Barney Williams (actor)

Barney Williams
Born
Bernard O’Flaherty

(1824-08-30)August 30, 1824
Cork, Ireland
DiedApril 25, 1876(1876-04-25) (aged 51)
New York City
Occupation(s)Actor-Comedian, Irish Clog Dancer
SpouseMaria Pray

Barney Williams (August 20, 1824 – April 25, 1876) was an Irish-American actor-comedian popular during the mid decades of the 19th century. He was probably best remembered by audiences of the day for playing Ragged Pat in J. A. Amherst's drama Ireland as it is and the title role in Samuel Lover's comic opera Rory O'More. Throughout the greater part of his career he was billed along with his wife, the former Maria Pray, as Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams.[1]

When Benjamin H. Day founded the New York Sun in 1833, he employed Williams as his first, and for a time, only newsboy.[2]

  1. ^ Mason, James - The History of the Year 1876, 1876, p. 295 accessed 1.28.2013
  2. ^ Printers' Ink, November 27, 1901, p. 16 accessed 1.27.2013