Bianconi

This extraordinary man, a penniless immigrant Italian, became a very wealthy man who made the transition to become one of the gentry of Tipperary in a seamless and effortless manner.

While this had been done before by numerous families including the Bagwells and Grubbs of Clonmel, it had taken at least a couple of generations to achieve what Bianconi did in his own lifetime.

He arrived in Ireland in 1802 at the age of sixteen. He was brought over from Italy by Andrea Faroni, a man who made prints of famous pictures. Faroni brought three other young apprentices with him. Originally he had intended to go to London, but for some strange reason he chose to go to Dublin instead. Upon arrival he collected any money the apprentices had and used it to set up his business. Bianconi had a hundred gold coins, which had been given to him by his family and friends and this was reluctantly handed over.

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