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James ‘Skin-the-Goat’ Fitzharris (1843-1910): FITZHARRIS was born October 4th, 1843, in Ballybeg, Co Wexford. From his early teens he worked on the local Sinnott estate with his father, John. In the early 1870s he was dismissed after wrecking a hunt by setting a sheepdog on a fox that was being pursued by Lord Courtown.

He went to Dublin, where he worked as a builder’s labourer and later as a cab driver. For a time he lived on Denzille Street, opposite James Carey, who employed him on general business. He also worked regularly for the Dublin Metropolitan Police.