On this Valentine’s Day, we have a tragic story for you of star-crossed lovers from Clonmel in the 1820s.
On 26 February 1826, Ann Grubb, a Quaker and daughter of John and Elizabeth Grubb who owned a bakery in the town, had arranged to meet her secret lover, Lieutenant Frederick Close, at the Gashouse Bridge so they could go for a walk down the towpath by the river Suir. After setting out some time around 8pm, the young couple were never to be seen alive again. Initially, they were suspected to have eloped. However, three weeks later, on March 15, the body of Frederick Close was found on the river bank just downstream from Clonmel at Kilganey. Two days after that, following a search, the body of Ann Grubb was discovered on a weir by a local boatman. To this day, the fate that the couple met is shrouded in mystery.
Rumours of what had happened abounded. Had they slipped and fell in to the river? Was foul-play involved? Or maybe there was a suicide pact between lovers whose relationship was doomed to fail due to the Grubb family’s disapproval of the relationship?
Post-mortem examinations found that the strings from Ann Grubb’s cloak had left a deep mark on her neck, but other than that, her body showed no signs of violence except a small abrasion on her knee. One doctor, Dr. Fitzgerald was of the opinion that the deceased met with no violence or ill-treatment and the inquest’s verdict was quite simply – ‘found drowned’. In Frederick Close’s case, a contemporary source claimed that ‘his skin appeared fresh as if life flowed in every vein – a half-smile was on the countenance, which was quite serene.’ On the other hand, his cloak, gloves and dirk (a type of dagger) were missing. How these objects were no longer on his person was never satisfactorily explained. Nor indeed was the fact that Lt. Close had obviously felt it necessary to bring a dagger with him on an evening walk. Was he afraid of some other suitor? Or maybe he had his own sinister intentions? Having retired for only a brief period, the jury in Lt. Close’s inquest returned with the rather unsatisfactory verdict of ‘found drowned’.
The body of Lieutenant Frederick Close was interred with full military honours in the churchyard of the old St. Mary’s where it can still be seen today. Anne Grubb, meanwhile, was buried in the Quaker graveyard on O’ Neill Street. Although the funeral was very large, her grave remains unmarked in accordance with Quaker practice of the time. According to local lore, the young lovers’ relationship transcended this life and on the anniversary of their death every year, it is said that the ghosts of Anne and Frederick leave their respective graves for a nocturnal tryst.
Whatever happened to the young couple, we will never know for sure but it seems quite likely that there was more to the story than mere accidental drowning. Needless to say, the case drew much media attention at the time but reports were varied and conflicting. The Clonmel Advertiser was satisfied that ‘enough has appeared to justify the conclusion that the couple had come to their deaths accidentally’. In 1835 however, the Tipperary Free Press published an editorial claiming that William Strangman, one-time suitor of Ann Grubb, was responsible for the deaths. Strangman later sued the newspaper and was awarded £750 in damages. This didn’t stop others from being convinced that there had been foul-play involved.
The case continued to garner attention for many years and in 1860, the whole tale was published in a book entitled ‘The Clonmel Tragedy – A True Story’. Theories conflicting with the official verdict are no more than speculation but what remains certain is that this case of these two ‘star-crossed lovers’ remains a story worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy. To find out more, see Michael Ahern’s book, ‘Figures in a Clonmel Landscape’, available in the Museum for €20.
