The Frank McCourt Museum in Limerick recreates the McCourt home and a classroom of the 1930’s, including memorabilia and old schoolbooks donated by former pupils of his school. [1]
Educator and author of Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt was born in in Brooklyn, New York on 19 August 1930. McCourt’s memoir, which depicted his poverty-stricken upbringing in Ireland, won him many awards including the Pulitzer Prize in 1996.
Frank was the eldest child of Irish Catholic immigrant parents, Malachy Gerald McCourt and Angela Sheehan. Malachy had a drinking problem and couldn’t keep a job, so the family returned to Ireland when Frank was 4 years old, settling in Limerick where they hoped that, with the help of Angela’s family, they could make a better life. Limerick at that time was depressed and unwelcoming, and Malachy had difficulty getting a job. He spent the little money the family had on drink. They eventually found a home in a slum area next to a stable. There was one outhouse that the entire lane used, near the McCourt’s house, and the stench was unbearable in the summer. The parents and children shared one bed, the house was infested with rats, and it flooded regularly. In 1940, aged 10, Frank contracted typhoid fever and was lucky to survive. Frank’s formal education in Limerick ended at age 13, when the Irish Christian Brothers rejected him as a student in their secondary school.
In 1941 Malachy moved to England, planning to obtain work in a munitions factory. In the beginning, he sent a little money home but eventually abandoned the family altogether. Angela was left to raise the four surviving sons on her own in Limerick. With almost no state support, the family survived by a combination of painstaking economy, ingenuity, charitable handouts, and, as McCourt detailed in his memoir, the relationship she had with her cousin, Laman Griffin who provided a roof over their heads in return for sex.
In 1949, at the age of 19, McCourt left Ireland for New York City. After serving in the Vietnam war, he attended New York University, graduating in 1957 with a degree in English and Education. He took up a teaching position, spending 30 years in the field.
After retirement in 1988, McCourt concentrated on writing the story of his childhood. His book, Angela’s Ashes, was published in 1996, becoming a phenomenal success, selling more than 5 million copies and earning him critical acclaim. He passed away in July 2009 at the age of 78.