A truly wonderful occasion at Trinity College Dublin this month, when composer Mary Kelly donated two rediscovered treasures from Ina Boyle to The Library of Trinity College Dublin. These were two of Ina’s drawing sketchbooks that Mary’s father had saved during a public auction at Ina’s former home, Bushey Park.
The sketchbooks included portrait drawings by Ina Boyle of Clyde Twelvetrees, Charles Wood, C.H. Kitson, and Ina’s mentor and teacher, Ralph Vaughan Williams. Thanks to Mary’s wish to safeguard them, they will now be housed with Ina’s other artefacts in The Library of Trinity College Dublin.
“The legacy of Ina continues to grow, and we hope to attract more interest in her life and work, given the important place she holds within Irish Musical history.”
Attendees at the TCD presentation included composer Mary Kelly, Roy Stanley, and Jane Maxwell from The Library of Trinity College Dublin; Emma Coulthard, Chair of the Ina Boyle Society; Dr. Ita Beausang, biographer of Ina Boyle; IBSL Artistic Advisory Committee members David Byers, Ian Fox, and Dr. Kerry Houston; Diane Davison, former owner of Ina Boyle's home, Bushey Park; and David and Isobel Beausang.
L-R: Diane Davison, Dr. Kerry Houston, Mary Kelly, Ian Fox, Dr. Ita Beausang, Roy Stanley, Emma Coulthard, David Beausang, David Byers, Isobel Beausang and Jane Maxwell.
Image credit © Library of Trinity College Dublin.
Mary Kelly shares how she came to have the sketchbooks in her story, ‘Miss Boyle’s Sketchbook’.
““I grew up near Enniskerry village where Miss Boyle (children in those days always referred to adults by their titles so she will forever be Miss Boyle to me) was a familiar sight driving up and down to the village in her bottle green Morris Minor. My father and my aunts (who lived closer to Bushey Park than we did) used to tell me what a talented composer Miss Boyle was and that she was frequently performed by the BBC but was not appreciated in her own country.
As a young child, I had been to Bushey Park a few times. On one of these occasions, my friend and I were asked to deliver a message. Miss Boyle’s housekeeper brought us into the kitchen and offered us some orange squash. Children in those days were expected to politely accept hospitality. The problem was, Miss Boyle had a reputation for feeding the rats in her house, treating them as pets. We were concerned that perhaps a rat had been in the squash jug but good manners required that we drink it!
Though not known as the talented composer that she was and despite a reputation for being a little eccentric, Ms. Boyle was considered in the neighbourhood to be kind, modest and devout. After she died, my father brought me to the auction at Bushey Park. In the hall, there was a heap of rubbish in the corner clearly on its way to a dump. My father, an amateur artist who had an eye for such things, spotted a drawing book among the rubbish. He told me to pick it up thinking that there could be a few blank pages in it for me to draw on.
When we got home, we discovered her drawings. How glad I am that I did not draw on the backs of any of those pages! I kept the drawing book all these years hoping that one day, it would find a proper home. When I graduated with a B. Mus. in 1978, my aunts urged me to do a Masters on Miss Boyle. Life got in the way and I regret not having taken their advice but am so glad that she is finally getting the recognition that my father and my aunts knew she deserved.
I am delighted that the sketchbook will finally be where it belongs.”
”
L-R Mary Kelly, Dr. Ita Beausang, and Emma Coulthard.
Image credit © Library of Trinity College Dublin.
Emma Coulthard, IBSL Chair on the donation by Mary Kelly: ''On behalf of the Ina Boyle Society, I am really pleased that the sketchbooks, which give us an intimate portrait of Ina, are going to be part of the collection at TCD. The legacy of Ina continues to grow, and we hope to attract more interest in her life and work, given the important place she holds within Irish Musical history. We would like Ina's contribution to be celebrated more widely and her work to be an inspiration to all who create or perform them.”
Upon presenting the sketchbooks to Trinity College Dublin, Mary Kelly said, “I am so happy that the sketchbooks are now where they will be well looked after,” and Roy Stanley from The Library of Trinity College Dublin wrote, “Thanks to this generous donation by Mary Kelly, future scholars will now have a more complete picture of the range of Ina Boyle’s talents.”
Ina Boyle biographer, Dr. Ita Beausang on the rediscovery wrote,: “The Sketchbooks are timely assets for future study of Ina Boyle's life. Mary Kelly's generous donation has kept them safe and Trinity College Library is the ideal place for Ina Boyle's archive.”
L-R: Diane Davison, Dr. Kerry Houston, Mary Kelly, Ian Fox, Dr. Ita Beausang, Roy Stanley, Emma Coulthard, David Beausang, David Byers and Isobel Beausang.
Image credit © Library of Trinity College Dublin.
IBSL would like to thank Mary Kelly for her generous donation, our attendees at the presentation, Jane Maxwell and Roy Stanley of Trinity College Dublin and Aileen Cahill from The Contemporary Music Centre Ireland for introducing us to Mary Kelly, enabling the presentation to TCD where the sketchbooks will be housed with Ina Boyle’s other manuscripts.