Resting Place of Robert Noonan

Resting Place of Robert Noonan
By Mike Kelly

In 1914 "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists." Was published by the Richards Press under the name of Robert Tressell. Thus was the pseudonym of Robert Noonan, an Irish housepainter, who came to England from South Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century. He was, accompanied by his daughter Kathleen and sister Adelaide and they settled in Hastings, Surrey were he worked as a sign writer for various building firms. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was the story of a group of building workers and the conditions in which they toiled. It portrayed the life of the common man before the First World War. The main character of the novel is Owen, who tries to enlighten his work mates but they refuse to listen, so he calls them philanthropists because they exchange their skills for little reward.

Such was the impact of this novel, that between April 1914 and November 1949 it was reprinted twenty times. Almost thirty years had gone by after its first printing, when a man living in Hastings, Fred Ball, read the novel and was surprised to see the book was set there in the town. (Hastings is referred to as Mugsborough in the book). Fred Ball decided to research information on the author of the novel that so fascinated him. He found, much to his surprise, that Robert Tressell was the pen name of Robert Noonan, a Dublin man. Robert was in born in Dublin on the 18 April 1870, at 37 Wexford Street. His father, Samuel, was an inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary and later a magistrate. Samuel had three daughters and one son to Robert's mother and three sons from a previous marriage. When Robert was just five or six his father died and this had a lasting effect on him, as he had been attached to him. Robert's sisters were educated at a convent in Dublin, but Robert missed out on a decent education. A few years later his mother married again, a marriage that Robert never approved of and he never got on with his stepfather. Robert appears to have left Dublin for England when he was quite young, possibly in his teens.

In 1890, Robert decided to chance his luck in South Africa and he could not have been there very long when he met his future wife. On the 15 October 1891 Robert married 18 year old Elizabeth Hartel, 18 at a Protestant church in Cape Town, and on the 17 September 1892 his daughter Kathleen was born in Cape Town. Kathleen was Baptized at a Protestant church and in April 1895 Elizabeth died of typhoid fever. In August 1896 Robert and his young daughter Kathleen moved to Johannesburg. Bringing him into contact with John McBride, the leader of "The Irish Brigade" which fought on the side of the Boers against the British in South Africa. A Mr Ogilvy, a friend of Robert's said. "His literary talent was in evidence during his time in South Africa, he was very fond of writing and wrote for various publications and his publications gave ample evidence of his literary power". In 1898, Robert's sister Adelaide joined him in South Africa with her young son Arthur, after the death of her husband in Chile.

In September 1901 Robert, his sister and the two children, Kathleen and Arthur sailed to England, on the Steam Ship Galician. The four of them joined his sister Mary Jane, at 38 Western Road, St Leonard's, Much of Robert's early life is shrouded in mystery and those who new him after his return from South Africa with Kathleen were never privileged in learning of this very private man's past. One man who had worked with Robert said he was one of the best sign writers he had known and would have made a brilliant artist. Robert soon found accommodation for himself and his widowed sister and the two children, in a top flat in Grosvenor Mansion, 115 Milward Rd St. Hastings. Kathleen was sent to the Roman Catholic school, the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Old London Rd.

In South Africa Robert had put his skills in sign writing to full use, enabling him to be his own master as a self-employed man. Robert soon found work after his return home at a time when jobs in his trade were easy to come by. He found work with Bruce & Co, Electrical, Sanitary Engineers, and Builders. His skills were soon rewarded with a pay increase, as a first class interior decorator and sign writer. Sadly this well paid employment came to an end when Bruce and Co went out of business but Robert, soon found work with Burton & Co, Builders Contractors and Funeral Directors.

Throughout this unsettled period in his life Robert never ceased writing, despite the long hours of work. There is no evidence as to when Robert started his novel, but Fred Ball thought that it may have been after he settled into his home in Hastings and based 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist' on his work mates. Working conditions in the building trade were not very pleasant. The long hours and the high volume of lead in the paint that Robert used every day seemed to bring about deterioration in his health. He was suffering increasing sickness, which in 1910 was reducing him to real poverty. Despite his illness Robert finished his manuscript of 1700 pages, all hand-written, and sent it to three publishers, who all returned it. The disappointment in having his manuscript rejected and his worsening health convinced him he could improve his lot in life by immigrating to Canada.

He made arrangements to go to Liverpool Kathleen was by now sixteen and it was decided she should stay with another aunt for a few weeks. Robert needed to earn the fare for himself and Kathleen and also sort things out with the Canadian emigration Authorities in Liverpool. Kathleen never saw her father again as on the 3rd February 1911 Robert Noonan at the age of forty died in the Royal Liverpool Infirmary (workhouse) hospital his cause of death was bronchial pneumonia and he was buried in a pauper's grave, in Walton Cemetery. He never had the satisfaction and pleasure of seeing his book published.

In 1914 Kathleen Emigrated to Canada and married her cousin Paul Meiklejon, her aunt Mary Jane's son. Kathleen was believed to have been killed with her young daughter Joan in a car accident in 1918. However in June 1967 Fred Ball found Kathleen very much alive, aged seventy-five, living in Gloucestershire. Fred Ball was like a ferret when it came to the memory of Robert Noonan. He found that the manuscript of 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' had been cut in half before publication in 1914. His determination to honour the memory of the Dublin man resulted in Lawrence and Wishart publishing the book in full in August 1958. In June 1967, BBC2 broadcasts a dramatisation of Robert Tressell (Robert Noonan) and it was shown again in June 1969. But the interest in Robert Noonan did not stop there. 'The Times' published an interview with Kathleen, who by this time was seventy-seven and married to Reg Johnson living in Gloucestershire. Four years later, in 1973, a memoir of Robert, by F.C. Ball 'One Of The Damned', was published. The memoir brought about renewed interest in Robert Noonan and a move to inaugurate a search to find his grave was started.

John Nettleton an admirer of the work of Robert Noonan, lead the way in the search and the grave was found in Walton Cemetery Liverpool, just half a mile from the infirmary were he died. In 1977 a Memorial stone was laid on Robert Noonan's grave, thanks mainly to John Nettleton. In April 1999 a plaque was placed on a building at the corner of 115 Milward Road and 88 Stonefield Road Hastings. On 29th May 1999, Michael Foster, MP for Hastings & Rye, unveiled a blue plaque at 241 London Road, St. Leonard's on Sea, as part of the Robert Tressell event. October 8th, 2000 Joan Johnson Robert's granddaughter, born 7th November 1915 died at East Grinstead, Sussex. Bringing an end to direct contact with Robert Noonan

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