Correspondence (including many copies) regarding the protracted negotiations with the Rev. Andrew Craig Robinson, to secure the conveyance to the Capuchin friars of two houses on Walkin Street (See CA KK/2/1/1/3/13). Correspondents include Rev. Andrew Craig Robinson, Ballymoney Rectory, Ballineen, County Cork, Fr. Berchmans Cantillon, Fr. Peter Bowe, W. Carrigan, John R. Peart, conveyancing counsel, Nicholas Shorthal, solicitor for the Capuchin friars, and Michael Buggy, solicitor. Robinson noted that the said premises were mortgaged to Michael Buggy, that he was a joint owner with his sister-in-law and nephew, and that they would seek £625 for the outright purchase of the holding. One of the copy letters (8 Jan. 1916) from the Rev. Robinson to Nicholas Shorthal notes that he has received a letter from Lord Ormonde’s agent ‘saying that in consequence of a fire by which a valuable number of documents were lost they have no maps of the property in Kilkenny in the eighteenth century’. The file includes letters mainly referring to emendations to the draft conveyance of the properties, to negotiations over the purchase price, and to a dispute over the bill of costs for securing the conveyance and to the amount of tithe rentcharge payable out of the said premises. On 1 July 1917 John R. Peart wrote to Nicholas Shorthal affirming that they had ‘certainly had trouble in this case out all proportion to the purchase money and to the scale of fees involved’. Fr. Bowe wrote on 28 Dec. 1917 ‘we had patience so long with Rev. Mr. Robinson I suppose we must keep it up to the end’. One of Shorthal’s correspondents, James F. Reade, acknowledged the receipt of £3 3s 0d and referred to the air raids in London in June 1918 as ‘most damnable experiences. … One never gets used to these raids, the noise of the bombs falling, guns firing, shells singing and exploding and machine guns etc. make an infernal row’.
Letters regarding a dispute over the editorship of the temperance publication, 'The Father Mathew Record', also known as 'The Irish Home Journal'. The file includes a letter from Brian O’Higgins to Fr. Edwin Fitzgibbon OSFC, Provincial Minister, complaining about his dismissal as associate editor of the 'Record' by Fr. Joseph Fenlon OSFC who ‘desired to keep politics out of the Journal’. O’Higgins, a member of Sinn Féin, admits that he is ‘on what is known as “the run”’. With notes by Fr. Edwin regarding the proprietorship of the Journal, and the need to reserve the appointment of editor to the council of the Capuchin Franciscan Order in Ireland. Later, Fr. Joseph wrote to Fr. Edwin confirming his resignation from the Presidency of Father Mathew Hall and the temperance sodality. The file also includes a signed notice of a special meeting of the Hall Committee affirming that the ‘"Record" was started by Fr. Aloysius [Travers], President of the Hall … [and] that the Office of the Record was transferred to the Hall premises’. The committee members contended that the 'Record' magazine was the property of the committee ‘and that the Provincial Superiors acted without consideration of the circumstances when … they decided to take it over and have it conducted independently of the committee and its President’. (10 June 1920).
Correspondence concerning a dispute over a contract to repair the organ at the Church of St. Francis, Capuchin Friary, Kilkenny. The correspondents include The John Compton Organ Company (Ireland), Penmare, Glenageary Hill, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, Fr. Dermot Lynch OFM Cap., guardian, and John Lanigan & Nolan, solicitors, 81 High Street, Kilkenny.
Correspondence of Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC, Presbytery, Church Street, relating to arrears of an annuity (2s 6d) due from Michael Murphy, a tenant occupying premises on Bow Street. The file includes a certificate from the North Dublin Union Workhouse notifying the friends of Michael Murphy that his remains will be at their disposal on 24 Aug. 1887 and a receipt from Thomas Fitzpatrick and Mary Anne Fitzpatrick for £2 ‘which was the amount due by the Fathers to Mr. Michael Murphy for his holding which is now free forever from rent or charge of any kind. We accept this to bury him and renounce all further claims on the Community’.
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.
Correspondence relating to the progress of work on the stairs in the St. Brigid’s Hall extension. Correspondents include Edward Murphy, builder and contractor, E.G. O’Neill, architect, 82 Taney Road, Dundrum, Thomas Garland, consulting engineer, 40 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, and Fr. Virgilus Murtagh OFM Cap. With a specification for the said works.
Correspondence mainly relating to repair work and insurance requirements for Father Mathew Hall, Cork. Includes letters from John A. Deasy, consulting engineer, Kelly and Barry & Associates, chartered architects, Br. Paul O’Donovan OFM Cap., and Barry O’Driscoll, solicitor.
Correspondence relating to a lease by O’Ferrall to the Capuchins of Nos. 133 and 134 Church Street. Correspondents include Fr. Bernard Jennings OSFC, Capuchin Convent, John O’Hagan, solicitor, 9 Harcourt Street, Dublin (later Arthur O’Hagan & Son), and Terence O’Reilly, solicitor, 5 North Great George’s Street. On 25 Jan. 1884 Fr. Bernard wrote: ‘The property which we hold from Mr. O’Farrell consists of 2 houses in Church Street, nos. 133 & 134 (now in the possession of a Mr. John Ryan who is I suppose a sub-tenant to us) and a plot of ground running from Church Street to Bow Street upon which I believe a house formerly stood, but which was condemned by the Corporation and had to be taken down’.
Correspondence relating to the redundancy appeals tribunal for a stage manager employed by the Capuchins at Father Mathew Hall from March 1958 to September 1968. Correspondents include Fr. Benjamin O’Connell OFM Cap., Edmund Hayes, solicitor, and Fr. Anthony Boran OFM Cap., Provincial Bursar.
Correspondence relating to the transfer of properties on Church Street (nos. 155-157) to lay trustees of the Catholic Boys’ Brigade. Correspondents include, Thomas J. Furlong, solicitor, 11 Eustace Street, Dublin, Fr. Fiacre Brophy OSFC, Fr. Paul Neary OSFC, Provincial Minister, William Mooney & Son, solicitors, 16 Fleet Street, Dublin, Michael Murphy, solicitor, 44 South Mall, Cork, and John Jameson, Bow Street Distillery, Dublin. Most of the correspondence relates to instructions to be given to solicitors with respect to the drawing up of a conveyance for the above-mentioned properties and to the need for approval of the deed which allows Fr. Matthew O’Connor OSFC and Fr. Peter Bowe OSFC to retire from their trusteeship. John Jameson assured Fr. Fiacre that ‘this company would be very reluctant to put up a building that would be objectionable to your community. … I thought there was no likelihood of the neighbourly relations which have always existed between this company and yourselves being interrupted’. On 20 Dec. 1904 Fr. Paul Neary OSFC stated that the ‘members of our Order who are trustees of the Church Street premises of the Boys’ Brigade have no desire to continue their trusteeship and are willing to hand it to any persons to whom they can do so, without breach of their trust’.