This started out as an attempt to trace Geoghegan's movements as a 'travelling singer', as he styled himself. However, it became an investigation of a man who, quite simply, lived a double life. I suggested in a previous thread that there was more than meets the eye about him, I never realised until now just how much.

He was born in Salford about 1816 (some sources state Barton-on-Irwell, but both he and his sister Ellen claimed Salford as their birthplace). His father, James, was a Fustian Cutter from Dublin (b.1791) living at Phillips St., Barton in 1851; his mother, Mary Ann, was from Manchester.

According to sources, "before he reached manhood took to writing songs upon current events". He certainly seems to have left home at an early age and was married, to Elizabeth (a 'vocalist'), before he was 19.

The 'other woman', Mary Ann Birchall, appears on the scene about 1852, aged 17. In that same year Geoghegan fathered children both by his wife and Mary Ann, a pattern that was to continue until 1871, when Elizabeth died. He married Mary Ann that same year.

In all he fathered 21 known children: 9 by Elizabeth and 12 by Mary Ann, 10 of which were born whilst still married to Elizabeth.

Fate was unkind to his family; at least four of his sons reached adulthood but died before reaching 40. At least three of his children were deaf and dumb from birth (tragic enough, but even more so, given their father's occupation). Only one child, Frederick, showed any musical inclination; he was styled 'violinist' on the 1861 census.

Mary Ann died 1889 in Stoke, where Geoghegan was manager of the Gaiety Theatre. He moved back to Bolton and died there the same year. His death was widely reported, meriting two articles in the Otaga Witness, New Zealand!

A grandson, Stephen Birchall Geoghegan, died in Bolton in 1964 aged 77. There are Geoghegans in Bolton to this day, probably Joseph's descendants.

The following is a list of his known whereabouts, based on family events. Given that he had two families, entries in the first column relate to Elizabeth's, those in the second refer to Mary Ann's:

  1835 Preston
  1837 Salford
  1839 Preston
  1841 Manchester
  1847 Liverpool
  1851 Liverpool
  1852 Salford     Bolton
  1855 Liverpool
  1856 Liverpool
  1859 Manchester  Bolton
  1860             Salford
  1861 Liverpool   Salford
  1863             Salford
  1867             Salford
  1868             Salford
  1871 Liverpool   Bolton  (Elizabeth dies, marries Mary Ann)
  1872             Bolton
  1874             Bolton
  
  
  1888             Stoke
  1889             Stoke, Bolton (death of JB and Mary Ann)
  

He vanishes from the radar between 1874 and 1888 (I cannot find him on the 1881 census). He may have spent some time in Sheffield during this period.

Ironically, one of his songs was entitled IT'S REALLY A DREADFUL AFFAIR - quite apt really.