Maxwell Cormac and Frederick Fitzjames Cullinan were born in Ennis, Co Clare. The Alpine Club states that they were brothers - sons of Dr. Patrick Maxwell Cullinan, of Harmony House, Ennis. By another source they may have been cousins. [At the time of Griffith’s Valuation Dr P.M. Cullinan held land in the parish of Kilchreest, barony of Clonderalaw, while Michael Cullinan held six townlands in the parish of Feakle, barony of Tulla Upper. He is recorded as owning 966 acres in the 1870s. His son Frederick FitzJames Cullinan was knighted in 1897. Landed Estates. UCG].
Maxwell, the elder, (born 1843) had a stellar academic career - Trinity College, Dublin; Christ's College, Cambridge - Fellow, Lecturer, Junior Dean and Classical Lecturer. Called to the Bar 1869, Assistant Professor of Latin at University College London, contributed to a number of volumes on historical and classical subjects.
His Alpine career was relatively short ( AC member 1875 - 80) during which he made some impressive ascents: Adler Pass and Strahlhorn, Schwartzberg Weisstor, Rothorn, Matterhorn were his qualifying ascents. He lived abroad after 1878 and died in Rome in 1884.
Frederick. born in 1845, was educated at Ennis College and Dublin University but became a Civil Servant in Dublin Castle at age 19. He moved to the higher echelons of the service in London and later again in Dublin where he also became a governor of the National Gallery. His time in London allowed him to become very active in the Alpine Club (1878-83) and he visited the Alps a number of times, making some significant ascents, often with Gerald Fitzgerald. His last recorded climbs in the Alps were in 1885.
 |
| Alpine Club |
Created CB in 1894, knighted in 1897 and KCB in 1913.
He accompanied Henry Hart on the 'Hart Walk' to win the wager with Richard Barrington (1886). He remained a member of the Alpine Club and attended its dinner for members resident in Ireland in 1906 that took place at the University Club in honour of its ex-president James Bryce.
He died in 1913 and his obituary was written by his climbing partner Gerald Fitzgerald, who said: He was naturally of a very retiring disposition, but for those whom he knew intimately he had many and great attractions : he was a good climber, fast, light and safe, and always a most eventempered, unselfish, and agreeable companion. (Alpine Journal 1914 pp 194)
One might ask what was the stimulus that sparked their first interest in climbing mountains.
See Frank Nugent's In search of Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers for further details of both.
No comments:
Post a Comment