PORTLAOISE'S FIRST RECORDING STAR
In 1949 he came to live in Dublin and the most recent reference I could find to his career as a teacher comes from
the Irish Independent of August 26 19501:
I often wondered why he retired from recording and performance at such a relatively young age,
and then I came across a remarkable document - a typescript of
an article by a Patrick Lacy who had met him in London "just returned from Hollywood where he had been visited by hosts of celebrated screen stars".
I cannot vouch for the provenance or authenticity of this undated piece2
(nor can the member of Ward's extended family who gave it to me) but the minute I saw its title, I was, to put it mildly, intrigued:
Irish Caruso now a Yogi. He sees into the Future3.
The gist of the article is that Ward, "at the height of his success as a concert and operatic artist,
has forsaken fame and the footlights to devote himself to the study of the occult".
The upshot was that Ward, in a display of altruism that would have done Mother Teresa proud, "decided to abandon his own artistic
career in order to be able to place his services at the disposal of others." His "unique attributes", he continues, "have been given to me by God
to use for the good of my fellow man".
Among those "who clamoured for Mr Ward's advice and assistance" were Gracie Fields, Edward G. Robinson, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich.
So far, I - and those I have spoken to - know very little about Patrick Ward's final years in London.
I have been in contact with Jane D'Angelo, a fellow parishoner of Holy Apostles Church in Pimlico,
who often visited Patrick and his wife Ann in their home.
Patrick knew she was a soprano in the church choir so he showed
her a copy of his song Ave Maria - written in 1946 - and asked her to sing it at his funeral. She promised she would.
Jane paints a poignant
picture of the aftermath of Patrick's death on May 29, 1985: Ann refused to believe that her husband was dead and would not allow his body to be
taken to the funeral directors.
The priest asked Jane to keep her occupied until the body was removed.
On the day of the funeral, mourners waited for Ann to arrive but, in the end, the mass had to start without her. Suddenly
she appeared and walked up the aisle, approached the priest and said she was not staying because Patrick was not dead. She walked back out of the church
and the funeral went ahead without her.
When Jane visited her later at her home in Sutherland Street, she
said she was sorry Ann hadn't stayed for Patrick’s mass and hear his Ave Maria. She asked her if she could play it.
Ann sat at the piano and, as Jane sang for her, her eyes filled with tears4.
2
All I can deduce from the text is that it is pre-1953.
3
The aforementioned article by Patrick F. Meehan concludes by noting that Patrick Ward "devoted his latter years
to teaching Music and Palmistry".
4
Neither Patrick or Anne ever mentioned children to Jane, so I am assuming that they had none.
After meeting a "distinguished Indian philosopher",
he began to study "The Art of Breathing as practised by followers of the Yoga creed and found that by carrying out the lessons of his Indian teacher,
he could banish all pain and make himself proof against every bodily ill". There's more. He was "able to see into
the future" and "predicted for one well-known actress a sudden burst of success that was realised the very next day".
On that note, I think it's time for a musical interlude:
1
On March 13, 1965, in response to a reader's query in the Evening Press, 'Another Music Lover'
wrote that Ward, "a prophet without honour in his own land" was back living in London.
HOMEPAGE