The Blue Plaque Trail: William Vincent Wallace

Wallace was born at Colbeck Street in Waterford in 1812. His father was a regimental bandmaster and Wallace learned to play several instruments as a boy. He was the organist at Thurles Catholic cathedral and also taught piano at the Ursuline Convent in Waterford. In the 1830s he toured Australia and opened a music school in Sydney in 1836. In 1845 he returned to Britain and in November that year his opera Maritana opened in Drury Lane Treated to great success. Maritana was followed by Matilda of Hungary (1847), Lurline (1860), The Amber Witch (1861), Love's Triumph (1862) and The Desert Flower (1863). He also published a number of compositions for piano. In 1850, Wallace became an American citizen after a marriage in New York with Helen Stoepel, a pianist. He died in France in 1865.

Waterford Civic Trust has installed numerous Blue Plaques in the city to commemorate a link between a particular location and a famous person or event.