He is known as the man who put Ireland on wheels and this month marks the 150th anniversary of the death of the Italo-Irish transport entrepreneur Charles Bianconi.
Born Joachim Carlo Giuseppe Bianconi near Como, northern Italy, on September 24th, 1786, he anglicised his name to Charles when he arrived in Ireland as a teenager in 1802.
Young Bianconi settled in Dublin’s Temple Bar, near Essex Bridge, becoming apprenticed to Andrea Faroni, an art dealer selling prints, engravings, religious images and bric-a-brac.
Early in the 19th century public conveyances were confined to a few mail and day coaches on the main roads and there were no facilities for speedy or convenient travel.
Bianconi realised Ireland lacked a cheap coach service connecting rural towns.
Initially he began taking passengers, goods and mail from Clonmel to Cahir by open-top two-wheeled one-horse carriages. His business marked the introduction to the country of fast and reliable public transport.
Travelling at a speed of about 9mph (15km/h), the service became popular and dependable and was widely used by passengers and shopkeepers for transferring goods.
This was during the period shortly after the Battle of Waterloo onJune 18th, 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars which had lasted for 12 years and led to the defeat of Napoleon.
A new carriage tax led to many jaunting cars coming on the market, and at the same time a considerable number of sturdy horses which had been intended for the army were at Bianconi’s disposal. There were also out-of-work horsemen.
Their services were available cheaply following the peace of 1815 and he set about building a thriving business with trustworthy staff.
Travel on what was referred to as “Bians” cost one penny farthing a mile and the network increased to cover Limerick, Cashel and Thurles in Co Tipperary, with a service to Waterford in 1816. The south was a lucrative region since a considerable number of substantial market towns had been established.
New routes followed to Dungarvan, as well as links to Co Kilkenny and Co Wexford. Over the next decade, services extended west and north opening more remote lines from Tralee to Cahersiveen, Athlone to Galway and Clifden, and Longford to Ballina and Belmullet.
The variety of styles and coaches ranged from the heavier “Finn McCools” and “Massey Dawsons” (an eight-passenger coach) to the lighter cars known as “Faugh-a-Ballagh” – from the old Irish battle cry “clear the way”. They were made in factories in Clonmel, Galway and Sligo.
In 1827 Bianconi married Elizabeth Hayes, the daughter of a wealthy Dublin stockbroker, and they had three children. By this stage, his business was expanding at a remarkable rate over a large part of the south and west of Ireland, reaching its height in the mid-1840s.
He owned 100 cars and 1,400 horses that covered around 3,800 miles a day, encompassing 23 counties and calling at 140 stations where grooms were employed for changing horses.
As he continued to prosper, a series of eponymous inns opened along the routes served by his coaches providing stabling for horses as well as accommodation for passengers and jarveys. It is thought only one coaching inn, which was on the original route, now survives under the Bianconi name, in Killorglin, Co Kerry.
In 1843 Bianconi was invited to deliver a paper to a meeting in Cork of the British Association for the Advancement of Science on how he had successfully built up, branded and developed his coaching business. However, around the same time, the advent of railway travel led to a reduced need for open carriages.
Bianconi sold coaches and long cars to his employees, buying shares in railway lines, although he continued to operate his horses into the 1860s. He also threw himself into Clonmel civic life, serving as a councillor in the 1840s and later as mayor.
Bianconi died on September 22nd, 1875, days before his 89th birthday at his home, Longfield house, a 1,000-acre property in Boherlahan, Co Tipperary.
According to legend, as Bianconi breathed his last a phantom coach and horses was heard coming up the drive of Longfield house.
His business was left to his employees and his land to the parish for building a church. The Bianconi Mortuary Chapel, where he was laid to rest in Boherlahan, was built on his estate.
The Italian immigrant and shrewd businessman who revolutionised Ireland’s transport network in the 19th century has not been forgotten.
During Heritage Week last month, Boherlahan chapel opened to the public and a memorial tree was planted to mark the 150th anniversary of his death.
Restoration work has begun on the chapel, and the artist Johnny Fogarty presented a model of the building to the Friends of Bianconi. A festival of events linked to his life is to be held in Boherlahan from September 18th-21st.
The Italian ambassador to Ireland, Mr Nicola Faganello, will attend the festival on September 21st to unveil a memorial plaque to Bianconi.
