Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol II (1901).djvu/229

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FitzPatrick
217
Flatman

and Personal;' these were followed by 'Anecdotal Memoirs of Archbishop Whately' (1864).

In his 'Lord Edward Fitzgerald, or Notes on the Cornwallis Papers' (1859), FitzPatrick first hit upon the vein of inquiry which he afterwards worked with conspicuous success that of investigating the inner history of Ireland before the union. In 1866, in 'The Sham Squire,' he followed up the story of Lord Edward Fitzgerald's betrayal. Upwards of sixteen thousand copies were sold. In 1867, in 'Ireland before the Union,' he pursued the same subject; but this volume was much less successful than its predecessor. It contains, however, some curious extracts from the privately printed diary of John Scott, first lord Clonmell [q. v.]

For some years after 1867 FitzPatrick's productiveness was checked, though 'The Life and Times of Dr. Lanigan' (1873) and 'The Life of Father Tom Burke' (1885) proved that he had not abandoned his interest in ecclesiastical biography. A 'Life of Charles Lever,' which appeared in 1879, was not felicitous. In 1888, however, he published 'The Correspondence of Daniel O'Connell, with his Life and Times,' a work of exceptional value and importance. It was reviewed by Gladstone in the 'Nineteenth Century' (xxv. 149).

Equally valuable as a contribution to history was his 'Secret Service under Pitt' (1892), a work involving infinite labour among the Irish State Papers of the period, and displaying, even more fully than 'The Sham Squire,' FitzPatrick's detective skill in piecing together scattered items of evidence. This was FitzPatrick's last work of importance. In 1895, shortly before his death, he published anonymously 'Memories of Father [James] Healy' [q. v. Suppl.], the well-known wit; but the book was quite unworthy of its subject, partly from the difficulty of communicating the subtle charm of Healy's personality to the printed page, and partly from the writer's defective sense of humour. ' A History of the Dublin Catholic Cemeteries,' which he did not live to complete, was published after his death by the catholic cemeteries committee in 1900.

FitzPatrick was long actively interested in the work of the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Dublin Society. In 1870 he was appointed honorary professor of history at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts. His book on O'Connell won recognition at Rome, and he received from Pope Leo XIII the insignia of the order of St. Gregory the Great. He was also accorded the honorary degree of LL.D. by the Royal University of Ireland. He served twice as high sheriff for the co. Longford. FitzPatrick died at his residence, 48 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, on Christmas eve, 24 Dec. 1895, after a short illness.

FitzPatrick's labours in his special field of study constitute a serious addition to historical knowledge. If he was deficient in good taste, he was usually fair, and never sought to suppress the fresh facts that he discovered because they did not happen to fit his theory. His industry was immense, but an absolute incapacity for style disfigures all his work.

[Men and Women of the Time, 1895; Annual Register, 1895; Freeman's Journal, 26 Dec. 1895.]

FLATMAN, ELNATHAN (1810–1860), jockey, the son of a small farmer, was born at Holton St. Mary in Suffolk in 1810. In 1825 he walked with a small bundle to Newmarket and begged employment of William Cooper, the trainer, a request conceded upon the intercession of the trainer's wife, who was moved to compassion by the sorrowful appearance of the puny applicant. He was soon promoted to ride trials, and in the Craven Meeting of 1829 rode Lord Exeter's Golden Pin, in a race won by Sam Chifney upon Zinganee. Among the masters for whom he rode while in Cooper's stable were General Peel, Lord Strafford, Greville, Lord Jersey (upon whose Glencoe he won the Goodwood Cup in 1834), and Lord Chesterfield. Upon the latter's Carew he won the Goodwood Cup in 1837, and next year, upon the same owner's Don John, captured the Doncaster Cup. In 1839 his riding of General Gate's Gibraltar in the famous dead-heat with Crucifix for the Criterion established his reputation. For the next twenty years the 'Augustan age of the British turf his path having been cleared by the premature death of two formidable rivals, Arthur Pavis and Patrick Conolly Flatman was perhaps the most popular jockey in the field. In 1842 he rode for Lord George Bentinck, and during the next few years he won a notable series of successes for Lord Chesterfield and General Peel. Upon Peel's Orlando he was declared Derby winner (upon the disqualification of Running Rein) in 1844, but his greatest triumph was the winning of the Doncaster Cup in 1850, when upon Lord Zetland's Voltigeur he compelled the Flying Dutchman (ridden by Marlow) to lower his colours for the only time in his brilliant career. In 1848 he scored no less than 104 wins, in-