roots


The Irish heritage of Paul McCartney

The McCartneys, like many Liverpool familes, descended from Irish immigrants


The legendary Paul McCartney
The legendary Paul McCartney
Photo by PA Archive/Press Association Ima

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Paul McCartney recently chose a Dublin band, The Script, to open for his show at the Mets' Shea Stadium (Citi Field) this summer.

McCartney's choice makes sense, being that his Irish roots run deep.

The career of Paul McCartney hardly needs an introduction. The Beatles and Wings member is an insanely successful singer-songwriter, musician, composer, producer, painter, entrepreneur and peace and animal activist.

One of Britain’s wealthiest and most famous men, McCartney is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold albums and sales of 100 million singles.

McCartney’s success is familiar to all. His Irish roots, on the other hand, are not so well-known.

The Beatle was born James Paul McCartney on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England to Jim and Mary Patricia (Mahon) McCartney.

The McCartneys, like many Liverpool familes, descended from Irish immigrants.

McCartney family’s Irish roots

Mary’s father was born in Ireland, and she was Roman Catholic, while Jim’s great-grandfather was an Irish native, and he was Protestant.

It is unknown which part of Ireland Paul McCartney’s paternal side is from, but it is known that they first emigrated from Ireland to Galloway, Scotland, and then on to Liverpool.

Jim's father (Paul’s grandfather), Joe McCartney was a tobacco-cutter married to Florrie Clegg. Joe never drank alcohol, went to bed at 10:00 p.m. every night and the only swear word he used was “Jaysus.” Florrie was known as "Granny Mac" in her Kensington, Liverpool neighborhood and was often consulted when families had problems.


Nster.com


1 Comment

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Well fair play to you Meghan Sweeney for a great story from the great man himself, Always had an inkling there was a lot of Irishness about the Beatles them being from Liverpool and that.
 




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