(fl. 1737 - 69), physician, of a Co. Westmeath family settled in Florence; acting agent to Irish grand tourists.
- 1737 - 69 Florence
Dr Tyrrell was attending John Fotheringham in Lucca in August 1737 (see Fotheringham). In October and December 1739 his name recurs in Sir Roger Newdigate's letters from Florence,1 and on 30 October 1742 Horace Mann described how 'Dr Tyrrell famous for great cures' had declined to assist a lady 'sorely afflicted' by scurvy, 'saying that though his mercurial unctions have been so efficacious' in this case the scurvy had taken such root that he despaired 'of giving her any relief'.2
Acting for Ralph Howard, Tyrrell wrote him entertaining letters from Florence,3 taking a proprietary interest in the comings and goings of Irish travellers. On 7 August 1752 he reported the arrival of Robert Rochfort and continued 'I sent down the Nile yesterday a damn'd large Parmesan Cheese, & a Cargo of Gessoes for his father; I dayly expect Lord Lanesborough's son [Brinsley Butler] recommended to me by honest Dawson, to whom a thousand compliments from me; if you want wine, oil, cheese, pray lay your commands freely & sans facon, on, dear Sir, your most obedt & most devoted humble servant, James Tyrrell'. Otherwise signing himself 'Hippocrates', he referred to the Arno as 'the Nile', Leghorn 'our Tuscan Alexandria', and Charles Martin as 'our Tuscan Raphael in the crayon way'. Delays, account discrepancies and mishaps, disgrazia, were explained away with the imperturbability of long experience and his services included advice on the care of the objects he despatched: 'in case of dust', he wrote on 26 November, 'order your servants to rub the Bustoes Pedestals & Stands, hard with an old linen clout, but no sand or any other stuff'.
On 26 January 1753 he sent a list of pictures, fourteen in all, any of which Howard might like to have copied by the same man who had already done the Van Dyck's Bentivoglio and Charles V for him and he urged him to have handsome frames made 'here & neatly gilt; as I've done now for a parcel of Pictures which I sent away last Saturday for Mr Leeson'. For each picture there was a catalogue number, a description of the subject with the measurements; thus no. 80 read 'Hercules between Virtue & vice; Virtue represented by Minerva, & vice by Mrs Brimstone venus with her little Pimps about her; a noble & rich composition by Rubens: six feet broad, & five feet'. The final letter is dated 20 July 1753, when he boasts of yet another Irish patron, 'Mr [Robert] Clements, son of our Irish Treasurer', for whom Don Pietro Belloni was hard at work. 'I am heartily glad that his Scagliolo Tables please you so much, & don't doubt but Mr Clements will like his also'.
James Martin visited him in Florence in November 1763,4 and Tyrrell is heard of again as a physician in October 1769 when a young English cavalier was brought from Rome to be innoculated under the direction of Dr Tyrrell;5 he may also have been the 'Thyorll' recorded in Florence in 25 November 1769.4
1. Newdigate MSS b, 35.2 (19, 22 Oct., 6 Dec. 1739). 2. Wal. Corr., 18:87. 3. Wicklow MSS. 4. Martin jnl.MSS (23 Nov. 1764). 5. Gazz.Tosc.
C. O'C.