Stories from 1918: Showcases at Cork Summer Show 1918
Cork citizens looked forward to the Cork Summer Show at the Cork Showgrounds in early July 1918. The event received a two-page spread in the Cork Examiner highlighting the prominent exhibits. Several challenges were alluded to in particular the transit of animals and sales of them. Arising from World War I, the archived minute books of the Munster Agricultural Society reveal there was a high dependency on exporting livestock, dairy and poultry produced to Britain. In 1915 the detained cattle at the ports was of serious concern for agriculture creating serious hardships for farmers across the country. The previous agricultural boom was reversed as declining prices set in.
The war brought unemployment amongst agricultural labourers and less work for small farmers. The society struggled during the war years to attract farmers to their shows and sales. As an incentive, in year 1915 a sale of bulls was introduced into the spring show of cattle. In the year 1917 it was decided to amalgamate the cattle and horse shows and to hold it in the summer and to hold a show and sale of bulls and pigs in the spring.
The 1918 summer show aspired to showcase a number of innovative Cork based companies in the Cork region. Rural innovation had a particular focus especially on companies who were developing new products in veterinary medicine and animal feed. The Cork Chemical and Drug Company (established in 1805, run by Harringtons in 1918 and based at 80-81 St Patrick’s Street) was prominent amongst the exhibits of the Show and was situated at the main entrance. Harrington’s extra superfine oat meal, a preparation prepared from the finest flesh and bone forming foods based on scientific experiments, was on display. The food had an exceptionally high percentage of oil, which was ideal to induce health animal metabolism. The firm had already received large orders from stockholders for this food, which was finding a high place in public favour. Their products were approved by the Department of Agriculture and were extensively used by County Councils and large stock breeders in Ireland.
There were many veterinary medicines on view at the stall of the Cork Chemical and Drug Company. Visitors could peruse a useful booklet, Harrington’s Practical Handbook for Farmers. At this stall as well a great variety of brushes were also shown, all of which had been manufactured in Harrington’s Brush Factory. The company was started six years previously by Messrs Harringtons. The brushes were sold in Ireland, England and Scotland.
E Love and Sons was also a popular stand just inside the main entrance. They had an extensive display of feeding stuffs for all classes of stock. Messrs Love made a special effort to meet the animal food shortage situation and introduced several new methods to distribute in large quantities all over the South of Ireland. Special attention was directed to their No. 2 Feeding Oatmeal, which was on par to Indian Meal for fattening pigs. In addition to this, they displayed special meals arid grains for horses, cattle, pigs and poultry.
J Atkins and Company Ltd had an exhibit from the UK division of Iowa, USA’s Amanco of paraffin engines. They were pitched as being simple and economical, were suitable for naming, grinding and food preparing machinery and also for pumping and sewing. A special exhibit of the Bamford rapid grinding mill was on display as well as the Hinman milking machine. The exhibit put a focus on work efficiency and the fact that a child with the latter milking machine could milk 25 cows per hour, or a farmer could milk 30 cows per hour with four machines. There were over 30,000 of these machines in successful operation, and the Hinman has won all the competitions in which it has been entered, including the Panama-Pacific Exhibition, where they won the gold medal.
In a central position at the show, was the engineering and agricultural implement works of William McBride and Sons Ltd, Merchant’s Quay, Cork. The firm had a well-arranged display of the most up-to-date farming machinery. The company, which was founded in the late nineteenth century was well-known. Special prominence was given to the McBride patent thistle cutter, of which close on 5,000 machines were now manufactured at the Merchant’s Quay Ironworks. The thistle cutter was not only a favourite in Ireland, but was also exported in large quantities to England, Scotland and Wales. They held two gold medals, awarded at English shows. The harvesting machinery comprised a very fine collection of binders, mowers, reapers, wheel rakes and swath turners. Many of their man-hole designed covers for Cork Corporation in Cork City over time have also survived.
Prominent as well on display was a fine selection of Cork-made solid silver cups and bowls shown by Messrs William Egan and Sons Ltd. This old established firm had resuscitated the old Cork industry of silver-making. Orders for their manufactures came from all parts of the country, and a great many from Irish priests in America and Australia, for chalices, ciboria, and other sacred vessels. Egans were also makers, on a large scale of all manner of church embroideries, etc., Irish poplin vestments, lace, albs, surplices, oak altars, pulpits, brass candelabra, gongs, sanctuary lamps, religious and sporting medals in gold and silver, which they supplied in large quantities, to all parts of Ireland.
For more information on the Munster Agricultural Society, check out Munster Agricultural Society: The History of the Cork Showgrounds (2011) by Kieran McCarthy
Captions:
953a. Advertisement for Cork Chemical and Drug Co. 1907 from Guy’s Directory of Cork City and County (source: Cork City Library)
953b. Advertisement for William McBride & Sons Ltd, 1919 from Cork: Its Chamber and Commerce (source: Cork City Library)
Saturday 30 June 2018, The Lough & its Curiosities; historical walking tour with Kieran, explore the local history from the Legend of the Lough to suburban development; meet at green area at northern end of The Lough, entrance of Lough Road to The Lough; 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour)
Stories from 1918: The Conciliations of Fr Dowling
One hundred years ago this week, on 21 June 1918, the Freedom of the City was awarded by the Corporation of Cork on Capuchin Fr Thomas Dowling. He was honoured for his invaluable services resolving industrial disputes in the city. Fr Dowling’s obituary in the Cork Examiner on 9 January 1951 highlights that he was a native of Kilkenny, where he was born in 1874. He entered the Capuchin Order in his native city at the age of sixteen and was ordained in the Capuchin Church in Kilkenny in December 1896. He arrived shortly afterwards to Holy Trinity Church in Cork.
During the early years of his ministry, Fr Thomas was called on to fill some of the principal offices in the Order He was appointed Guardian of the Friaries of Cork and Dublin, elected a Definitor of the Province in 1907 and Provincial from 1910 to 1913. He was for many years an active member of the missionary staff and earned the reputation of being a pulpit orator of merit.
In his early years in Cork Fr Thomas directed with zeal and energy the Total Abstinence Society attached to the Holy Trinity Church. He hosted 300 members of the Total Abstinence Society attached to the Church. Recreational events took place in a nearby building. On 30 January 1907, the present Fr Mathew Hall was opened in what was then Queen Street. Fr Dowling led the work to create a good auditorium for plays and concerts and plenty of rooms for activities such as a billiard room, a card room, a reading room. For a time attempts were made to run pictures – it was called a Picturedrome. The Christmas Pantomines became popular – the cast being hall members and monies that were made defrayed expenditure. At different times, members organised dramatic societies, bands, orchestras and choral groups. Classes were held in cookery, sewing and needlework, gymnastics and first aid. Outdoor recreation comprised hurling, football and cycling. Teams were entered in the Cork County Championship and local leagues. The positive relationship with the GAA led to frequent permission to run tournaments in aid of the hall.
During the Great War 1914-1918 the cost of ordinary commodities rose considerably in Cork City. As a result, the interplay between rising costs and wages began to affect the economy. Wages could not match prices so strikes were called. Fr Thomas, who had studied social reform, threw himself wholeheartedly into the work of mediation and arbitration in 1918 between employers and trade unions. In late February 1919, he even succeeded in establishing a Cork Conciliation Board and was its first president. It consisted of four delegates from the Employers’ Federation and four appointed by the Cork and District Trade and Labour Council. The office of the board aspired to “endeavour to amicably adjust any dispute that threatens to result in strike or lock-out with a view to preventing same”. Both the Trade and Labour Council and the Employers’ Federation approved the principle that, “no stoppage of work, strike, or lock-out shall take place without the matter in dispute having been first referred to and dealt with by the Conciliation Board”.
Operative bakers, Tramway workers and Cork Gas workers were negotiated with in the first eight months of the board. In early September 1919, the strike of the Cork Gas Works, which entailed considerable loss and serious inconvenience to the public, was suspended by mutual agreement between the directors of the company and their workers. This was in order that the matters in dispute should be referred to Board. The Board met over two days at the Commercial Buildings, South Mall under the Chairmanship of Father Thomas. Representatives of the workers and the directors appeared before the Board and stated their case. The proceedings lasted several hours at each sitting, and at the conclusion Father Thomas announced to both sides that a unanimous recommendation was arrived at by the Board which he appealed to both sides to-accept.
Fr Thomas clocked up notable accolades. The Freedom of Cork City was conferred upon him in June 1918. The Senate of the National University of Ireland paid tribute in 1920 by conferring on him the honorary degree of LL.D. A physical recognition for his general services for the Cork Trade Unions exists in a stained-glass window, to his memory in Holy Trinity Church. It was unveiled on 4 May 1919 and was the design of the famous stained-glass artist Harry Clarke but it was made by his father Joshua.
At the luncheon of Dublin Rotary Club, of 6 November 1922, Fr Thomas as guest speaker, criticised the general tendency to lay emphasis on the rights of employers and the duties of workers, which, as he aptly put it, led people to forget that employers had rights as well as duties; “The fundamental law of the social state should be equality of essential rights and equality of essential duties…It was a fundamental religious principle that human labour should not be treated as an article of merchandise, the value of which is to be measured merely by the fluctuating of supply and demand”.
In early 1923, whilst still Guardian of the Cork Friary, Fr Thomas generously offered himself for the service of the Order in the American section of the Irish Capuchin Province. In 1946 Fr Thomas celebrated his golden jubilee in Los Angeles, USA.
Captions:
952a. Fr Thomas Dowling, on the left, c.1924 from The Irish Capuchins, Record of a Century, 1885-1985 (source: Cork City Library)
952b. Fr Thomas Dowling Memorial Window, Holy Trinity Church, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
Kieran’s Upcoming Historical Walking Tour:
Saturday 30 June 2018, The Lough & its Curiosities; explore the local history from the Legend of the Lough to suburban development; meet at green area at northern end of The Lough, entrance of Lough Road to The Lough; 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour)
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has praised the ongoing work programme on St Patrick’s Bridge. “Phase one is about to be completed and Phase 2 of the works includes for the repair, restoration and renewal of substantive elements of the bridge is to begin from late June onwards. The Bridge is a key landmark in the city and a crucial piece of infrastructure into and out of the city centre island. Investing in its future is very important”.
A report by Gerry O’Beirne, Cork City Council’s Director of Roads and Transportation, last Monday revealed that works commenced on site in February 2018 with the careful removal of heritage lamp standards located on the bridge parapet. They, together with a further four in storage, were dispatched to lighting restoration specialists, Neri, based in northern Italy, for repair and restoration. Works involved the cleaning, repair and restoration of the lighting standards and their protection and repainting under factory conditions. As part of this process, a mould was also created to make additional duplicate columns. Upon completion, 12 restored/replicated standards are to be returned to the bridge complete with new lantern heads with LED fittings where they will be remounted under Phase 2 of the works in their original positions as when the bridge was first constructed. These works are now well advanced, with the 12 restored/replicated standards and lantern heads due for delivery to Cork City Council in late June 2018. Following a competitive tender process, Cork City Council appointed SSE Airtricity Solutions Ltd.to undertake Phase 1 of the project. The project is fully funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “the bridge opened in 1861 and is representative of nineteenth century design and construction. Its restoration must be sympathetic to these values as well as to its unique heritage and historical importance. The structure is included in the Record of Protected Structures and is listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. I am looking forward to seeing the return of the lamp standards”.
“It is also important that the three elliptical ashlar limestone arches are checked and repaired. They have some really beautiful carved keystones of St Patrick, St. Bridget, Neptune and three sea goddesses, as well as carved limestone balustrades and v-shaped cut waters to the upstream and downstream elevations”.
Phase two of the works on St Patrick’s Bridge will be overseen by Cumnor Construction Ltd. The works include for the repair, restoration and renewal of substantive elements of the main structure as follows: Removal of all vegetation and algae from stonework. Cleaning of stonework, including carbon deposits. Repair and replacement of damaged or missing sections of stonework. Repointing of missing or defective masonry joints. Replacement of statutory and directional signage. Replacement of footway surfacing and kerb stones. Replacement of existing traffic signals on northern junction. Repainting section of pedestrian barrier railing on Merchants Quay. Waterproofing of existing reinforced concrete slab. Replacement of carriageway surfacing and road markings. Installation of newly refurbished heritage lighting standards and lanterns on bridge parapets. Erection of Public Lighting Columns and Lanterns within the eastern (downstream) footway. Installation of new elevation lighting. Cabling, conduits, ducting, meters, mini pillars and all electrical works for lighting elements.
Building on last week’s article, the annual report of the Cork Industrial Development Association (IDA) was unveiled to the public on 19 June 1918 to meet their fifteenth annual public meeting. Many insights into Cork’s commercial life and regional challenges are given in the document, which was published for the most part in the Cork Examiner.
Ambition was the name of the game in 1918 Cork for the Cork IDA. They neglected no opportunity to promote industrial development in the South of Ireland. Important conferences were held in the Association’s offices with investors attracted by the advent of Henry Ford and Son Ltd. Plans were prepared for the establishment after the war for additional manufacturing enterprises on the harbour, which could host large and continuous employment. Special reference was given to the advantages, which the Cork district offered for the manufacture of agricultural implements portland cement, solid rubber tyres and for the establishment of additional flour and margarine factories, oil and cake mills, leather tanneries, and a dressed meat industry. One development highlighted was the establishment by local businessmen of the Mahon Shipbuilding and Concrete Construction Company. They built concrete barges (built of steel and reinforced concrete instead of steel or wood), which was deemed a step in keeping with the times in that the materials were cheap and readily available.
The challenge of being open to international investment whilst protecting local trade was a constant debate. For example, the Cork IDA, on behalf of a firm eminent in the English floor and milling industry, made an application to Cork Corporation for the purchase of a block of land with river frontage for the construction thereon of a modern port mill. However, local rival trade interests prevailed upon the Corporation of Cork not to entertain the application, which they did.
On the protection of older industries, the Cork IDA praised the acquisition by Richard Beamish of the old-established leather tanning industry of Messrs Dunn Brothers, Watercourse Road, Cork. They publicly congratulated the gentleman on his enterprise and on his plans for the development, of the leather industry in Cork (for which in previous years, the city possessed a good reputation in the leather world).
Watching the importation and impact of non-Irish products was also a core activity and deemed of considerable importance to Irish producers. The supplies to public southern institutions were regularly examined by the Cork IDA’s expert, with a view to ascertaining the origin of such goods. Numerous samples of woollens, linens, handkerchiefs, collars, and writing papers were submitted to the Association by correspondents in various parts of the country for examination as to their place of manufacture.
On occasion, the Cork IDA took action in respect to unnecessary importations in the shape of foreign-made joinery, office furniture, cardboard boxes, etc. The Association drew the attention of the Irish Industrial Development Association (Incorporated) to a trade announcement in The Times of India, in which a Cawnpore (a former British garrison, now named Kanpur) firm of woollen manufacturers offered “Donegal” tweeds for winter suiting. The Cork IDA was asked to take action in respect to on English-made baking powder, the label of which bore a representation of the shamrock printed in green. In addition, an application of an English bottling firm to register a whiskey label with the words “Ould Paddy No 1” was brought by the Association to the notice of a local whiskey distilling company, who controlled a whiskey label bearing the word “Paddy”.
The Cork IDA participated in many public conferences on Irish economic affairs. Mr Andrew O’Shaughnessy of Dripsey Woollen Mills and the Secretary represented the Association at the Fourteenth Congress of the Irish Technical Instruction Association, held in the Royal College of Science, Dublin. The association were also represented on the Conference convened by the Cork Borough Technical Instruction Committee to consider the industrial training of apprentices, with special reference to the needs of Cork. Major G B O’Connor, MP, represented the Association at the All-Ireland Protest Meeting held in Dublin with respect to the demand for the establishment of a receiving depot in Dublin for the convenience and encouragement of Irish manufacturers catering for Government supplies. The Cork IDA also participated in local conferences convened in Cork City Hall by the Lord Mayor to deal with such matters as food supplies, milk supply for the poor, currency fluctuations and the shipping requirements of the port.
The Cork IDA were hopeful for Cork’s future after the war had ended and the need for business and trade to stand together to resolve challenging issues; they noted in their report; “The after-war period will witness greatly increased commercial competition between the nations of the world; it will also, we firmly believe, witness an awakening of industrial development in our city, and district that cannot, fail to influence appreciably the industrial status of our entire community…It is, therefore, a matter of more than ordinary importance that associations and organisations such as ours, especially interested in the economic affairs of the country, should be not only amply endowed with finances, but actively supported by individual and collective action of this character the industrial condition of our country will be improved and the general prosperity of our people be stimulated to that decree which will eradicate for all time the evil of emigration from our national life”.
Caption:
951a. Marina Mills, Cork Docks, from Cork, Its Chamber and Commerce, 1919 (source: Cork City Library)
Kieran’s June Historical Walking Tours:
Saturday 23 June 2018, The Cork City Workhouse; learn about the workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet at the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour), in association with the Friends of St Finbarr’s Hospital Garden Fete.
Saturday 30 June 2018, The Lough & its Curiosities; explore the local history from the Legend of the Lough to suburban development; meet at green area at northern end of The Lough, entrance of Lough Road to The Lough; 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour)
On next Saturday, 23 June, 12noon, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, in association with the Friends of St Finbarr’s Hospital, will give a public historical walking tour of the hospital grounds (meet at gate). The walk is free and takes place to support the summer bazaar of the Friends. Cllr McCarthy noted: “For a number of years now I have ran the walking tour of the workhouse story at St Finbarr’s Hospital. Of the twenty or more city and suburban walking tour sites I have developed the tour of the workhouse site has been popular. The tour though is eye-opening to the conditions that people endured in the nineteenth century but a very important one to tell. The dark local histories are as important to grapple with as the positive local histories. Cork city is blessed to have so much archival and newspaper material to really tell the story of the Cork workhouse. Out of this tour I have developed a walking tour as well around the old Our Lady’s Hospital, which I will run for National Heritage Week in August this year”.
Cllr McCarthy highlighted: “A present day blocked up archway on Douglas Road was the old entrance to the laneway that ran down from Douglas Road through market gardens to the workhouse complex. Between 1838 and 1845, 123 workhouses were built, which were part of a series of districts known as Poor Law Unions. The cost of poor relief was met by the payment of rates by owners of land and property in that district. In 1841 eight acres, one rood and 23 perches were leased to the Poor Law Guardians from Daniel B Foley, Evergreen House, Cork. Mr Foley retained an acre, on which was Evergreen House with its surrounding gardens, which fronted South Douglas Road (now a vacant concrete space). The subsequent workhouse that was built on the leased lands was opened in December 1841. It was an isolated place, built beyond the City’s toll house and toll gates. The Douglas Road workhouse was also one of the first of the workhouses to be designed by the Poor Law Commissioners’ architect George Wilkinson”.
Certainly, the themes of education and social inclusion will serve you well.
I am delighted to propose my own candidacy for Deputy Lord Mayor.
It will be the first time this evening ever that an Independent Deputy Lord Mayor will be elected in the history of the Chamber, which is another little bit of Cork History being made.
I realise it is perhaps unprecedented to propose oneself – but that is what I have chosen to do amidst the backdrop of the current political system in the Chamber.
It is with a personal sense of humility and pride I wish to propose myself for the Deputy Lord Mayor post. I have been active in this chamber for the past nine years in the critique and the formation of policy across my committees I sit upon.
Outside of the chamber I have been active for 25 years in the promotion of Cork’s history and cultural heritage – with historical walking tours, newspaper columns, books and work with 40 schools and 1,200 students in the region annually plus possess degrees across historical and cultural geography.
I have been an active in community life in the city- with the establishment of my annual talent competition, Make a Model Boat Project and Musical Society.
If elected to this post it is my intention to put a focus on the paradigms of cultural heritage management in the city especially around ideas of architecture and public spaces, promoting community life and social inclusion and promoting the city’s urban agenda as it passes into its extension.
I ask colleagues for their support in my candidacy.
Lord Mayor Cllr Fitzgerald, congratulations on a great year – you did this city and your community proud.
I think the theme of connections served you very well.
Opening your year by celebrating the 230 years of the present chain’s existence created the framework of your ship of sorts, you created a ferry of ideas that the chain is the connector of all civic debate and citizens across space and time. You noted throughout the year, the chain you wear is the most powerful, connective, mnemonic and enduring symbol of all of Cork’s heritage. Indeed, your ongoing conversations on the connection paradigm opened up many reasons on why the chain has endured.
You mentioned in your speech yesterday about the city’s history linked to the contemporary. It was forged in a time of change, where the city’s canals disappeared and broad streets such as St Patrick’s Street, Grand Parade and the South Mall were filled in and emerged, and bridges such as St Patrick’s Bridge were constructed. Citizens worried about the impact of filling in the canals in a city whose inspiration one hundred years previously were cities such as Amsterdam and Venice.
In the 80 years previously, Cork’s population had grown from 20,000 to 80,000. Nearly ten years before the forging of the chain the first docklands plan emerged.
Ironically 230 years later, all of these ideas are still being debated – the use of public spaces, harnessing the water front, the future of docklands, the advent of the city’s population growth are all ongoing – but as you pointed out in your speech yesterday, this city on a river remains on its journey.
The journey the chain took you on this year went from the mountainous heights of the UNESCO Learning City Conference last September to the peak quadrant of the Prince Charles visit yesterday. And yes whilst you would expect the Lord Mayor to be present – you took the chance symbolically perhaps to represent the smaller links of the chain, which physically keep the SS Links, the medieval Watergate and Coat of Arms medallion together but sometimes are not always championed.
Your interests in social inclusion, a city of welcomes, community engagement, the power of education, sharing life experiences. constructing a healthy cities narrative, building friendships of equals and honouring people who just endure, survive and keep the darkness in our communities at bay – these are all very important themes to champion in this city on the river – these themes during the year infused the gold on the chain with extra social qualities, which gave the chain a compassionate and inclusive shine.
I would also like to thank Georgina for her grace and honesty she brought to the Lady Mayoress role. Wherever she arrived she was a beacon of positivity and a beacon of welcoming. The same beacons were sent out by Deborah and Michelle, whose company, fun and wit I very much enjoyed over the year.
I also like to pay tribute to the Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Fergal Dennehy. When the city ground to a halt twice this year. Fergal stood strong at the helm and took the city through a hurricane and a snow blizzard – and assisted in helping to get municipal life back on course. Indeed, he should get his own honorary admiral’s hat. He also spoke very well at his engagements and always gave very insightful, heart-felt and meaningful speeches.
To conclude, you and your team rallied a cry to embrace citizenship and the corners of community life in our fair city. Indeed tá sé soléir go d’amhráin tú amhrán na bhFiann ar do bhealach.
In your own way you sang a soldier’s song with a cheering rousing chorus,
And as your ferry turns for its next harbour, and especially after your event yesterday you can be proud to symbolically fire your cannons from the hallowed ground of Knocknaheeny, and rejoice amidst Le gunnaí scréach faoi lámhach na bpiléar,
Go raibh míle maith agat arson do bhlian specialta,
The annual report of the Cork Industrial Development Association (IDA) was unveiled to the public on 19 June 1918 to meet their fifteenth annual public meeting. Many insights into Cork’s commercial life and regional challenges are given in the document, which was published for the most part in the Cork Examiner. Strong commitment over one year was given by the General Council or committee who met on fourteen occasions, the Executive Committee on thirty occasions, and the Ladies Committee who met twelve times. The usual half-yearly and two quarterly public meetings of the Association were successfully held in the Council Chamber in Cork City Hall.
The ambition and impact of the work of the Cork IDA was wide-ranging. Circa 2,000 copies of the official report of the proceedings of the fourteenth annual public meeting were printed and distributed free of cost, both at home and abroad. Through the medium of influential publications such as “Studies” and also by means of letters to the press, the secretary focused attention on the industrial needs of Ireland. In addition, numerous pamphlets and leaflets, dealing with certain elements of Irish economic life, were published by the Association. In January of 1918 it undertook the publication of a monthly bulletin to influence the acceleration of industrial development in Ireland. It aimed to draw the eye of investors to reflect upon the unique advantages, which the city and port of Cork offered for the development of international trade after the war. One thousand copies of the Bulletin were published monthly, and was circulated without charge to members and subscribers, and to commercial departments and institutions, and to potential investors in Ireland and outside countries.
During the previous year more than 2,500 written communications were received at the Industrial Development Association offices of Cork and Dublin. Some 900 verbal and telephone enquiries were dealt with, covering practically every feature of Ireland’s economic life. These enquiries came from correspondents in all parts of Ireland, in Great Britain, Scandinavia, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, India, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand Japan, South Africa, and North and South America. As a result of the information supplied by Cork and Dublin associations to correspondents and callers, a very considerable volume of trade, representing many thousands of pounds sterling, was directed to Irish producers.
The greatly increased tillage in Cork County in the previous year made exceptional demands on the depleted available agricultural labour throughout the county. Accordingly in the early summer months of 1917 the Cork IDA placed their offices and organisation at the disposal of the National Service Director for Ireland in a practical effort to find the additional labour urgently required for harvesting operations. Pending the fitting up of permanent offices at Ardcairn, Balintemple, the local business of two of the incoming industrial firms – the Trafford Engineering Co, Ltd, and Crockford and Lea, Ltd, was for some time conducted from the Cork IDA’s headquarters. The arbitration of several trade matters in dispute also took place in their offices. Examples included conferences of local journeymen, coachmakers and ironmoulders in city foundries. The proprietors of local tin plate manufacturing concerns, likewise availed of the offices to take united action with a view to securing supplies of tinplate and government contracts.
Through the Cork IDA’s intervention many southern manufacturing firms were enabled to secure from the relevant Government departments concerned the official permits necessary for the purchase and importation of essential raw materials for their industries. For example, a large local firm of preservers decided upon adding a jam manufacturing department, to their existing business. The Association co-operated by supplying the addresses of fruit growers in Munster, and by striving to procure, within Ireland the large supplies of jars required for marketing purposes. A meeting of southern limestone quarry owners was convened by the Association to go into the question of supplying stone for the drydocks extensions at Passage West and Rushbrooke.
The Irish Railway Executive Committee having cut off excursion trains to seaside and health resorts, a conference of hotel proprietors and traders in such centres was held under the Association’s auspices. Lobbying action taken resulted in additional train facilities being granted to such resorts as Crosshaven on Sundays.
The Ladies Committee of the Cork IDA successfully organised Irish Week, when the numerous and artistic all-window displays of Irish manufactured goods in Cork City and in most of the towns in the county, left a huge positive impression. The observance of Irish Week in Tralee, Clonmel, and other southern centres, was inspired by action taken by the Committee. Irish-made goods were made visible for the education of and purchase by consumers. Speeches were given at successful public meetings held in both towns. The Ladies’ Committee, also assisted in the launching of a sister organisation in Dungarvan. The secretary also delivered addresses on the industrial revival to the members of the Clogheen Gaelic League and to an open-air gathering in Cork City. In addition to the special appeal made during “Irish Week” to consumers to support Irish manufactures appeals were issued at Christmas and Easter to the public, who were asked to buy goods of Irish origin in preference to imported products of foreign workmanship.
Captions:
950a. Crosshaven, c.1910 (source: Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy & Dan Breen)
950b. Crosshaven, c.1910 (source: Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy & Dan Breen)
Kieran’s June Historical Walking Tours:
Saturday 23 June 2018, The Cork City Workhouse; learn about the workhouse created for 2,000 impoverished people in 1841; meet at the gates of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour), in association with the Friends of St Finbarr’s Hospital Garden Fete.
Saturday 30 June 2018, The Lough & its Curiosities; explore the local history from the Legend of the Lough to suburban development; meet at green area at northern end of The Lough, entrance of Lough Road to The Lough; 12noon (free, duration: two hours, on site tour)
