Patterson, John Francis (‘Johnny’) (1840–89), clown and songwriter, was born in Kilbarron, near Feakle, Co. Clare, youngest among two sons and two daughters of Francis Patterson, nailer, and his wife, of whom nothing is known. Orphaned as an infant, Johnny was raised by his uncle, Mark Patterson, in Ennis, Co. Clare, while his brother and sisters were raised by an aunt in Killaloe. Although he was apprenticed to a nailer, his talent for music was soon discovered, and his uncle encouraged him to join the army when he turned 15. Stationed with the 63rd Foot outside Limerick, he soon composed his first song, the popular ‘The stone outside Dan Murphy's door’. After five years in the army, he had learned five musical instruments, and left to join a travelling circus. After some months playing music, he grasped the opportunity provided by another performer's illness, and went on stage himself, delighting the audience with his entertaining combination of jokes and songs. Soon he was a star attraction, billed as the ‘Irish singing clown’. He moved between different troupes, including Batty's Circus and Lloyd's Mexican Circus. Many of his songs achieved national and enduring popularity, including ‘The garden where the praties grow’, ‘I'm off to Philadelphia in the morning’, and ‘Biddy Donaghue’, a song that achieved much success in the USA.
Engaged by Cooper and Bailey's Circus, Patterson toured America, where he was billed as ‘Johnny Patterson, the rambler from Clare’. Among his best remembered songs from this period are ‘The rambler from Clare’, and ‘If you're Irish come into the parlour’. Tiring of life away from his family, he returned to Belfast, financially secure from his travelling. After he met an Australian, Joe Keeley, the two men joined forces and established the Keely and Patterson circus. However, the popularity of this form of entertainment declined in the 1880s and Patterson began drinking heavily. His career ended tragically on 27 May 1889 during a performance at Castleisland, Co. Kerry, during the Plan of Campaign. Attempting to plead for national unity with a song, ‘Do your best for one another’, Patterson only succeeded in causing a riot, and in the ensuing mêlée he was hit on the head with an iron bar. He was rushed to the Tralee Fever Hospital; his condition stabilised but he died of suspected pneumonia (31 May 1889) and was buried in Tralee.
He married first Selena Hickey, a bareback-riding performer from Scotland; they had one son and two daughters. She died after his return from America, and he married the widow of his late partner, Joe Keeley. His son, known as ‘Johnny Junior’, helped Patterson run his circus, and died in Liverpool in 1950. In September 1989 a puppet show dealing with Patterson's life and career was performed as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. A poem written in honour of Johnny Patterson in 1956 ended with the fitting tribute ‘God rest that noble Irish king of clowns’.