Richard Pockrich (inventor)
Encyclopedia
Richard Pockrich , or Poekrich (c.1695–1759), was the inventor of the angelic organ in 1741.
, Ireland
. His father, also named Richard
(c. 1666–1719), was the member of Parliament for Monaghan
and had commanded troops in the Williamite
battles. The paternal descent was of an English family from Surrey
. Some notices indicate that Poekrich was the name of the family, and this was the spelling he gave on his works. He is reported to have aged 25 when his father died (1920?), so a probable year of birth has been fixed to 1695. Poekrich received a substantial inheritance, valued at a figure between £1,000 (Newburgh) and £4,000 (Pilkington).
Variations of his name include Puckeridge or Pokeridge, or styled as 'Captain Poekrich' in contemporary notices. His unsuccessful ventures included a brewery in Dublin, near Islandbridge, the tale of its decline is intertwined with that of his greatest success, his musical glasses. When bailiffs came to arrest Poekrich for his debts, he entranced them with an impromptu performance on his 'angelick organ'; his subsequent pardon is given as the earliest example of a belief in the psychological effect of the instrument, later adopted by Mesmer.
Another proposal was the raising geese on barren terrain of his purchases in County Wicklow
. Other schemes included an observatory
to pursue his interest in astrology
. His imagination extended to an orchestra of various sized drums, arranged to be played by one person.
His political involvement included lobbying the Parliament of Ireland
for planting vineyard
s by draining the Irish bog
s.
He also proposed the development of metal hulled ships, some 100 years before their eventual introduction, carrying lifeboat
s made of tin. Despite his grand platform for election, he failed to win when he ran for Parliament (twice, 1745 Monaghan and 1749 Dublin).
An enthusiast of blood transfusion
, he believed that disease could be cured and life extended by the use of healthy donors. A description of the procedure proposes the use of servants or other physically active specimens. Anticipating the problems of immortality that might result, Pockrich proposed that an act decreeing that "anyone attaining the age of 999 years shall be deemed...dead in law".
Numerous other proposals were issued from the visionary, amongst these was a plan to link the Liffey and River Shannon
by a series of canals. Descriptions of his schemes might be seen as exaggeration or distortion by their dubious authorities, but records of advertisements placed by Poekrich support the number of unrealised proposals.
He also failed in his application to become Master of the Choristers of Armagh Cathedral.
Unmarried until he was 50, Margaret White became his wife in 1745. She sailed from England with the actor Theophilus Cibber
, apparently eloping and fleeing debt, and died in a shipwreck on the Scottish coast in 1758.
While staying at a coffee house, near the Royal Exchange
, he was suffocated in a fire that destroyed part of the street in 1759.
' and is credited with their invention in 1741; he named the instrument an "angelic organ". His decrepit rooms were given over to development of his design and performance of it. His early method of playing, using wooden sticks, is comparable to a similar instrument—the 'glassspiel' or 'verrillon',—designed a few years earlier on known principles.
His 'virtuoso' performances were accompanied by a singer received good notices, and reported to have been a popular act. He toured around England and Ireland. His repertoire included the works of Handel
. The technique he used involved stroking the glass with sticks, but Franklin said he later switched to the 'wet-finger-around-the-wine-glass' method.
One popular performance was "Tell me, lovely Shepherd", sung by a Miss Young.
He published a collection of poetry, his Miscellaneous Works appeared in 1750.
The instrument was adopted by Gluck, who presented it on April 23, 1746, as, "a concerto on 26 drinking-glasses tuned with Spring water", and performances were popular for half a century. His pupils continued after the death of the originator, a performance in 1760 by one, Anne Ford
, is mentioned in a short notice by Flood. Forde wrote an instruction manual and toured Europe and England.
Pilkington gave a description of Pockrich constructing an instrument, simulating a dulcimer
, during a meeting at his home; by hammering pins and wire on the table, the visitor laid his head to hear his request for 'Black Joke
'.
The earliest biographical notices began with David O'Donoghue, a brief notice for his dictionary, Poets of Ireland (1891–93), and the same author's longer notice was in the Dictionary of National Biography
, 1900, these being the first two references on the inventor and his works.
O'Donoghue notes the autobiographical Memoirs of John Carteret Pilkington and also draws on the miscellaneous collection Essays, Poetical, Moral, &c., 1769, by Thomas Newburgh
(c.1695–1779), attributing the relevant material to his father Brockhill Newburgh
writing in 1743, and the early or contemporary sources in Thomas Campbell
's Philosophical Survey; Conran's National Music of Ireland; the Gentleman's Magazine 1759; and his own reference work, Poets of Ireland. Campbell in a notice in A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland (1776), in asserting Poekrich's eminence in music, stated that performances of his instrument, while lacking great force, produced the sweetest of tones.
The article appeared as the last in volume 15 of the DNB, a bibliographic quibble notes that 'Poekrich' is the correct spelling and it should have been included in the next. The brief notice given there suggests a detail on his death,
O'Donoghue expanded his work to a longer article, published as "An Irish Musical Genius". Like other early biographers, who repeated references in the few contemporary source, the publications of their subject were largely ignored and depended on questionable views.
Pilkington, the son of Laetitia Pilkington
, sang during Pockrich's show and was apparently intimate during his youth, but gives no later information of him. Pilkington gives does give a later mention to "Captain Poekrich, the glass projector," in his memoirs, grudgingly admitting to his value as a performer when his listener recognised him and agreed to request a concert. No reply was received, due to his unfortunate demise around the time.
Brockhill Newburgh of co. Cavan was related to Pockrich, apparently making him the subject of a mocking poem, 'The Projector', a first attempt at what would have been a 24 volume work entitled "The Pockreiad". The notes to this unfinished work detail the author's ridicule of his subject's notions, though he gives exception to his highly regarded musical glasses; this became a key source of information on the life of Richard Pockrich.
The elegiac text of Newburgh:
W. H. Grattan Flood
asserted Richard Pockrich's importance and influence in his A History of Irish Music, crediting him as the inventor in 1841, and summarising his legacy with a quote from the Vicar of Wakefield (1761),
A catalogue of the British Museum
notes volume 1 of a title, Miscellaneous works, 1755 at Dublin, attributed to "Poekrich (Richard) esqr."
Life
He was born at his family's estate Derrylusk, Co. MonaghanMonaghan
Monaghan is the county town of County Monaghan in Ireland. Its population at the 2006 census stood at 7,811 . The town is located on the main road, the N2 road, from Dublin north to both Derry and Letterkenny.-Toponym:...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. His father, also named Richard
Richard Pockrich (MP)
Richard Pockrich was an Irish landowner, military commander and Member of Parliament.-Career:He raised and commanded an independent company during the Williamite wars and was wounded at the siege of Athlone in 1690. He represented Monaghan Borough in the Irish House of Commons from 1713 to 1714....
(c. 1666–1719), was the member of Parliament for Monaghan
Monaghan Borough (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
Monaghan Borough was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800. Between 1725 and 1793 Catholics and those married to Catholics could not vote.-1692–1801:...
and had commanded troops in the Williamite
Williamite
Williamite refers to the followers of King William III of England who deposed King James II in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs....
battles. The paternal descent was of an English family from Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. Some notices indicate that Poekrich was the name of the family, and this was the spelling he gave on his works. He is reported to have aged 25 when his father died (1920?), so a probable year of birth has been fixed to 1695. Poekrich received a substantial inheritance, valued at a figure between £1,000 (Newburgh) and £4,000 (Pilkington).
Variations of his name include Puckeridge or Pokeridge, or styled as 'Captain Poekrich' in contemporary notices. His unsuccessful ventures included a brewery in Dublin, near Islandbridge, the tale of its decline is intertwined with that of his greatest success, his musical glasses. When bailiffs came to arrest Poekrich for his debts, he entranced them with an impromptu performance on his 'angelick organ'; his subsequent pardon is given as the earliest example of a belief in the psychological effect of the instrument, later adopted by Mesmer.
Another proposal was the raising geese on barren terrain of his purchases in County Wicklow
Wicklow
Wicklow) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. Located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island, it has a population of 10,070 according to the 2006 census. The town is situated to the east of the N11 route between Dublin and Wexford. Wicklow is also connected to the rail...
. Other schemes included an observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
to pursue his interest in astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
. His imagination extended to an orchestra of various sized drums, arranged to be played by one person.
His political involvement included lobbying the Parliament of Ireland
Parliament of Ireland
The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. In its early mediaeval period during the Lordship of Ireland it consisted of either two or three chambers: the House of Commons, elected by a very restricted suffrage, the House of Lords in which the lords...
for planting vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
s by draining the Irish bog
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
s.
He also proposed the development of metal hulled ships, some 100 years before their eventual introduction, carrying lifeboat
Lifeboat (shipboard)
A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable watercraft carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard ship. In the military, a lifeboat may be referred to as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors sometimes...
s made of tin. Despite his grand platform for election, he failed to win when he ran for Parliament (twice, 1745 Monaghan and 1749 Dublin).
An enthusiast of blood transfusion
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...
, he believed that disease could be cured and life extended by the use of healthy donors. A description of the procedure proposes the use of servants or other physically active specimens. Anticipating the problems of immortality that might result, Pockrich proposed that an act decreeing that "anyone attaining the age of 999 years shall be deemed...dead in law".
Numerous other proposals were issued from the visionary, amongst these was a plan to link the Liffey and River Shannon
River Shannon
The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at . It divides the west of Ireland from the east and south . County Clare, being west of the Shannon but part of the province of Munster, is the major exception...
by a series of canals. Descriptions of his schemes might be seen as exaggeration or distortion by their dubious authorities, but records of advertisements placed by Poekrich support the number of unrealised proposals.
He also failed in his application to become Master of the Choristers of Armagh Cathedral.
Unmarried until he was 50, Margaret White became his wife in 1745. She sailed from England with the actor Theophilus Cibber
Theophilus Cibber
Theophilus Cibber was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alexander Pope satirized Theophilus Cibber in his Dunciad as a youth who "thrusts his person full...
, apparently eloping and fleeing debt, and died in a shipwreck on the Scottish coast in 1758.
While staying at a coffee house, near the Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange may refer to:*Royal Exchange, Belfast a major mixed-use regeneration scheme in the North East Quarter of Belfast City Centre*Royal Exchange, Manchester, a 19th century classical building, home of the Royal Exchange Theatre...
, he was suffocated in a fire that destroyed part of the street in 1759.
Works
Pockrich eventually found success with his performances of his 'musical glassesGlass harp
A glass harp is an instrument made of upright wine glasses....
' and is credited with their invention in 1741; he named the instrument an "angelic organ". His decrepit rooms were given over to development of his design and performance of it. His early method of playing, using wooden sticks, is comparable to a similar instrument—the 'glassspiel' or 'verrillon',—designed a few years earlier on known principles.
His 'virtuoso' performances were accompanied by a singer received good notices, and reported to have been a popular act. He toured around England and Ireland. His repertoire included the works of Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
. The technique he used involved stroking the glass with sticks, but Franklin said he later switched to the 'wet-finger-around-the-wine-glass' method.
One popular performance was "Tell me, lovely Shepherd", sung by a Miss Young.
He published a collection of poetry, his Miscellaneous Works appeared in 1750.
The instrument was adopted by Gluck, who presented it on April 23, 1746, as, "a concerto on 26 drinking-glasses tuned with Spring water", and performances were popular for half a century. His pupils continued after the death of the originator, a performance in 1760 by one, Anne Ford
Anne Ford
Anne or Ann Ford, after 1762 Mrs. Philip Thicknesse, was an 18th-century English musician and singer, famous in her time for a scandal that attended her struggle to perform in public.-Life and music:...
, is mentioned in a short notice by Flood. Forde wrote an instruction manual and toured Europe and England.
Pilkington gave a description of Pockrich constructing an instrument, simulating a dulcimer
Dulcimer
Dulcimer may refer to two types of musical instruments:* Appalachian dulcimer, a fretted, plucked musical instrument which is also referred to as a "mountain dulcimer", "lap dulcimer", "hog fiddle", "fretted dulcimer" or simply "dulcimer"...
, during a meeting at his home; by hammering pins and wire on the table, the visitor laid his head to hear his request for 'Black Joke
Black Joke
The Black Joke, sometimes spelled Black Joak, was a bawdy song heard in London around 1730. William Hogarth referenced the song in the Tavern Scene of A Rake's Progress. The lyrics and tune apparently gave rise to variations from 1730 onwards, such as the White Joak and so forth. The tune was later...
'.
Legacy
Poekrich is best remembered for popularisation of musical glasses, via his promotion and influence, that he discovered in the later years of his life. Descriptions of his character—as a proposer of "wild" schemes—range from sympathetic views as 'quixotic' to those of an "enterprising scoundrel".The earliest biographical notices began with David O'Donoghue, a brief notice for his dictionary, Poets of Ireland (1891–93), and the same author's longer notice was in the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
, 1900, these being the first two references on the inventor and his works.
O'Donoghue notes the autobiographical Memoirs of John Carteret Pilkington and also draws on the miscellaneous collection Essays, Poetical, Moral, &c., 1769, by Thomas Newburgh
Thomas Newburgh
Thomas Newburgh was an Irish poet.He was the son of Brockhill Newburgh, chairman of the board of linen manufacturers, who owned property at Ballyhaise, co. Cavan. Amongst his works was a miscellaneous collection, Essays, Poetical, Moral, &c., 1769, sometimes appearing in bibliographic records as...
(c.1695–1779), attributing the relevant material to his father Brockhill Newburgh
Brockhill Newburgh
Colonel Brockhill Newburgh was an Irish politician.He was the grandson of Brockhill Taylor, who had represented Cavan Borough in the Irish House of Commons. From 1715 until 1727, Newburgh sat as Member of Parliament for Cavan County.He was chairman of the Linen Board...
writing in 1743, and the early or contemporary sources in Thomas Campbell
Thomas Campbell (writer)
Thomas Campbell was an Irish Protestant clergyman, best known as a travel writer and his accounts of the circle of Samuel Johnson.-Life:...
's Philosophical Survey; Conran's National Music of Ireland; the Gentleman's Magazine 1759; and his own reference work, Poets of Ireland. Campbell in a notice in A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland (1776), in asserting Poekrich's eminence in music, stated that performances of his instrument, while lacking great force, produced the sweetest of tones.
The article appeared as the last in volume 15 of the DNB, a bibliographic quibble notes that 'Poekrich' is the correct spelling and it should have been included in the next. The brief notice given there suggests a detail on his death,
"in 1759 in a fire which broke out in his room at Hamlin's Coffee-house, Sweeting's Alley, near the Royal Exchange, London." [emph. added]
O'Donoghue expanded his work to a longer article, published as "An Irish Musical Genius". Like other early biographers, who repeated references in the few contemporary source, the publications of their subject were largely ignored and depended on questionable views.
Pilkington, the son of Laetitia Pilkington
Laetitia Pilkington
Laetitia Pilkington was a celebrated Anglo-Irish poet and important source of information on the early 18th century. Her Memoirs are the source of much of what is known of the personalities and habits of Jonathan Swift and others.Laetitia was born of two distinguished families...
, sang during Pockrich's show and was apparently intimate during his youth, but gives no later information of him. Pilkington gives does give a later mention to "Captain Poekrich, the glass projector," in his memoirs, grudgingly admitting to his value as a performer when his listener recognised him and agreed to request a concert. No reply was received, due to his unfortunate demise around the time.
Brockhill Newburgh of co. Cavan was related to Pockrich, apparently making him the subject of a mocking poem, 'The Projector', a first attempt at what would have been a 24 volume work entitled "The Pockreiad". The notes to this unfinished work detail the author's ridicule of his subject's notions, though he gives exception to his highly regarded musical glasses; this became a key source of information on the life of Richard Pockrich.
The elegiac text of Newburgh:
Mourn him, ye bogs, in tears discharge your tides,
No more shall Pockrich tap your spongy hides;
Ye geese, ye ganders, cackle doleful lays,
No more his mountain tops your flocks shall graze;
Be silent, dumb, ye late harmonious glasses—
Free from surprise, serenely sleep, ye lasses.
Let drums, unbraced, in hollow murmurs tell
How he that waked their thunders silent fell.
Let tempests swell the surge, no more his boat,
Secure from wreck, shall on the billows float;
No more, ye sons of Nappy, shall his beer
Or nut-brown ale your dropping spirits cheer,
To his own castles, built sublime in air,
Quitting his geese and bogs and glassy care,
With blood infused, and, like a meteor bright,
On his own pinions, Pock has winged his flight.
W. H. Grattan Flood
W. H. Grattan Flood
Chevalier William Henry Grattan Flood , renowned musicologist and historian, was born in Lismore in 1857. As a writer and ecclesiastical composer, his personal contributions to Irish musical form produced enduring works. As an historian his output was prolific on topics of local and national...
asserted Richard Pockrich's importance and influence in his A History of Irish Music, crediting him as the inventor in 1841, and summarising his legacy with a quote from the Vicar of Wakefield (1761),
"…the ladies from London could talk of nothing but 'pictures, taste, Shakespeare, and the musical glasses.'" [and] "Benjamin Franklin improved the instrument, and called it the "Armonica"; and for it Mozart, Hasse, Beethoven, Naumann, and other masters wrote."
A catalogue of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
notes volume 1 of a title, Miscellaneous works, 1755 at Dublin, attributed to "Poekrich (Richard) esqr."