Ballad maker, song writer, musician and circus entertainer, John Francis Patterson was born in 1840 in Kilbarron near Feakle, County Clare. The Pattersons came originally from the North of Ireland. His father Francis was a nailer/gunsmith.   Johnny's mother died after the birth of her fourth child and his father died a year later. The young orphans, two boys and two girls, were then cared for by relatives and friends. Johnny, who was about three, was taken to Ennis by his uncle. His two sisters went to live with their aunt in Killaloe and his brother Frank was cared for by the O'Holohan family in Feakle. Johnny's uncle Mark was also a nailer and in time Johnny was employed as an apprentice in his uncle's workshop. Johnny was already displaying an interest in music and at fourteen years of age his uncle enrolled him as a drummer boy in an army regiment (the 63rd Foot Infantry) which was based in Limerick.  He learned to play various instruments but was particularly competent on piccolo and drums.

When John Swallow's circus came to Limerick Johnny got a part-time job in the circus band. Having spent five years in the regiment he bought his way out of the army for £20. While on tour in Cork with Swallow's circus Johnny gave a solo performance in which he told jokes and sang songs. His musical ability and his rapport with the audience was evident and he was given a two year contract. He was billed as "The Irish Singing Clown." He created a new image, discarding the traditional costume of the clown and replacing it with a tweed outfit embroidered with shamrocks and a Celtic harp. He wore white knee length stockings and a cone shaped hat. A drooping handlebar moustache completed his ensemble. His new style of clowning, his Irish songs and his unique wit made him a popular entertainer and soon he was composing his own songs. He was a fluent Irish speaker and his first song was "I am a Roving Irish Boy." He claimed that the Irish had an inbuilt sense of humour and a readiness to laugh, despite the effects of the famine and emigration. Unfortunately, many of his early songs have been lost, though it seems likely that "The Dingle Puck Goat" was written during this period.

The Swallow circus left Ireland and Johnny found work with Batty's circus and then Risarelli's circus. The Pablo Franque circus offered him an engagement in Liverpool in 1869. There he met up again with a brother and sister bareback riding-duo from Scotland, James and Selena Hickey. He had previously worked with them at Swallow's circus. By the end of the season Johnny and Selena had fallen in love and were soon married in Liverpool. Around this time he composed one of his best known songs "The Garden Where the Praties Grow."

"Have you ever been in love boys, or did you ever feel the pain,
I'd rather be in gaol myself than be in love again.
Though the girl I loved was beautiful, I'd have you all to know
That I met her in the garden where the praties grow."

In 1870 a baby daughter, Bridget, was born and a second daughter, Nora, was born in 1872. The family returned to Ireland and in 1875 Johnny was on tour in Killarney with the Powell and Clarke circus when he heard the news that Selena (based in Belfast) had given birth to a son, Johnny junior. In honour of the event he added another verse to "The Garden Where the Praties Grow" -

"Now the parents they consented and we're blessed with children three,
Two girls like their Mammy
And a boy the image of me…"

At the age of thirty five Johnny Patterson was a national success and it was reputed that he could hold an audience in the palm of his hand. News of his talent reached the American owner of a big circus, Cooper and Bailey's. Johnny was offered a contract and departed for America in 1876. His family situation is unclear at this stage. His three children were put in the care of their aunt Betty in Killaloe and Selena continued her own circus career.

In the United States Johnny became one of the best known and highest paid entertainers of his day. He composed songs like "The Hat my Father Wore", "Bridget Donoghue", "Shake Hands with your Uncle Dan" and the famous emigrant song "Goodbye Johnny Dear." His song "The Stone outside Dan Murphy's Door" tells of his youth in Ennis and a shop known as a meeting place for boys and girls.

He used "The Rambler from Clare" as his signature tune. It was a song which he had learned as a boy. He played to packed audiences all over America and was billed as "Johnny Patterson - the Rambler from Clare." The New York Clipper reported on his act as follows - "What made Patterson so unique a figure among the clowns of his day was his spontaneity of wit and his fresh and unconventional humour." He bought a set of Uileann pipes and became a competent player of traditional Irish airs.

At the height of his success in America he received the tragic news that his daughter Nora had been killed by an elephant in her mothers circus. Johnny remained in America but unfortunately he turned to alcohol for consolation. However, his output of new songs continued.

Aged forty five and finding the pace of American circus life a little too fast, he decided to return to Ireland. He was now a wealthy man and bought a house in Belfast which he used as a base while on tour. He was reunited with his wife and family. Though now drinking heavily he joined Lloyd's Mexican circus and had hopes of putting together a circus of his own.

In June 1886 Selena died of consumption in Belfast and his two children were sent to his sisters home in Killaloe. In 1887 he joined up with an Australian called Joe Keeley and the Keeley and Patterson circus toured Ireland that year. In April 1888 he married Bridget Murray at Castlepollard, County Westmeath.

The political situation and the Parnell controversy at this time worried him and he composed a song urging Loyalists and Nationalists to put their differences aside. The song was called "Do your best for One Another." Johnny became an ardent Parnell follower.

Meanwhile, the circus continued but business was declining and Joe Keeley was also drinking heavily. Johnny was on tour in Tralee in May, 1889 and decided to sing "Do your best for One Another" - a song which was to prove fatal. His son Johnny junior (who had also joined a circus) recalled the sad event as follows -

"Johnny had two small flags, one was green with a harp, the other was red with a crown. He symbolically wore the two flags together but a small section of the audience objected to his sentiments. A row broke out and while making an effort to save the circus equipment, Johnny was struck on the head with an iron bar and then kicked, before the crowd could rescue him".

This event took place on Monday and Johnny was taken to O'Sullivan's Hotel. His condition deteriorated on Thursday and he was taken to Tralee Fever Hospital. He died there on May 31^st 1889 at the age of forty nine. He was buried in the plot of his friend Ted Eager, in the New Cemetery in Tralee.

In 1985 a memorial plaque was unveiled on Johnny's grave. In 1989, the centenary of his death, the Ennis Arts Festival paid tribute to Ireland's famous clown and used a circus theme for their programme of events.

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