Elizabeth Crotty

Elizabeth Crotty, better known as Mrs. Crotty (6 December 1885 – 27 December 1960), was a famous Irish concertina player.

Elizabeth Crotty
Birth nameElizabeth Markham
Born(1885-12-06)6 December 1885
near Cooraclare, County Clare
Died27 December 1960(1960-12-27) (aged 75)
Kilrush, County Clare
GenresTraditional Irish
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsConcertina

She was born as Elizabeth Markham near Cooraclare, County Clare. In 1914 she married Michael ("Miko") Crotty and moved to Kilrush. Miko had been in the United States for a couple of years and used the money earned over there to buy a public house on the Market Square in Kilrush, now known as "Crotty’s Pub".[1]

Her fame began in the 1950s in the wake of the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. She participated in this movement of musicians from an early stage. When a local branch was founded in County Clare, Mrs. Crotty was elected president. She kept this position to her death in 1960.[1]

Mrs. Crotty did not make any commercial recordings. The RTÉ had made a few recordings for their programs and they used one for their commemoration LP of 50 years RTÉ in 1976.[1][2]

Death

Elizabeth Crotty died on 27 December 1960 from angina pectoris. She is buried in (old) Shanakyle cemetery.[1]

Festival

Mrs. Crotty was the namesake of the “Eigse Mrs Crotty” Traditional Music School and Festival, a yearly music festival in July in Kilrush. This festival was held from 1996 to 2009.[2][3] The festival later amalgamated to form the "Crotty Galvin Traditional Weekend".

Recordings
  • Keepers of Tradition Concertina players of County Clare[4]

See also

References
  1. "Elizabeth (Mrs) Crotty (1885-1960)". Clare County Library. 27 December 1960. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  2. Fear an Ti (22 July 2009). "Elizabeth (Mrs) Crotty". Ramblinghouse.org. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  3. The Sceoil Eigse Mrs Crotty Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Keepers of Tradition Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
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