Tyrone Power (1795–1841)

William Grattan Tyrone Power (1795 – 17 March 1841), known professionally as Tyrone Power, was an Irish stage actor, comedian, author and theatrical manager.

Born in Kilmacthomas, County Waterford, Ireland to a landed family, he took to the stage achieving prominence throughout the world as an actor and manager. He is said to have purchased the land that would later be occupied by Madison Square Garden, New York shortly before his death at sea when his ship, the SS President, sank shortly after departing for England. The lawyer who held the papers could not be found so the Power family were unable to claim right to the property.

He was well known for acting in such Irish-themed plays as Catherine Gore's King O'Neil (1835), his own St. Patrick's Eve (1837), Samuel Lover's Rory O'More (1837) and The White Horse of the Peppers (1838), Anna Marie Hall's The Groves of Blarney (1838), Eugene Macarthy's Charles O'Malley (1838), and Bayle Bernard's His Last Legs (1839) and The Irish Attorney (1840). In his discussion of these works, Richard Allen Cave has argued that Power, both in his acting as well as his choice of plays, sought to rehabilitate the Irishman from the derogatory associations with "stage Irishmen" ("Staging the Irishman" in Acts of Supremacy [1991]).

He had a number of notable descendants by his wife Anne, daughter of John Gilbert Esq. of the Isle of Wight:

• Sir William James Murray Tyrone Power^[1] 1819–1911 Commissary General in Chief of the British Army and Agent-General for New Zealand.
  • Norah Power m. Dr. Thomas Guthrie
    • Sir Tyrone Guthrie British theatrical director.
• Maurice Henry Anthony O'Reilly Power^[1] 1821–1849 initially trained as a barrister but later took up acting.
• Frederick Augustus Dobbyn Nugent Power^[1] 1823–1896 civil engineer who left a large estate of £197,000 (a minimum of 15.6 million pounds sterling or 28 million US dollars in 2006 terms).
• Clara Elizabeth Murray Power^[1] (1825-)
• Mary Jane Power^[1] (1827-)
• Harold Littledale Power (1833-1901) actor, wine merchant, mine agent & engineer.
  • Tyrone Power, Sr. (1869–1931) English-American theatre and silent movie star.
    • Tyrone Power (1914–1958) American Hollywood star of the 1930s–1950s.
      • Romina Power b.1951 American-Italian singer and film actress.
      • Taryn Power b.1953 film actress.
      • Tyrone Power, Jr. b.1959 American film actor.

Published works

• Born to Good Luck: or the Irishman’s Fortune. A farce in two acts. Adapted from “False and True”.
• How to Pay the Rent; a farce, in one act [and in prose]
• St. Patrick’s Eve; or the Order of the Day. A drama in three acts [and in prose]
• The Lost Heir and The Prediction (1830)
• The King’s Secret (1831)
• The Gipsy of the Abruzzo. (1831)
• Impressions of America, during the years 1833, 1834 and 1835. (1836)

References

External links

• Impressions of America During the years 1833, 1834 and 1835. In Two Volumes, Volume I at Project Gutenberg
• Impressions of America During the years 1833, 1834 and 1835. In Two Volumes, Volume II at Project Gutenberg
• Tyrone Power (1795-1841) charcoal & painted images at NY Public Library