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DEATH OF UK. CHARLES
CAVANAGH.
AM illness of three week's duration has,we
much regret to say, proved fatal to Mr.
Charles Cavanagh, the box-keeper and
manager "in front" of the Theatre RoyaL
A. rheumatic attack was, after a few days
illness, aggravated by typhoid, and upon
this complication brain fever supervened,
with fatal consequences on Tuesday morning.
la all circles Mr. Cavanagh was generally
fcnown in Melbourne, and was much
respected for his intelligence, modesty,
urbanity, and probity, and amongst his
Irish fellow - countrymenhe was highly esteemed
for his warm attachment to his native
land, his brotherly feeling to his countrymen,
and the active, generous interest he
took in every national movement he could
advance, either with his purse or with his
personal services. His character as an
attentive, punctual, keen-witted, business
man was, perhaps, most appreciated in
theatrical circles, for his place in the work-aday
world was there; but amongst his own
countrymen there were manifestations of
other qualities of head and heart which
raised him far above his station and endeared
him to them. Mr. Cavanagh was a
native of Birr, King's County, Ireland, and
was about thirty-five years of age at his
death. He received his early education at
the Christian Brothers' Schools in his
native town, and his life, though not long,
bears • testimony alike to the excellence
of their system in the formation of
character, and to his abiding gratitude for
the services conferred on him. Not long
since, the Brothers wrote to Mr. Cavanagh,
making known their urgent want of funds
for additional accommodation, and in a
short time he collected and forwarded to
them a considerable sum for that purpose,
he himself being a generous contributor to
the amount. Indeed, to no _ claim
that was ever made upon him, for
religion or for country, did Charles
Cavanagh return a refusal, and his responses
to appeals of the kind were perhaps
more generous and more numerous than
his circumstances altogether justified. He
was, therefore, singular among his fellows.
He was a man to be respected whatever
place in life he filled, and this is our motive
for commenting at some length upon his
character, and for paying a special mark of
respect to his memory. The Herald,
referring to his death, says:—
" Mr. Cavanagh first became associated
with the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, as a
very young man, when Barry Sullivan
took the management. He was appointed
stage-door keeper, and afterwards Mr.
Sullivan promoted him to box-keeper—a
position in which he was retained by
every successive management. This has
involved the charge of the whole front of
the theatre, and Mr. Cavanagh is familiar
to all its patrons. Evidently he was a
first-class business man, and unapproachable
in his office, because changes in
management, as a rule, mean new blood.
Mr. Cavanagh served, in succession, Barry
Sullivan, Hoskins and Simmonds, Lambert,
Yincent, Harwood, Stewart, Bellair,
and Hennings, Harwood, Stewart,
Hennings, and Coppin, and, lastly,
Coppin, Hennings, and Greville. It may
be safely alleged that everyone of those
gentlemen admitted Cavanagh to be not
only an invaluable but unique man. He
had a positive genius for the irksome office
of pleasing everybody, in distributing the
rash of visitors over a crowded dress circle,
or elsewhere. His tact was also frequently
called for, and invariably successful, in
quelling minor discontents of other kinds.
It is allowed, on all hands, that the man to
take his place will be found with great
difficulty. Mr. Cavanagh retired from the
box-office for a short time when he opened
his hotel in Swanston-street, but returned
again, and for some years he carried on
both lines of business. His wife died
about a year ago, previous to which
he had given up the hotel, at her
request. Both in conjunction with his
avocation, and outside it, 'Charley '
Cavanagh was widely known, and there
were few individuals in the community
with such a large circle of acquaintances.
He took a keen interest in all manly sports,
and was a fine fellow in every way. The
hearty grasp of his hand, and his cheery
voice, will be recalled by hundreds as they
read this brief memento. He always had
a good word for everybody, and it sprang
from honest impulse.. Mr. Cavanagh
leaves two children, having lost one."
He was well prepared, during his illness,
for a fatal result, and before his death the
last rites of the Church were administered
to him.—R.I.P.
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