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Minute book of the Father Mathew Centenary Committee which had the responsibility for financing and erecting the statue of the Apostle of Temperance on Sackville (later O’Connell Street), Dublin. The Centenary Committee was made up of Catholics, Anglicans and other Protestant denominations and notably received the support of the Most Rev. William Plunket, Baron Plunket, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin: ‘Most thoroughly do I sympathize in any movement for honouring the memory of one to whom the cause of temperance in this land is so largely indebted’. (10 Oct. 1889).
Prominent public (non-clerical) figures in the committee included:
George Noble Plunkett (1851-1948) an Irish nationalist and father of Joseph Plunkett, one of the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising.
John Redmond MP (1856-1918), an Irish home rule nationalist, later leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
Michael Davitt (1846-1906), a nationalist and agrarian campaigner.
Thomas Sexton MP (1848-1932), Lord Mayor of Dublin.
William Martin Murphy MP (1844-1919), a businessman and politician.
Timothy Charles Harrington MP (1851-1910), a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
The minute book reveals that from the outset committee members were in support of resolutions which would place the statue in a prominent public place in the city. For instance, Thomas Connolly suggested that a ‘statue should be erected similar to the O’Connell [monument], and that it should be placed at the other end of O’Connell Street so that people might be reminded by the two monuments of the two great men who were in a sense the complement of one another …’. (Oct. 1889).
• This intent was formalised in a resolution forwarded by the Committee to Dublin Corporation on 1 May 1890 ‘requesting them to grant a site in Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin, for the erection of the Memorial Statue to Father Theobald Mathew’. (1 May 1889).
• The aim of the Centenary Committee was from the beginning to site the statue in the most prominent space available in the city linking the historically concurrent campaigns undertaken by Fr. Mathew (temperance) and O’Connell (emancipation and repeal). It should also be noted that the Corporation was unanimous in granting the O’Connell Street site. (15 May 1890).
• An application was made to the boundary surveyor to obtain ‘the consent of the Corporation for a 16 feet square space on the site known as the “Retreat” in Upper O’Connell Street which has been already allotted to the Committee for the erection of the Father Mathew Centenary Memorial’. (5 June 1890).
The siting of an Fr. Mathew Statue on the main thoroughfare (St. Patrick’s Street) running through Cork city in 1864 influenced the Dublin Committee: Henry Brown reminded the Committee that the ‘citizens of Cork had already placed Father Mathew’s Statue in their city, where he remembered standing on the platform in Patrick’s Street, while the Mayor of Cork, John Francis Maguire MP was unveiling Foley’s exquisite statue’. (Oct. 1889). By October 1892 a total of £1,114 5s 3d had been collected by the Centenary Committee (13 Oct. 1892). The minute book includes subscription lists, accounts and pasted-in newspaper clippings re meetings of the committee and its efforts to raise funds for the memorial. Funding was sourced from various local temperance societies (both Protestant and Catholic), workingmen’s clubs, national schools and colleges, and public and professional bodies (corporations and the police force). Donations were received from across Ireland and from Irish emigrant communities in America, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.
The resolutions adopted at the official unveiling of the statue on 8 February 1893 reflected the widespread appeal of the Fr. Mathew commemoration and the ‘placing of a statue among the public monuments of the metropolis’:
• ‘That as the Rev. Theobald Mathew loved his countrymen of all creeds and laboured zealously for their moral improvement and temporal prosperity, this great meeting rejoices that this public monument to his memory has been erected to remind our people of what he accomplished in the cause of total abstinence’.
• ‘That the Centenary Statue of the Rev. Theobald Mathew having been erected by subscriptions from men of all parties, and regardless of religious distinctions, it is appropriate that it be now unveiled by the Right Hon. James Shanks as Lord Mayor of the City of Dublin’. (2 Feb. 1893).
Reference is also made in the Centenary Committee minute book to the very novel nature of the award of the commission to a female sculptor. Count Plunkett, a leading member of the Committee, referred to ‘the merit which characterizes the design of Miss Redmond, a young artist who had made her mark, not only in this country but on the continent, in spite of her youth’. (1 May 1890).

Printed photographic album relating to the commemorations of the centenary in 1938 of the inauguration by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC of his temperance campaign. Includes images of celebrations and services in St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin, Holy Trinity Church, Cork, and at Thomastown Castle, County Tipperary. Reprint of a photographic supplement in 'The Capuchin Annual' (1939), pp 177-208. The cover shows a bust of Fr. Mathew by John Hogan ‘Fra. Theobald Mathew, Ord. Cappuccin / J. Hogan fecit, 1834’.

Letters to Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. from grand-nephews of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The file includes letters from Fr. David Mathew, Theobald Mathew KC, and Fr. Gervase Mathew OP. The letters refer to the genealogy and family history of Fr. Theobald, to temperance souvenirs and mementos of his held in Holy Trinity Church, Cork, to draft letters composed by Fr. Theobald, to a portrait photograph of Fr. Theobald taken in c.1850, and invitations to various Father Mathew Centenary celebrations in Dublin. A letter of David Mathew (22 Jan. 1929) refers to the donation of Fr. Theobald’s chalice, paten and cruets to Holy Trinity Church. They were donated by Theobald Mathew Esq., KC, Recorder of Margate. In another letter (24 Feb. 1929), Fr. Stanislaus wrote ‘We have no letters written by any relative of Father Mathew to him or about him. We have in our Archives five letters written by him to members of the Order; nine that he wrote to his brother Charles, and his will of Nov. 21, 1849. We have several letters besides signed “Theobald Mathew”, but they were written by his secretary in his name, and are not in his handwriting’. A letter from Theobald Mathew refers to vestments belonging to the Apostle of Temperance in his possession (5 July 1936). The file also includes newspaper cuttings with a photographic print of the aforementioned chalice and paten belonging to Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC which were donated to Holy Trinity Church. 'Cork Examiner', 16 Oct. 1928; 'The Father Mathew Record', Dec. 1928.

• Photographic print (on card) of a portrait of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The print is by William Lawrence, portrait painter and photographer, Dublin. 16.5 cm x 10.5 cm. 2 copies.
• Photographic print (on card) of the Father Mathew statue in the workshop of Mary Redmond (1863-1930) before its installation on Sackville (O’Connell) Street, Dublin, in 1893. 16.5 cm x 12 cm. (See image above).
• Copy engraving of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 25 cm x 17 cm. Printed.
• Photographic print of the plaque on Cove Street, Cork, commemorating Fr. Mathew’s residence in a house (No. 8) on that street. The plaque was erected by Cork Corporation in 1980. 15 cm x 10 cm. Colour print.
• Cutting of a cartoon titled ‘The cause of the high death-rate / The Working-man’s Sunday’ showing ‘as it was spent before the Sunday Closing Act’ and ‘as it is spent now in unwholesome quarters of the city – as the working-man must get his beer’. [c.1890]. 1 p.
• Photographic print of the Father Mathew statue on O’Connell Street, Dublin, in c.1955. Ink stamp on reverse reads ‘Irish Tourist Board Photo’. 25.5 cm x 17.8 cm.
• Copy print (on card) of Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. 25.5 cm x 20 cm.

A wooden crucifix used by Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The underside of the base has a manuscript annotation: ‘Father Mathew’s Cross, used in his sick calls &c and in cholera cases, 1831-2’.

A pair of gold candlesticks gifted to Fr. Theobald Mathew OSFC. The base of the candlesticks are engraved: ‘Very Revd. T. Mathew President / Very Rev. J.J. Murphy Vice-President / Cork Total Abstinence Benefit Society / AD January 1842’.

A clipping of a photograph of a group of Irish prisoners held at a camp in Limburg, Germany. It is noted that Lance Corporal Eite, Royal Irish Rifles, was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Marne (September 1914). Lance Corporal Eite was employed at the Guinness Brewery prior to the outbreak of the war. It is also affirmed that Eite’s father resides at 31 Oxmantown Road in Dublin.

A clipping of an article from the ‘Saturday Herald’ (13 May 1916) reflecting on the official war list of former students of Trinity College Dublin who enlisted in the British armed forces during the First World War. The article notes that of the 2,200 individuals on the list, 130 had thus far been killed in action or died of disease with a further 115 wounded. The paper makes specific reference to the service of former Trinity students in the 10th (Irish) Division which fought in the Gallipoli campaign, most notably at Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove, in 1915. The Lieutenant Francis Lynch featured in the article (centre) is very likely Second Lieutenant Francis William Lynch who was killed in action on 26 April 1915. Born in Dublin, he was the third son of Henry Lynch, of Seaview House in Donnybrook. In October 1913, he entered Trinity College, and became a member of the Officers Training Corps. On the outbreak of the war, he volunteered for service as a Special Reserve Officer, eventually joining the Connaught Rangers. He died while leading his platoon in an attempt to capture a German trench north of Ypres. He was nineteen years old. He was buried in La Brique Military Cemetery in Belgium.

A clipping of images showing the destruction on O’Connell Street after the 1916 Rising. The photographs were taken from atop Nelson’s Pillar.

A clipping showing scenes from a makeshift hospital in Dublin Castle following the 1916 Rising. The clipping also has an image of Patrick Pearse ‘styled “Commandant-in-Chief” of the Army of the Republic and “President” of the provisional government’.