Deaths on January 1

Sigerson Clifford, Irish poet, playwright, and civil servant (b. 1913)

Sigerson Clifford (1913 – 1 January 1985) was an Irish poet, playwright and civil servant.

Clifford was born at 11 Dean St, Cork City, and was christened Edward Bernard Clifford. His parents, Michael Clifford and Mary Anne Sigerson, were from County Kerry, and they returned there in the following year, to Cahersiveen, in the Iveragh Peninsula. He attended the Christian Brothers school in that town.

At the age of six, he went to live with his paternal grandfather, "Ned" Clifford, on the Old Road in the town. A gifted storyteller, Ned's influence encouraged his grandson to write poems and stories while at school. As a writer, young Edward Clifford adopted the first name Sigerson in honour of his maternal family, although he continued to be known as "Eddie" to family and friends.

Aged 19, after finishing secondary school, he joined the Civil Service, and worked for several years in unemployment exchanges in Cork and Kerry. In 1943 he moved to Dublin.