Dr Arthur Nicholas Whistler Colahan
1884 - 1952
COMPOSER OF THE IRISH SONG 'GALWAY BAY'
Maidin Mhaith from Aotearoa, New Zealand
A chance encounter with Brian Donnellan in Washington DC led us to get involved with the ‘Arthur Colahan story’ as we asked ourselves whether we could get recognition for the Galway medical man who had written the Irish song known the world over called Galway Bay.
My links to Dr Arthur Colahan are these - he was my great-grandfather's nephew. My great-grandfather was John Colahan, a surgeon-general in the British Army, which I hesitate to elaborate on with an Irish audience but please know that from being born an Australian and having New Zealand citizenship, I have an understanding of the British colonial practices and have read of Ireland’s history too.
I grew up in Melbourne with my father's side of the Colahans’ close. There are many Colahan doctors, often specialists, in Melbourne, as well as other professions and trades. I was particularly taken by Arthur Colahan's story though - of creating original songs, working all the while in the difficult and new field of psychiatry in the times he lived. And being outside the land of his birth and family. It is worth adding that Arthur Colahan has been compared to other creative medical men such as Arthur Conan Doyle and A.G. Cronin who achieved more fame in artistic fields than in their chosen professions.
Arthur Colahan was the first child born to Sarah Whistler and Professor Nicholas Whistler Colahan in 1884. The family moved from Enniskillen to Galway as Dr Colahan took up a new post and they lived in a house on The Crescent and were looked after by three domestic staff, one of whom was a nurse. Arthur was known to have started schooling at ‘The Bish’, at age thirteen and perhaps we can take from this that his early years were spent in relative freedom, being tutored at home.
At school and university, Arthur was popular and his carefree nature and sociability were factors that prolonged his student days. His musical talent, inherited from both his parents, provided a further diversion from his medical studies, which emerged to be his greatest claim to fame as the composer of Galway Bay. It is said he was never happier than being at the piano, playing tunes for songs he had created. He remembered his songs by heart, not by writing them down and could always be called upon to entertain at parties.
As World War 1 loomed, Arthur’s carefree days were over. He had started his medical career as house surgeon in the County Infirmary on Prospect Hill, while holding a teaching role at the College. He and a young teacher, Mary Theresa Curley met and had a whirlwind romance, marrying soon after. Arthur became the Assistant Master at the Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Holles Street.
In 1916, Arthur joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and his service was in India, where he provided medical care to British troops, addressing their health issues. Arthur relinquished his commission early in 1918 due to ill health contracted on active service. Reports say Arthur was mustard gassed and was decommissioned in 1918, because of continual ill health caused by the poisoning. Professor O Cearbhaill supports this and also says that the poisoning could have been a factor in the breakdown of the marriage.
It is hard to find evidence for mustard gas used as a chemical weapon in India in 1917-18. The Britain military were developing and experimenting with a lethal gas known as the ‘M-Device’ to counter German advances in poisonous gas as a weapon but there is no written evidence to suggest this was used in India as early as 1917. Many records are still kept as ‘secret’.
Arthur moved to Leicester where he spent the rest of his medical career and life - over thirty years - establishing a successful medical practice and by the 1930s, in psychiatry too working as a neurological specialist with the Ministry of Pensions for the police and prison services. He wrote a book called The Miracle of the Human Body, published by Oldhams in 1950. Leicester Council has a plaque on his home at 9 Prebend St, Leicester to give due recognition to his services to Leicester and honour him as a doctor and songwriter.
In 1947, Galway Bay was recorded by Hollywood star, Bing Crosby and the recording was included in the film The Quiet Man. It became the third best selling song in the world and took on a life of its own. Arthur’s friend, Dr John Lyons of Kilkelly, Co. Mayo, would say that he had “never heard such a cry from an Irish heart wanting to come home as that uttered in Galway Bay which probably sums up why it became a well-loved song.”
The song still resonates among the Irish at home and in their diaspora communities, all over the world. To see the scale of numbers of Irish overseas, one only has to look at the recent release of the first full census of independent Ireland. These almost 3 million records will be of great significance to Ireland’s population, and it states there is a global diaspora of some 80 million claiming Irish ancestry.
Towards the end of his life, Arthur knew of the success of Galway Bay. A story appeared in the Leicester Evening Mail in 1948 and says : Dr A. Colahan has turned his song-writing into a lucrative dollar-earning business. One of his compositions Galway Bay has recently jumped to the top of the best seller lists in England. Dr Colahan told our reporter that he had been composing songs for many years. Some of them had been broadcast on Irish radio but none had been published until the war. Yesterday he returned from Dublin where he had been to discuss arrangements for more of his songs.
Arthur Colahan’s contemporary relevance comes from creating a song that transcended its time. Galway Bay became more than music and became a symbol of Irish identity and memory. The Pogues have taken up the theme in their recent song ‘Fairytale of New York’ with the line ‘and the boys of the NYPD choir are singing Galway Bay’ - and singer Celtic Woman has a moving version of Galway Bay she sings at her big concerts, with a clip of it on U-tube.
I want to express my thanks to the late Professor Diarmuid Ó Cearbhaill, of the Galway Archeological & Historical Society for the research he did in an article The Colahans - A Remarkable Galway Family (Vol 54 2002) bringing to life the culture of Galway and its surrounds and of the lives and movements of later nineteenth century doctors and professors. His focus on the Colahan families, and especially Dr Arthur Colahan, was particularly insightful.
Thanks also to Garry Kinnane for his book Colin Colahan : A Portrait.
And finally, our thanks and gratitude to Mayor Mike Cubbard and the Galway Councillors for creating this beautiful sculpture on the shore of Galway Bay for Arthur Colahan, the creator of many Irish ballads. No doubt this wonderful memorial, like the song Galway Bay will continue to stand the test of time. Brian and I love the significance that it has to the Canada-Ireland 180 initiative to Remember, Reflect and Reimagine.
Le gach dea-mhéin
Sally Colahan Griffin
May 2026 New Zealand
We thank those too that contributed with research and in other ways:
Cr Michael Lee (Auckland Council)
Marcus O Conaire (Galway Council)
Rowan Gibbs (New Zealand)
David Parkyn (New Zealand)
Lyndie Shannon (Australia)
Mireille Colahan (London)
Liz Grant (New Zealand)