annually with a fixed number of compositions. He died in March 1835, leaving a large family.
His chief works were:
- Introduction and variations to ‘Roy's Wife.’
- Introduction to ‘Last Rose of Summer.’
- Variations on ‘Home, sweet Home.’
- ‘Les Fleurs de Printems,’ in six books.
Also a number of songs, of which the only one that survives is ‘Maid of Athens.’ Many of his compositions are still extant in manuscript.
His eldest son, George Frederick Kiallmark (1804–1887), musician, born at Camden Street, Islington, 7 Nov. 1804, was educated at Margate. He began his musical career at the age of fourteen, assisting his father in the work of musical tuition; afterwards he studied under Logier and taught his system. At sixteen he went to Rouen and thence to Paris to place himself successively under Zimmermann and Kalkbrenner. Returning to England in 1825 he became intimate with Clementi, by whose advice he sought further instruction from Moscheles. In 1829 he married the eldest daughter of Dr. Bryant of the Edgware Road, and gave his first public concert at the King's Theatre in 1832.
When in Paris, Kiallmark formed a great friendship with Thalberg, upon whose method and style he moulded his own. His playing was remarkable for delicacy of touch, and he was a superb player of Chopin's works. On hearing Kiallmark play, Mendelssohn said: ‘A fine sketch of what piano-playing should be, and what he will one day make it.’ Niecks, in his ‘Life of Chopin’ (pp. 280–1), writes: ‘Kiallmark is said to have had a thorough appreciation and understanding of Chopin's genius;’ and he took especial delight in playing Chopin's ‘Nocturnes.’
In 1842 Kiallmark opened an academy for the study of the piano at his residence, 29 Percy Street. During his long life he was associated with every great pianist from Clementi to Rubinstein, and at the age of seventy-eight he studied the sonatas of Gade and Rubinstein. At eighty he was still daily practising Clementi's ‘Gradus.’ He died on 13 Dec. 1887, having only a week before played a Thalberg transcription with much of his old fire and brilliancy. He was a fine extempore player, but his compositions have not survived.
Of the Kiallmarks, father and son, there exist several portraits. Of the father, one by W. Simpson, 1820, half-length, life size. Of the son: one by J. Slater, in ‘Musical Keepsake,’ 1834; another by H. C. Selous, 1836, three-quarter length, life size; and a third by J. P. Knight, R.A., 1845, three-quarter length, life size. There is also a bust of the younger Kiallmark by Edward H. Baily [q. v.], 1845, companion to a bust of Thalberg by the same sculptor. These are in the possession of the descendants of Kiallmark.
[Georgian Era, iv. 549; Goulding's and Chappell's Catalogues; Mus. Times, January 1888; Dram. and Mus. Rev. 17 Dec. 1842; Niecks's Chopin, 1888, pp. 280–1 notes; Mus. Keepsake, 1834; parish reg.; private sources.]
KIARAN, Saint (516–549), of Clonmacnoise. [See Ciaran.]
KICKHAM, CHARLES JOSEPH (1826–1882), journalist, was born in 1826 at Mullinahone, co. Tipperary, where his father was a prosperous shopkeeper. He was intended for the medical profession, but a gunpowder accident, when he was returning from shooting, so injured his sight and hearing that this career became impossible. He took part in the ‘Young Ireland movement,’ and in 1848 busied himself with the preparation of pikes at Mullinahone for the use of the forces of Smith O'Brien.
He became a Fenian about 1860, and in 1865 James Stephens, the Fenian head-centre, appointed him, T. C. Luby, and John O'Leary the supreme executive of his Irish republic, and editors of the ‘Irish People’ newspaper. Kickham and his associates were not, however, fitted by nature for the business of revolution. Their newspaper was suppressed; the supreme executive was taken into custody, and the rising miserably failed (cf. W. O'Brien, When we were Boys). Kickham was arrested at Fairfield House, Sandymount, Dublin, on 11 Nov. 1865, was tried for treason felony, and was sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude. His friends asserted that he was grossly maltreated in prison, and J. F. Maguire, M.P. for Cork city, called the attention of parliament to the subject in 1867 (Times, 8, 9, 11, and 27 May 1867). After serving four years in Woking and in Portland convict prisons, he was set at liberty. When the election of O'Donovan Rossa for co. Tipperary in 1869 was declared void, Kickham was brought forward as the nationalist candidate. He was returned, but upon a scrutiny he was defeated by Mr. Heron, Q.C., by four votes, 26 Feb. 1870. He thenceforth confined himself to literary work. About 1878 a ‘Kickham Tribute’ was collected for his benefit. He died at Blackrock, near Dublin, on 21 Aug. 1882.
Kickham was the author of several poems and stories dealing with Irish subjects and scenes from a nationalist point of view. These were collected in ‘Poems, Sketches, and Narratives illustrative of Irish Life, 1870.
