Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Stone and marble mason, of Cork City and Belfast.   John Francis Davis, who was born in Kilkenny in 1860 or 1861, had a workshop in College Road, Cork, until 1914.  Examples of his work in Cork include the figures on the National Monument in the Grand Parade, Cork, several funerary monuments in St Joseph's cemetery, and a large statue of St Joseph in the Convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Montenotte. He married Mary Keating from Cork circa 1881 and at the time of the 1911 census had nine surviving children.

In 1914 Davis left Cork, his business and his family for Belfast, where he started a new life and a new family under the name of J.F.D. Malcolm.   In Belfast he carried out numerous commissions, from, among others, PURDY & PURDY & amp; MILLARD  MILLARD and O'Neill & Co. These include war memorials in Kilkeel, Co. Down, and Moy, Co. Tyrone, and memorials in Belfast City Cemetery and Milltown Cemetery.   He died in 1930 and was buried, at his own request, in an unmarked grave.

Address: 30 Vincent View, College Road, Cork, 1891; 4 Sunview Terrace, College Road, <=1907->1914ca;  53 Lisburn Avenue, Belfast, 1914ca-1930?.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry is from 'John Francis Davis (J.F.D. Malcolm)', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib3_1257868544 , last visited 3 Dec 2014;  Roger Herlihy, Cork (May 2010) and Davis's granddaughter Patsy Long (Mar 2013), who also contributed information to the entry in Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture, above.


8 work entries listed in chronological order for DAVIS, JOHN FRANCIS *


Sort by date | Sort alphabetically


Building: CO. CORK, CORK, MONTENOTTE, ST MARY'S HOME FOR THE AGED & CONVENT OF LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR
Date: 1886
Nature: 7 ft high Portland stone statue of St Joseph and the Christ child, completed Jun 1886. For Little Sisters of the Poor.
Refs: Cork Examiner, ? Jun 1886, quoted in Crawford Gallery, Cork, http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/1876-1900.html ,last visited Mar 2013 (information from Patsy Long, granddaughter of JFD, Mar 2013).

Building: CO. CORK, BUTTEVANT, CHURCH OF ST MARY (RC)
Date: 1886-87
Nature: Memorial cross to Canon Timothy Buckley (d. 1886) in churchyard. Cost: £30. Also Easter Sepulchre altar in E transept. Cost: £50.
Refs: MS synopsis of Buttevant parochial records and accounts, 1829-1886, by Rev. Cornelius Buckley, pp.174,191 (information from Mgr James O'Brien, Buttevant, who has photocopy of same, Aug 2010);  James O'Brien, St Mary's Church, Buttevant, Co. Cork: notes on its building history 1828-1886 (2011) (Copy in IAA)., 47-50.

Building: CO. CORK, BLARNEY, CHURCH (RC)
Date: 1894
Nature: High altar and side altar.
Refs: Cork Examiner, 22 Oct 1894 (information from Roger Herlihy, Cork.).

Building: CO. CORK, OLDCOURT (DONERAILE), GRAVEYARD
Date: 1899a
Nature: Monument to Fr. Owen O'Keeffe, parish priest of Doneraile and poet, erected by public subscription.  Cost discharged 15 Sep 1899
Refs: MS synopsis of Buttevant parochial records and accounts, 1829-1886, by Rev. Cornelius Buckley, p.200 (information from Mgr James O'Brien, Buttevant, who has photocopy of same, Aug 2010).

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, GRAND PARADE, NATIONAL MONUMENT
Date: 1902-1906
Nature: Figures of Wolfe Tone, Michael Dwyer, Thomas Davis, Michael Dwyer and Erin.
Refs: www.corkpastandpresent.ie

Building: CO. DOWN, KILKEEL, GREENCASTLE STREET, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WAR MEMORIAL
Date: 1923
Nature: Statue of soldier executed by JFD (under name of J.F.D. Malcolm) for Purdy & Millard, Belfast.
Refs: 'John Francis Davis (J.F.D. Malcolm)', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib3_1257868544 (last visited Dec 2014);  illus. in Ulster War Memorials, http://www.ulsterwarmemorials.net/html/kilkeel__county_down.html (last visited Dec 2014).

Building: CO. TYRONE, MOY, SQUARE, WAR MEMORIAL
Date: 1924
Nature: Signed and dated marble statue of soldier executed by JFD under the name of J.F.D. Malcolm.
Refs: Statue signed J.F.D.M 24  ( information from Dr Emma McVeigh, Moy, Co. Tyrone, Dec 2014;  'John Francis Davis (J.F.D. Malcolm)', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib3_1257868544 (last visited Dec 2014);  illus. in War Memorials in Ulster, http://www.ulsterwarmemorials.net/html/moy__county_tyrone.html (last visited, Dec 2014).

Building: CO. CORK, CORK, ST JOSEPH'S CEMETERY
Date: ?
Nature: JFD executed 'some beautiful funerary monuments' in cemetery.
Refs: Information from Roger Herlihy, Cork (May, 2010).