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John Ireland

AKA John Nicholson Ireland

Born: 13-Aug-1879
Birthplace: Bowdon, Cheshire, England
Died: 12-Jun-1962
Location of death: Washington, Sussex, England
Cause of death: Heart Failure
Remains: Buried, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Shipley, West Sussex, England

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Matter of Dispute [1]
Occupation: Composer

Nationality: England
Executive summary: The Holy Boy

[1] Ireland regretted immediately his marriage, which he never consummated. His assistant and companion, Norah Kirkby, destroyed portions of Ireland's papers and correspondence upon his death, donating the remainder to the British Library. But see Fiona Richards, "An Anthology of Friendship: The Letters of John Ireland to Father Kenneth Thompson", in Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity (2002): "Despite his brief and ultimately unsuccessful relationships with women, there is no doubt that Ireland was considerably more interested in men, specifically much younger men. There is, however, no direct evidence that Ireland ever had a close sexual relationship with a man or a boy, and he did not particularly mix in homosexual circles. He was a very private figure, and because of this and the problems involved in extracting relevant information, there has never been any truly open discussion of Ireland's personal life. In particular, there has been little written about his religious convictions or his sexuality." The article covers the subject in some depth.

Father: Alexander Ireland (publisher and newspaper editor, b. 1809, d. 1894)
Mother: Annie Elizabeth Nicholson (b. 1839, d. 4-Oct-1893)
Sister: Lucy (b. 11-Oct-1866)
Sister: Alice (b. 17-Feb-1868)
Brother: Walter Alleyne (b. 19-Jan-1871)
Sister: Ethel (b. 11-Jan-1873)
Wife: Dorothy Phillips (m. 17-Dec-1926, div. 19-Sep-1928)

    High School: Leeds Grammar School
    University: Royal College of Music, London
    Professor: Composition, Royal College of Music, London (1923-)

    Scottish Ancestry





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