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Sir Cusack Patrick Roney (baptised February 1809 – 30 September 1868) was an Irish civil servant who was a private secretary in the
British Civil Service His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, whi ...
. He is most associated with the railway industry, being secretary to two railway companies and managing director of the
Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...
. He was knighted for his role as secretary to the Great Industrial Exhibition held in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
in 1853.


Early life and family

Cusack Roney was born in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
around 1809, the son of
Cusack Roney Patrick Cusack Roney or Rooney (bapt. 2 April 1781 – 26 August 1849) Cameron, Sir Charles A. (1886''History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and of the Irish Schools of Medicine &c''Dublin: Fannin & Co. pp. 368-370. was an Irish phys ...
, who was twice president of the
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland's first private university. It was established in 1784 ...
(RCSI), and his wife, Charlotte. He was educated in Paris and at
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
. He was admitted to Trinity College on 20 October 1823, aged 14½. He received his BA in 1829. He qualified as a surgeon with the RCSI but did not pursue a medical career. He married Elizabeth Anne Whitcombe in 1807. She died in 1861. They had a son, Cusack Willes Roney.


Career

Roney's early career was as a writer in London for '' The Athenaeum'' and other periodicals. He then had a succession of administrative jobs. He was secretary of the
Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...
from 1835 to 1837, manager at the
Polytechnic Institution , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...
from 1839 or 1840, and private secretary to
Richard More O'Ferrall Richard More O'Ferrall (10 April 1797 – 27 October 1880) was an Irish politician, a high level British government official and a Governor of Malta. Born to a noble Irish Catholic family at Balyna, he was the eldest son and heir of Ambrose ...
when he was secretary to the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...
. He was then a clerk at the Admiralty. Roney's first railway appointment was as secretary to the Cambridge and Lincoln Railway Company in 1845. He was also secretary of the
Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...
. He became managing director of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada in 1853, whose corporate headquarters was in London. In 1855 he prepared a report with A. M. Ross and S. P. Bidder for the board of directors on the prospects for the Grand Trunk railway in Canada, concluding that it "cannot fail to prove a highly profitable enterprize". In 1853, he was knighted by
Edward Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans (29 August 1798 – 7 October 1877; styled Lord Elliot from 1823 to 1845) was a British politician and diplomat. Background and education St Germans was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of Willi ...
for his role as secretary to the Great Industrial Exhibition, held that year in Dublin. In 1863–64, he was involved in a legal case relating to shares in The Llanharry Hematite Iron Ore Company Limited of which he was a director.


Death

In 1868, Roney published ''Rambles on Railways'', the publication of which was delayed by his serious illness. In the Preface, Roney stated that he had enough material for a further volume, mainly on foreign railways, that he expected to be published later the same yearRoney, Sir Cusack Patrick. (1868)
Rambles on Railways.
'. London: Effingham Wilson. Preface.
but it never was and he died on 30 September 1868 at
Cleveland Square Cleveland Square is a private and gated garden square in the predominantly classically conserved Bayswater district of the City of Westminster, north of Central London's Hyde Park. The housing is in tall, tree-shaded rows, stuccoed and with pill ...
, in the Bayswater district of London."Sir Cusack Patrick Roney"
''The Register, and Magazine of Biography, &c.'', January 1869, pp. 206–207.


Arms


Selected publications

*
Reports of Sir Cusack P. Roney; Mr. A. M. Ross; Mr. S. P. Bidder; to the London Board of Directors
'. John Thomas Norris, London, for the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada, 1855. *
How to Spend a Month in Ireland and What it Will Cost
'' W. Smith and Sons, London, 1861. * ''The Alps and the Eastern Mails''. London, 1867. *
Rambles on Railways. With Maps, Diagrams, and Appendices
'. Effingham Wilson, London, 1868.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roney, Patrick Cusack 1809 births 1868 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish business executives Irish non-fiction writers Railway executives Irish knights Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Date of birth missing Civil servants from Dublin (city) 19th-century Irish businesspeople