Patrick Cosgrave

Patrick John Francis Cosgrave (28 September 1941 – 16 September 2001) who died from cancer when Patrick was ten, leaving his mother impoverished. She took work as a cleaner in the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle. Cosgrave rebelled against the Roman Catholic piety of his mother and his teachers at St. Vincent's C.B.S. in Glasnevin. He claimed that his grandfather, a warden in Mountjoy Prison, had beaten up Kevin Barry, a Republican rebel executed in 1920. and earned him the nickname "The Mekon". After this, Cosgrave earned a precarious living as a freelance journalist and by writing books, mainly political biographies. Martin Seymour-Smith derided the book, but Lowell agreed with Cosgrave's criticism of "Mr Edwards and the Spider", and dedicated a rewritten version to him.

He published three mystery novels featuring the daring Colonel Allen Cheyney.

Personal life He obtained a British passport He married Norma Green, mother of his daughter Rebecca, in 1974; and Shirley Ward, his widow, in 1981; In 1981 the Inland Revenue filed a tax demand for over £10,000 and he was declared bankrupt. His debt of £18,700 was discharged in 1985.

He died of heart failure. His poor health was exacerbated by heavy drinking and smoking.

Works

Books

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Papers