The question above is posed by Shane MacThomais, historian at Glasnevin cemetery. Shane contacted me with this image and the information below, and I’m sharing here in the hope someone can provide an answer either way. The photograph relates to the Dublin Main Drainage Scheme, and Shane details some of the characters in the photograph below. What about the man second on the left? Connolly did work on the scheme in the 1890s, could this be him? The man certainly bares more than some resemblance to Connolly.
Beyond the boots on the man second from right, the men do not appear in what I would deem workman’s attire, but if there is a foreman or labourer among the pile who knows.
Regardless, read Shane’s information below on ‘Altman The Saltman’, ‘Long John Clancy’ and the Dublin Main Drainage Scheme and then give the photo a close look.
By the middle of the 19th century Dublin Rivers like the Camac, Poddle and Liffey became seriously polluted. Several proposals were put forward in the mid to late 19th Century to mitigate this problem, but it was only in 1886 that the Main Drainage Scheme for Dublin City commenced, involving the construction of the North and South Quay interceptor sewers and the Ringsend treatment plant, the latter being completed in 1906.
When this work was completed in 1906 the Dublin Corporation decided that such sterling work deserved a publication. The Dublin Main Drainage Scheme Souvenir Handbook was published in 1906 and is no doubt a riveting read for anyone interested in centriifugal pumps and the inlet pipes and the affects of silt. The book has an interesting chapter on the history of pollution in Dublin and has countless photographs of the city fathers under whose benevolent eyes this work was carried out.
Amongst the photographs is this one of a group at the commencement of the outfall works. In the photograph are Albert Altman better known as ‘Altman the Saltman” whose business in the liberties supplied salt and coal to the numerous public baths across Dublin at the turn of the 19th century. Alongside Messrs Altman is John Clancy known as “Long John Clancy” who steps in and out of many a James Joyce novel. But it is the man 2nd from the left who raises my curiosity. Could it be the man himself Mr. James Connolly? Connolly did work on the scheme in the late 1890s but is it him?
UPDATE: Lorcan Collins of the 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour has sent in this image of Connolly from 1894. He’s not convinced it’s Connolly above, and see his logic below in the comment section.
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
The figure second from the left does bare a striking resemblance to Connolly.
It really looks like him alright
No, I can’t accept that it’s Connolly. There are a number of reasons why it’s not JC. He worked for a very short time as a navvy on the main drainage scheme in 1896. The man in the picture is not in working clothes, he’s clearly one of the engineers. I see there’s a watch chain too. I can’t recall seeing Connolly with a watch chain in any other pictures. Plus, he favoured the trilby as a hat, although as Shane has already pointed out to me “a man can have a number of different hats” so I appreciate I might be pushing that point… To me the shape of his body does not fit with Connolly. I think he’s too tall, and a bit too thin. I think it’s just a bloke with a “mo” and that’s about the sum of it. Do we have an exact year for the image? Bearing in mind JC was in the US when the publication first came out in 1906. Fair play though, it’s an interesting image either way. But in my humble opinion it’s not the great man himself.
What struck me is the attire of the men in general, that’s what has me inclined to agree with you Lorcan. Had to laugh at the hats point!
Ok the image is from 1896 but not published until 1906. I except the point that Connolly was just employed as a labourer and this does seem to be a photo of the managers but that guy behind with the horses has the look of a pure muck savage. The stance is a a wide shot Lorcan as there are so few images of Connolly particularly at this time that you can’t be sure. In fact it is rumoured that he sometimes stood “like a little teapot” ( that’s a joke Lorcan I can feel you fuming from here) . But the watch Lorcan when WIlliam Oman spoke to Connolly on the steps of LIberty Hall, Connolly was lholding his silver fob watch which he kept glancing at…..
Hmmm, well if it’s 1896 that’s my USA point destroyed. The man with the horses though, he’s clearly sneaking into the shot more than being part of the group that are posing for the shot. See there’d be hundreds of labourers on that scheme and the notion that they just picked Connolly out for the snap doesn’t work for me. I’ve a picture of JC in 1894. I’ll mail it to Donal and he can put it up here and they can be compared. Fair point on the fob watch in 1916 but in 1896 they were very poor, so poor that he hardly had a decent pair of shoes to wear to work. That lad in that picture looks prosperous enough. I’ve just been looking at a few pictures of Mr Ed though and I’m pretty sure that’s him on the far right. Although he also has the look of Champion the Wonder Horse about him.
It’d be easier to decide with a less grainy version of the picture, but as it is, comparing it to other pictures of a youthful Connolly, the man in the picture looks a little too old. Very like him, though.
Gents,
Hard to say, but there is a striking resemblance. I’d bet ‘yes’: maybe put it down as a qualified likelihood?
As for the attire, it’s a grainy shot but the gear that lad is wearing is a step down from the others. Look at the cut of what seems an ill fitting jacket. Not to mention the flares.
I don’t think its Connolly myself!
Apart from anything else, a little too tall, a little too thin, I think.
I think the clue is in the caption on the photograph: “Group taken at commencement of Outfall Works. Including the Engineers and former Members of the Improvements Committee, Altman, Clacy, Jones and Ireland.”
There’s no mention of “including a random but well dressed member of the labouring classes”.
Consider the vast amount of details collected by his family and friends, ranging from photo’s to letters and including all his written work (hat’s off to William O’Brien) I think someone would have known about this before now. If this image had been found in some “Connolly collection” then yes it may be significant but the fact that it’s a random image from a scheme which he only worked on for a limited amount of time…
Finally, exactly where or how is this photo dated to 1896?
Ok I concede its not him in the photograph but in fairness Lorcan if I had have put up your image most people would argue that it looks nothing like Connolly. As for your previous argument that he was to well dressed will you look at your picture: dickey bow, silk handkerchief, patent leather shoes, broke me arse
What Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly doing standing on Connelly’s right anyway?
Albert Liebes Altman(Altman the Saltman) was my great-great grand uncle. He was a Jewish convert who was elected to Dublin Corporation as a radical nationalist for the Ushers Island ward. The salt company headquarters was at No 11 Ushers Island and they supplied salt and coal to the Jewish baths at the Mendicity Institute, No 9 Ushers Island. (Joyce’s short story ‘The Dead’ takes place at No 15 Ushers Island). Albert Altman was T.P. Harrington’s right-hand man on the Corporation but Altman voted against his old friend when
Harrington sought a third term as Lord Mayor. He voted for the Labour
candidate and from then on referred to himself as ‘unpledged Labour
supporter’.(Harrington wrote James Joyce the famous reference which the writer took with him to the continent). Despite his conversion, Altman was the subject of many anti-Semitic attacks some of which were reported by the press. He was also enthusiastic about the emerging Sinn Fein movement but was disappointed by Athur Griffith’s anti-Semitism. Altman had a son who died in infancy and a daughter ‘Mimi’. In 1903, in what the Irish Times headlined ‘A Scandal’ Altman accused many of his fellow members of the Corporation of failing to pay their rates. Immediately the rates office was besieged by lawers attemping to regularise their clients affairs. As Dublin held it’s breath anticipating further revelations Altman was suddenly reported dead. (James Joyce’s father had been fired from the rates office some years previously in mysterious circumstances). The scandel and Altman’s death was spoken of up to the 1970’s. According to the family he was a close friend of James Connolly and of Skin the Goat who was employed at the salt depot at Bridgefoot St. Some of the Fitzharris family lived in Island St. The family of Altman the Saltman are currently perusing recently discovered documents belonging to Albert Liebes Altman, his brother Mendal John Joseph Altman, and Mendal’s son Emmanuel Columbus Patrick Altman in an effort to establish whether there may be any truth in the suggestion that Altmans might be considered as a potential source for the character of Leopold Bloom.
Vincent Altman O’Connor’s comment opens up a whole new vista on Joyce scholarship.
My own search for Leopold Bloom (‘Lost in Little Jerusalem: Leopold Bloom and Irish Jewry’, Journal of Modern Literature, 2004) ended up in a bit of a blind alley. Vincent’s proposed path is an imaginative one to seek out.
Certainly Altman the Saltman is a more plausible candidate for Leopold Bloom than anyone in the recently-arrived immigrant community, which I describe in Jewish Ireland in the Age of Joyce (Princeton, 2006).
Thank you Cormac O Grada for the comment and well done Shane for spotting Long John Clancy. I’m not entirely convinced it’s Connolly in the photo.
However I think the lads would have been told in advance that a photo was to be taken..hence their ‘Sunday best’. Coincidently, ECP Altman owned a copy of
‘Portrait of a Rebel Father’ dedicated to Fiona and signed by Nora Connolly. He also had ‘As I walked down Sackville St. ‘signed by Oliver St. John Gogarty.
(Page 84 contains speculation as to the identity of Leopold Bloom.) Connolly had some election material translated into Yiddish and he described the Wood Quay ward as ‘priest ridden’. The Ushers Quay ward also had a large Jewish population. The Jewish baths were at The Mendicity Institute where a plaque to Bethel Solomons is still displayed. The Wolfson family business was in Bridgefoot St.up to the 1970’s. The Robert Emmet Community Developemant Project based at the Mondo has done excellent research on the area and some of their photos are displayed in Tony O’Rourke’s coffee shop…a great spot! However, back to the photo. Can anyone guess what the Darby O’Gill
-like creature on the left is doing?
Finally, for those interested in the Altman/Bloom connection and who don’t wish to read vast tomes on Joyce, simply search ‘Altman’ in the Irish Times archive and compare John Henry Raleigh’s ‘The Chronical of Leopold and Molly Bloom’. Best of luck Bloom hunters!
The enigmatic ‘Altman the Saltman’ continues to fascinate readers of Ulysses as does his connection with James Connolly.
In association with the James Joyce Centre, Professor Neil R. Davison of Oregon State University, author of ‘James Joyce, Ulysses and the Construction of Jewish Identity’ will give this year’s Bloomsday lecture at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday 3rd June at the Irish Jewish Museum. Neil will speak on “The Irish-Jewish Ulysses” and will examine the biographical, historical, religious and political backgrounds surrounding how and why Joyce came to create such a robust and important Jewish character in Leopold Bloom.
While the jury is out on whether James Connolly is pictured above, Altman and Connolly had points of contact. Connolly’s Irish Socialist Republican Party was founded in Ryan’s pub around the corner from Altman’s salt depot at the top of Bridgefoot Street. Endorces by the less radical Labour Electoral Association, the Jewish Albert Altman was elected as a left wing nationalist to Dublin Corporation in 1901.
Admission to Professor Davison’s lecture is €5 and booking in advance is essential. Tel; (085) 706-7357 or email museum@jewishireland.org
Vincent Altman O’Connor
I think this should be 13th June? Cormac
Yep ! It’s Thursday 13th June. Thanks Cormac.
Connolly’s 1902 Yiddish leaflet was translated by Boris Kahan of the East London Social Democratic Federation. Kahan’s address at Commercial Road was but a few minutes from Altman’s poste restante at Upper Thomas Street, London E.C. Also in 1902, Altman shared the platform with Edward W. Stewart, a comrade of Connolly’s in the ISRP, at a meeting in support of the striking workers at the Inchicore Rail Works. William Partridge also spoke as did self-avowed agnostic Michael Morkan of Queen Street. Morkan, whose pub faced Usher’s Island was a close friend of Mendal Altman, brother of Albert. Mendal was also a T.C. on Dublin
Corporation and lived at 17 Queen Street at the time Connolly lived opposite, at number 71.
Vincent Altman O’Connor
Vincent Altman O’Connor will give a talk on “Altman the Saltman and Leopold Bloom” at The Brian Boru House, Glasnevin on Monday 16 June (Bloomsday) at 8.00pm.
Recently, former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave recalled his father W.T.Cosgrave refer to Jews Albert and Mendal Altman as ‘advanced’ Nationalists.
Research has discovered Altman’s connection to the escape of Fenian James Stephens from jail in 1865 and also, an involvement with the Invincibles in 1882.
These events haunt Leopold Bloom on the 16 June 1904.
Albert Altman was referred to as ‘The Jewish Fenian’ a term embedded in the text of Finnegans Wake.
The talk is in memory of Shane Mac Thomais. Admission 5 euro-proceeds to AWARE.
Booking advised. Phone (01) 830 45 27.
I’ve seen James Connolly described as “a little fat man with a huge moustache”, so, despite mouser, the gent in the pixture doesn’t sound right.
The latest edition of the Dublin James Joyce Journal (Nos. 6/7 l 2013-14) which is published by the James Joyce Research Centre at UCD in association with the National Library of Ireland contains the essay ‘Altman the Saltman and Joyce’s Dublin: New Research on Irish-Jewish Influences In Ulysses’. The essay is co-written by Neil R. Davison, Professor of English at Oregon State University, Yvonne Altman O’Connor, a curator at the Irish-Jewish Museum and Vincent Altman O’Connor. Included is an impressive photograph of Altman’s salt depot at 1-6 Bridgefoot Street taken about 1896. The DJJJ costs 10 euro and is available from Hodges Figgis, the James Joyce Centre and the James Joyce Research Centre at UCD. It can also be read on Project MUSE.
Fascinating to review the progress of this thread.
The James Joyce Centre are delighted to present a lecture by Vincent Altman O’Connor on ‘Altman the Saltman, Leopold Bloom & James Joyce’. It begins at 6:30pm on 8th May 2017. Places are free but limited – booking is essential! Reserve your place by calling (01) 878 8547. Should it be sold-out leave your contact details as there may be some cancellations.http://jamesjoyce.ie/event/vincent-altman-oconnor-altman-the-saltman-leopold-bloom-james-joyce/
‘Altman the Saltman’ was recently featured on RTE’s History Show.http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-history-show/programmes/2017/0319/860935-the-history-show-sunday-19-march-2017/?clipid=2435065
Altman the Saltman continues to pique the curiosity of Joyceans and he is cited by Colum Kenny in ‘Sinn Féin, socialists and “McSheeneys”: representations of Jews in early twentieth-century Ireland’ in the Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14725886.2016.1264218 .
The Saltman also makes it into RICORSO the prestigious Joyce resource http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/j/Joyce_JA/notes/People/notes1.htm .
And in History Ireland http://www.historyireland.com/volume-25/issue-3-mayjune-2017/altman-saltman-leopold-bloom-james-joyce/
Next year promises to be a bumper year for Altman the Saltman so watch this space.