Showing 249 results

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.

Minute book of the committee and public meetings of the Total Abstinence Sodality. The reverse of the front cover is annotated: ‘Temperance Society of the Sacred Thirst of the Lord Jesus Christ attached to the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, Church Street, founded by the Very Rev. Albert Mitchell OSFC, President, Dublin, June 1880, to which was added The Father Mathew Temperance Hall, Halston Street, opened solemnly Monday, 14th February 1881’. The first page contains the rules of the society as laid down by Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC. The minute book reports the principal decisions and resolutions passed by the committee at their weekly meetings particularly in respect of financial and membership matters and later in relation to the funding for the construction of Father Mathew Memorial Hall on Church Street. The volume includes a copy of the printed 'First Annual Report' of the sodality (see CA HA/1/1/2) and a copy of a letter from Most Rev. Edward McCabe, Archbishop of Dublin, to Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, 49 North King Street, commending the work of the Halston Street Temperance Society (22 Feb. 1882). On 14 Feb. 1883, a report noted that ‘we have at present on the roll upwards of 1,130 men and 1,000 women and although some have fallen away from our ranks still it is satisfactory to be in the position to state that a large number have remained faithful to their pledge’. Other newspaper clippings pasted into volume include a report of a large meeting of total abstinence societies at St. Finbarr’s Hall, Charlotte Quay, Cork. With a copy of the agreement with J. T. Russell, Sandford Terrace, Ranelagh, for the lease of 3 Halston Street at the yearly rent of £16 for 31 years in trust for the Temperance Society of the Sacred Thirst (31 Jan. 1881). The minutes were routinely signed by the President, Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC, and later by his successor, Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC.

Report of the Halston Street Total Abstinence Sodality founded by Fr. Albert Mitchell OSFC in 1881. The report refers to the efforts to improve and renovate the Hall since the sodality took possession of the building. The report reads ‘When we took possession of this place it was in a very sad and forlorn condition, so dilapidated by time, and the many uses it was put to (I believe its last use was that of a blacksmith’s forge)’. The report also provides figures for income and expenditure. The figures read: debt: £35 7s 11½d; expenditure: £255 12 2½d. It also notes that the pledge has been given to over 1,000 men in the Hall and to over 900 in St. Michan’s Church, Halston Street. With a typescript copy of said report.

A small collection of records relating to the routine repair, refurbishment and maintenance of the physical fabric of Father Mathew Hall, Church Street, Dublin.

Letter to Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC from Walter Glynn Doolin, architect and civil engineer, 20 Ely Place, Dublin, regarding the design of the proposed Father Mathew Temperance Hall, Church Street. Doolin referred to Fr. Maher’s ‘instructions to provide a Hall capable of seating 1,000 persons exclusive of a permanent stage’ and submits detailed plans for the dimensions and layout of the Hall. Doolin affirmed that ‘there are upwards of 150,000 cubic feet in the building and I do not see how this amount of work can be done for much under £2,000’.

Statement of monies received by members of the Father Mathew Temperance Hall Committee. The statement includes entries for monies received per Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC from street collections, the sale of various cards and other sources.

Correspondence relating to the financing, construction, fitting-out of Father Mathew Hall. Most of the letters refer to estimates for interior furnishing and the fitting out of the Hall. Correspondents include: The National Bank Ltd.; John L. Smallman, sanitary and gas engineer; Henry Kerrill & Sons, engineers, coppersmiths and electricians; Edmundson’s Furnishing & Engineering Co.; Walter Glynn Doolin, 20 Ely Place, Dublin, secretary of the Father Mathew Hall building committee; the Patriotic Assurance Company, 2 College Green, Dublin.

Letters to Walter Glynn Doolin, engineer, from John Kennedy, 11 & 12 Merrion Row, Henry Kerrill & Sons, 80 Drumcondra Road, C. McNamara, 10 Christchurch Place, and others regarding estimates for the installation of gas and lighting fittings in the Father Mathew League of the Cross Hall, Church Street.

Flier from the Halston Street Total Abstinence Society seeking subscriptions to fund the building of a new Hall on a site ‘secured at the junction of Church Street and Bedford Street’. The flier notes that ‘until now the work [of the Sodality] has been done in a wretchedly small hall which is no longer available for the perpetuation and increase of this great social reform’. The flier also provides a list of subscriptions for the fund.