Irish Lives

Noted for ballads, but with poetry and prose under his belt

SIGERSON CLIFFORD (1913-85), author, was born Edward Bernard Clifford on May 8th, 1913, at Dean Street, Cork, son of Michael Clifford, tailor, and Mary Anne Clifford (nee Sigerson), both of Cahirciveen, Co Kerry. The family returned to Cahirciveen when he was two, and he was educated at the local Christian Brothers schools. For a period he lived with his grandfather Edward Sigerson, a noted local storyteller, who introduced him to the folklore and oral culture of the area. He was bookish and began writing in his early teens. At 19 he joined the Civil Service, entering the Department of Social Welfare. He worked at employment exchanges around the country before permanently transferring to Dublin in 1943. It was during his stint in Cahirciveen that he wrote his first play, The Policeman's Paradise, a gentle send-up of the lack of local activity during the War of Independence. This was typical of his literary output: it was almost exclusively focused on Kerry, particularly the Iveragh Peninsula.

Initially, poetry was his favoured genre; he produced a number of volumes, among them Travelling Tinkers(1951), the first publication by Dolmen Press, and Ballads of a Bogman(1955). The latter was extremely popular; its poems dealt with landscape, place, people and rural culture. Although capable of some striking images, much of this work is very uneven, and he soon began to focus on prose. In total he wrote 11 plays, most of which were performed on the amateur circuit, but his drama about Daniel O'Connell, The Great Pacificator, had a two-week run at the Abbey. His short stories were read on Raidio Éireann and published in the Kerryman, Evening Pressand Irish Press; a collection, The Red-Haired Woman and Other Stories, was published posthumously in 1989. It was probably as a ballad writer that he was best known; his composition The Boys of Barr na Sráidewas hugely popular in the 1940s, 1950s and beyond. He retired in 1973, dying suddenly on January 1st, 1985, at home in Glenageary, Co Dublin. His remains were brought to Cahirciveen for burial.

He married Sheila (Marie) Eady, typist, of Cork in 1945; they had five sons and two daughters.

William Murphy

From the Royal Irish Academy’s Dictionary of Irish Biography. See dib.ie for more details