The Baron of Bengal Street: The Making of an Irish Innkeeper

After fleeing the harshness of life in Roscommon, Ireland, sixteen years old Joe Cronin (my grandfather) arrives penniless in Manchester. It is 1890. Determined to become a gentleman, as landlord of the Shamrock Inn, he builds an empire while helping the poor of Ancoats. His wife’s tragic death leaves him with two young daughters. Conscripted to serve England in WW I, he also continues to support home rule for Ireland by helping the IRA. Accepted into the higher echelons of Manchester society, he earns the indebtedness of city leaders and politicians. After settling the gambling debts of the chief of police, he gains protection for his black-market schemes and illegal gambling. But at the one moment when he should have shown the world what a real gentleman he had become, he fails both himself and his favorite daughter Mary.

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