The sub-series contains an important collection of original temperance society medals. Most of the medals in the collection are associated with Fr. Mathew’s campaign but some relate to temperance activities before and after him. The Cork Total Abstinence Society’s medals were important because they served as important reminders of the pledge, and also as miniature temperance catechisms for the many illiterates who took the pledge. Fr. Mathew’s medals were large and inscribed with familiar religious symbolism. Most were of pewter, although some silver and gold medals were also available for particularly distinguished members. Generally, one side had the words of the pledge within a shining cross, together with Fr. Mathew’s name and the Society’s founding date (10 April 1838). The reverse depicted a well-dressed man, carrying a banner, ‘prosperity’, and a woman, ‘domestic comfort’, stood next to a lamb, surmounted by a cross and an angel. This scene was overlaid by the Latin phrase, In hoc signo vinces (‘by this sign shall you conquer’).
On the evening of 2 September 1913 two overcrowded tenement buildings at 66 and 67 Church Street collapsed. The two buildings were situated opposite the Capuchin Friary on the street. Of those trapped in the buildings, seven died (including three children) and many others were left seriously injured. Over 100 people were left homeless and destitute. The tragedy, occurring at a time of heightened political and labour unrest, highlighted the dreadful conditions of many of the buildings in Dublin, both in terms of the physical fabric of the dwellings and the endemic overcrowding in inner city tenements. A report on the disaster was presented to the British Parliament in February 1914, but with the outbreak of war in the summer of that year housing conditions in Irish capital ceased to be a political priority.
This section contains mainly legal documents including various types of deeds of title including leases, mortgages, wills, property abstracts, searches and financial documents. The section also includes correspondence from solicitors engaged in legal work connected with the conveyance of property. The material is divided into three sub-series relating to the approximate location of the plots of ground to which the document refers: Queen Street (later Father Mathew Street); Charlotte Quay (later Father Mathew Quay); St. Joseph’s Cemetery; Other locations in Cork.
This section contains mainly legal documents including various types of deeds of title including leases, mortgages, wills, property abstracts, searches, and financial documents. The section also includes correspondence from solicitors engaged in legal work connected with the conveyance of property. The material is divided into two sub-series relating to the location of the plots of ground to which the document refers: Walkin Street (later Friary Street) and Pennyfeather Lane.
This section contains mainly legal documents including various types of deeds of title including leases, mortgages, wills, property abstracts, searches and financial documents. The section also includes correspondence from solicitors engaged in legal work connected with the conveyance of property. The material is divided into various sections relating to the location of the plots of ground to which the document refers.
The sub-series contains a collection of original Total Abstinence Society pledge cards. Most of the cards are signed by the pledge-taker and by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The cards were decorated with various temperance symbols and vignettes. An illustration on one side of the cards depicted a scene warning of the dangers of intemperance – a man driven by alcohol to beat his wife. Another illustration showed a scene of temperance – a happy family reading together by the hearth. The cards are listed in chronological order.
A collection of records mostly relating to the Temperance Sodality of the Sacred Thirst attached to St. Mary of the Angels, Capuchin Friary, Church Street, Dublin.
