|
Mulhall,
Michael George
(1836-1900), journalist and statistician, was born on 29
September 1836 at 100 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, the sixth child and
third son of
Thomas Mulhall (1803-1856), solicitor, and Catherine Flood
(1807-1849). His brother Edward Thomas Mulhall (1832-1899)
emigrated to the United States in 1852 and then settled in
Argentina as a sheep-farmer and became a successful businessman
and large landowner. Their younger brother, Francis Healy
Mulhall (1845-1898) also emigrated to Argentina and was an
editor of the Southern Cross weekly paper. Three sisters,
Mary, Ann and Fanny, were Catholic nuns.
Michael George Mulhall was
educated to be a Catholic priest at the Irish College in Rome.
However, he abandoned the studies and in 1858 went to Buenos
Aires to work with his brother Edward Thomas Mulhall. On
May 1861 the two brothers launched The Standard, the first
daily newspaper in English published in South America
(the weekly The British Packet had been published since
1810). The Standard was founded "not as the emblem of
a party or the watchword of rivalry, but as the bond of
fellowship between the various members of our Anglo-Celtic
race […]. We have all come from the British Isles and
English, Irish, Scotch, and American acknowledge one mother
tongue. Monopoly is unjust and bigotry hateful. To crush
one and prevent the other is our object" (first issue
of the Standard in: Marshall 1996). Although in fact
Irish, "the Mulhall brothers usually referred to themselves
as English, championing the interests of the British community,
views that were reflected in the paper, and the brothers
were often criticised for this stance"' (Marshall 1996).
The Standard became the preferred
English-language newspaper for thousands of British and
Irish settlers and their families abroad, and it only
ceased publication in 1959.
A
series of books accompanied the success of the Standard,
particularly the Handbook of the River Plate (six
editions 1863-1892) and the Handbook of Brazil
(1877), which were widely consulted by prospect emigrants
from the British Isles.
On 10 June 1868 Michael George Mulhall married Marion,
née McMurrough Murphy (d.1922). Marion Mulhall published
From Europe to Paraguay and Matto-Grosso (1877),
Ten Years of a Lady's Travels in the Pampas etc.
(1881), and
Celtic Sources of the Divina Commedia (1908) among
others. The Mulhall's only son died in 1886 in Buenos
Aires.
In 1878
Michael G. Mulhall returned to Ireland and published
several statistical compilations,
Progress of the World (1880), Balance Sheet of the
World, 1870-1880 (1881), the well-known Dictionary of Statistics (1883,
last published in 1970),
and History of Prices since 1850 (1885). In 1896 he travelled extensively in Europe
collecting material for the committee of the English parliament
reporting on a proposed department of agriculture for
Ireland. In recognition of his literary work, the Pope
appointed him camariere segreto and sent him a
papal blessing in articulo mortis. Michael G.
Mulhall died at The Peak, Killiney Park, Dublin, on 12
December 1900, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.
Marion Mulhall died on 15 November 1922 in Kent.
Edmundo
Murray
Rev. January
2009
References
- Coghlan,
Eduardo A., Los Irlandeses en la Argentina: Su Actuación y Descendencia (Buenos Aires, 1987),
p. 687.
- Howat,
Jeremy, British Settlers in Argentina: Studies
in 19th Century Emigration (http://w ww.argbrit.org/),
accessed 18 March 2004.
- Marshall, Oliver,
The English-Language Press in Latin
America (London: Institute of Latin American
Studies, University of London, 1996).
- Meehan, Thomas F.,
Michael George Mulhall (1836-1900) in "The Catholic Enciclopedia",
Vol. X.
- Murray, Thomas,
The Story of the Irish in Argentina
(New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons, 1919).
Likenesses
- Lundstrom,
engraving, published in the The Illustrated London News 117,
N° 3218, p. 929 (Saturday, 22 December
1900). Thanks to Edward Walsh for the exact reference.
|
