- Selected:
COMBER, PATRICK FORSTALL
- Born: 1831 Died: 1909
Civil engineer and architect. Patrick Comber was born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, on 30 April 1831, the eldest son of Thomas Comber and Catherine, daughter of Edward Gannon, of Rossbeg, Kilmena, Co. Mayo. He was educated privately and by the monks of the Third Order of St Francis at Errew Monastery and was articled to his father as an architect and builder. In 1853 he entered the Royal Engineer Department at Edinburgh, serving in Scotland until 1862, in the Ionian Islands, 1862-1864, and at Chatham, 1864-1868. In 1868 he prepared plans for the Royal Mint at Melbourne, Australia, and went to Melbourne the following year to arrange for its erection; he remained in Melbourne as superintendent of the Coining Department until 1875.
In 1876 Comber returned to Ireland. He was surveyor to the Bray Township Commissioners from 1881(1) or earlier until 1897, when he was succeeded by ALFRED DICKINSON PRICE. (2) In 1886 he was selected from thirty-five applicants by the Drogheda Union Board of Guardians to design and supervise the erection of labourers' cottages under the provisions of the Labourers Act of 1883; when the appointment was rescinded soon afterwards in favour of JOSEPH BERRY , Comber was paid compensation of £100.(3)
Comber died in at home in Dublin on 25 June 1909.(4) He had married Mary (d. 1906), eldest daughter of John Forstall, of Edinburgh, on 3 May 1859, whose name he appears to have added to his own. He had three sons and three daughters.
ICEI: elected member 7 April 1886;(5) delivered paper on Bray sea wall 1 Feb 1888;(6) awarded a Mullins Silver Medal for same.(7)
Inst.CE: member.
Association of Municipal & County Engineers: elected member, 1 May 1886; re-elected 13 February 1897.(8)
Surveyors' Institution: fellow.
Royal Sanitary Institute: member.
Royal Institute of Public Health: member.
Addresses:(9) 4 Prince of Wales Terrace, Bray, 1883; 37 College Green and Friary Hall, Bray <=1886 until 1889; 8 Anglesea Street, Dublin, 1890 until >=1896; 19 Leeson St Lower, Dublin <=1896 until >=1906.
See WORKS and BIBLIOGRAPHY.
References
All information in this entry not otherwise acounted for is from the biography (with photograph) of Comber in E. Macdowel Cosgrave, ed., Dublin and County Dublin in the Twentieth Century (1908), 256. A brief obituary is in Min.Proc.Inst. CE 177 (1908-9), 292. See also the entry on Comber by Stephanie P. Jones in Dictionary of Irish Biography, ed. by James McGuire and James Quinn, 9 vols. (Cambridge University Press, 2009), II, 710-11.
(1) IB 23, 1 Dec 1881, ?. His proposal for extending the township was presented to Parliament in 1881.
(2) IB 39, 1 Feb 1897, 23.
(3) P.J. Geraghty, 'P.J. Dodd of Drogheda, Architect and Civil Engineer', in Journal of the Old Drogheda Society No. 9 (1994), 27.
(4) Obituary in Min.Proc.Inst. CE 177 (1908-9), 292.
(5) TICEI 17 (1887), 205.
(6) TICEI 19 (1889), 101-108.
(7) TICEI 20 (1891), Annual report of Council, 1889, 3.
(8) See note 2, above.
(9) TICEI membership lists, Thom's Directory 1883 and Post Office Directories 1896,1900
21 work entries listed in chronological order for COMBER, PATRICK FORSTALL
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| Building: | CO. WICKLOW, BRAY, SEA WALL |
| Date: | 1881-1886 |
| Nature: | Construction of same. Contractor: R. McAlpine |
| Refs: | IB 23, 1 Dec 1881, ?; 27, 15 Mar 1885, 96; 28, 1 Jul,15 Sep 1886, 200,256; 30, 15 Feb 1888, 42; P.F. Comber, 'Bray Sea Wall and Promenade', TICEI 19 (1889), 101-108; Thomas Craig, Guide to Bray (1884), 9-10; obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292. |
| Building: | CO. WICKLOW, BRAY, PROMENADE |
| Date: | 1884 |
| Nature: | New promenade. Under construction, 1884. |
| Refs: | Thomas Craig, Guide to Bray (Dublin, 1884), 9-10; obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292. |
| Building: | CO. LAOIS, PORTLAOISE, TOWN HALL |
| Date: | 1885 |
| Nature: | Entrant in competition for adds and alts. |
| Refs: | IB 27, 1 Jan 1885, 6 |
| Building: | CO. LOUTH, DROGHEDA, HARBOUR |
| Date: | 1889 |
| Nature: | Proposed harbour improvements. Construction of parallel walls along Boyne from railway viaduct to mouth of river. Plans prepared by PFC & W.G. Strype |
| Refs: | IB 31, 1 Nov 1889, 267 |
| Building: | CO. WICKLOW, BRAY, HARBOUR |
| Date: | 1890-95 |
| Nature: | New harbour designed by PFC with W.G. Strype. Contractor: W.J. Doherty, CE. |
| Refs: | IB 32, 1,15 Sep,15 Dec 1890, 209,221,295; 33, 15 Jul 1891, 155; Architect 44, 19 Dec 1890, Supplement p.2; Wicklow Newsletter, 17 Mar 1888, 18 Jul 1891; obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292. |
| Building: | CO. MONAGHAN, CARRICKMACROSS, WATER SUPPLY |
| Date: | 1898 |
| Nature: | With late W.G. Strype. Contractors: Hegarty & Gault, Ballymena |
| Refs: | IB 40, 1,15 Sep 1898, 133,140,141,149; obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292. |
| Building: | CO. WICKLOW, BRAY URBAN DISTRICT, HOUSES |
| Date: | 1900 |
| Nature: | Labourers' cottages, for Bray Urban District Council |
| Refs: | IB 42, 15 Jan 1900, 242 |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, LOUGHLINSTOWN, RATHDOWN UNION WORKHOUSE |
| Date: | 1900-1901 |
| Nature: | New chapel & nuns' residence; FS laid 19 Jul 1901. Contractor: Pemberton. Estimated cost £3250-4000. Altar designed by PFC. |
| Refs: | IB 42, 15 Jun 1901, 391; 43, 30 Jan,23 May 1901, 601, 735; 44, 30 Jan 1902, 1026; Wicklow Newsletter, 31 Mar 1900, 18 May 1901, 27 Dec 1902; inscription on trowel presented to Dr. W. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin, at founding ceremony. |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, LOUGHLINSTOWN, RATHDOWN UNION WORKHOUSE |
| Date: | 1901,1903 |
| Nature: | New wards, alterations to wards; slating |
| Refs: | IB 43, 12,26 Sep 1901, 862,873; 45, 2 Jul 1903, 1852 |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, BLACKROCK, NEWTOWN AVENUE, DISPENSARY |
| Date: | 1901-1902 |
| Nature: | Alts. & repairs |
| Refs: | IB 43, 19 Dec 1901, 976; 44,, 2 Jan 1902, 994 |
| Building: | CO. WICKLOW, BRAY, SEWERS |
| Date: | 1902 |
| Nature: | In Herbert Road &c.; for Bray UDC. |
| Refs: | IB 44, 3 Jul,18 Dec 1902, 1308,1526; obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292. |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, STILLORGAN, DRAINAGE |
| Date: | 1902 |
| Nature: | - |
| Refs: | IB 44, 10 Apr 1902, 1110 |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, LOUGHLINSTOWN, RATHDOWN UNION WORKHOUSE |
| Date: | 1903 |
| Nature: | Repairs & alterations to hospital; portable iron hospital |
| Refs: | IB 45, 2,16 Jul 1903, 1852,1883 |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, LOUGHLINSTOWN, RATHDOWN UNION WORKHOUSE |
| Date: | 1905 |
| Nature: | Drainage and sewerage work |
| Refs: | IB 47, 6 May,7 Oct 1905, 314,710 |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, DUNDRUM, DRAINAGE |
| Date: | 1906 |
| Nature: | Prepares outline scheme for same, 1905, for Rathdown No. 1 RDC. |
| Refs: | IB 48, 24 Mar 1906, 253 |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, FOXROCK, DRAINAGE |
| Date: | 1906 |
| Nature: | With John Pansing, for Rathdown RDC. Resigned. |
| Refs: | IB 48, 14,28 Jul,6,20 Oct 1906, 545,618,822,861 |
| Building: | CO. WICKLOW, TROOPERSTOWN, SCHOOL (RC) |
| Date: | 1908 |
| Nature: | New schools. Tenders invited Aug 1908. Cost: £300. |
| Refs: |
Clonliffe College Archive, MS p1/2; B 97, 8 Aug 1908, 172. |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, DEAN'S GRANGE, CEMETERY |
| Date: | 1908 |
| Nature: | New waiting room & shelter. Contractor: B. Pemberton |
| Refs: | IB 50, 13 Jun 1908, 373 |
| Building: | CO. WESTMEATH, ATHLONE, WATER SUPPLY |
| Date: | ? |
| Nature: | With W.G. Strype. |
| Refs: | Obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292; obituary of Strype in Min.Proc.Inst.CE 134 (1897-8, Pt. IV), 412. |
| Building: | CO. TIPPERARY, TIPPERARY, WATER SUPPLY |
| Date: | ? |
| Nature: | With W.G. Strype. |
| Refs: | Obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292; obituary of Strype in Min.Proc.Inst.CE 134 (1897-8, Pt. IV), 412 |
| Building: | CO. DUBLIN, RATHDOWN, SEWERAGE |
| Date: | ? |
| Nature: | - |
| Refs: | Obituary in Min.Proc.Inst CE 177 (1908-9), 292. |
| Author | Title | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comber, Patrick Forstall | 'Bray Sea Wall and Promenade'. | 1888 | TICEI 19 (1887-88), 101. |