BIANCONI, Charles, promo ter of transportation: b. Tregolo, Italy, 24 Sept. 1786; d. Tipperary, September 1876. At 15 or 16 he was bound for 18 months to a country man, who took him to Dublin, where he was sent out to vend cheap prints. Soon he re moved to Waterford and started on his own account as itinerant vendor. In his long pedes trian journeys he was led to envy those of his own calling who could afford to drive. He engaged in other enterprises, all of which were successful, and in July 1815 he started a one horse, two-wheeled car to carry passengers, goods and the mail-bags from and to Clonmel and Cahir, a distance of about 10 miles. The experiment succeeded and grew apace, so that in 1845 Bianconi was conveying passengers and freight over 1,633 miles and working daily 3,266 miles of road. His cars were patronized by all classes and were of great benefit in opening up communications with remote distncts. Be
tween MI6 and 1865 the growth of railways forced the discontinuance of the Bianconi serv ice on 4,534 miles, but during the same period it was extended over 3,594 miles in routes crossing the railways and reaching districts remote from the new mode of conveyance by rail. Bianconi was the friend and supporter of O'Connell, and on the occasion of a visit to Rome he erected at his sole cost the monument over O'Connell's heart in the church of the Irish College. In 1863-65 he disposed of his vast interests on liberal terms to his agents and others employed by him and then retired to his estate at Longfield, near Cashel, Tipperary. Consult O'Connell, Mrs. Morgan John, (C,harles Bianconi: A Biography) (Dublin 1878).