a house at 43 Cavendish Street. In 2004, the Ulster History Circle placed a blue plaque on this house in his memory.^[1]

He joined the Gaelic League in Belfast and became a popular singer and storyteller. He was a stage manager of the Ulster Theater and would even become involved with the IRA, likely a member of military council. In 1921 O'Byrne traveled to America as a freelance journalist and opened a bookstore. He would return to Ireland after raising $100,000 for victims of the Belfast riots through White Cross. He was a devout Catholic, and even interviewed the Pope. Known for his dandified dress style, Cathal remained a bachelor his entire life. O'Byrne suffered from a stroke one month before his death on 1 August 1957. He is remembered as an important figure in the Celtic revival in Northern Ireland.^[2]

His most famous book is entitled As I Roved Out: A Book of the North.^[3]

O'Byrne's poem "A lullaby" from " Lane o' the Thrushes" was set to words by an Irish composer of the same time, Hamilton Harty, in his "Six Songs of Ireland".

• The Grey Feet of the Wind (1917)
• From Far Green Hills (1935)
• The Burthen and the Returned Swank(1940)
• As I Roved Out: A Book of the North (1946)
• Ashes on the Hearth (1948)
• Pilgrim in Italy (1949)

• Works by or about Cathal O'Byrne at the Internet Archive
• Works by Cathal O'Byrne at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• O'Byrne at Ulster History Circle

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