Recently Available Collections
The following collection(s) have recently been descriptively listed and are now available to Readers in our research room by appointment, and, where digitised, on our online catalogue. We have also listed and made available over 850 other collections.
Daniel MacCarthy (Glas) Collection PR70 now available
The Cork City and County Archives Service is delighted to announce that it is launching for public access the archive of writer and historian Daniel MacCarthy Glas (died 1884), which was donated by Susan MacCarthy and Don MacCarthy, and family, of Salem, Oregon, USA, in 2017. The Archives has also created an exhibition about Daniel and his archive which will be on display at the Archives and at other locations around Cork over the next year.
View descriptive list of the Daniel MacCarthy (Glas) Collection.
Daniel was born to a wealthy Irish Catholic merchant family in London in 1807. His grandfather had emigrated from Cork in 1763. The family was directly descended from the princes of Carbery, the MacCarthy Reaghs and the MacCarthy Glas’, based at Togher Castle and other locations near Dunmanway in West Cork. The complex process of repatriating the MacCarthy Glas archive was started a number of years ago and it was successfully concluded thanks to the efforts of Dunmanway historian Michelle O’Mahony, Dr. Mervyn O’Driscoll (School of History, UCC), Nigel McCarthy (McCarthy DNA Project), and the archivists of the Cork City and County Archives Service.
Daniel took a major interest in his ancestry and in Irish History, going on to author two important books, The Life and Letters of Florence MacCarthy Reagh (1867) and A Historical Pedigree of the Sliochd Feidhlimidh, the MacCarthys of Gleannacroim (1875). He also contributed historical articles to The Nation newspaper and various journals during the Irish historical awakening of the 19th century. Many of his works involved painstaking research through State Papers and other records in Ireland, Britain and France. He was also in detailed correspondence with celebrated Cork historian Dr. Richard Caulfield and a large circle of other Irish scholars, antiquarians, archaeologists, and poets including John O’Donovan, Samuel Ferguson, Denis Florence MacCarthy, Aubrey Thomas De Vere, Thomas Keightley, and James Henthorn Todd, to name but a few. A noted philanthropist, Daniel sponsored the education of students, assisted Catholic institutions, and helped to preserve historic buildings and monuments. James Coleman MRSAI, wrote that “a more interesting personality or a better type of Irishman could hardly be found than this English-born scion of the ancient sept of MacCarthys whose name is seldom absent from the annals of our country”.
The MacCarthy Glas archive comprises 1,200 unique items, and it is of major historical importance, containing personal letters, manuscripts, photographs and drawings from Daniel and other family members. Some of Daniel’s family were poets and writers, and some held important positions, reflecting the fact that they intermarried with the British élite. His father-in-law, for example, was Rear-Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and invented a code of signals adopted by the Royal Navy in 1803. Also within are various manuscripts relating to Daniel’s historical and literary research and publications. The majority of the material dates from the 1700s and 1800s. As with any large personal or family archive, the scope of the collection is immense, documenting a range of topics: from the MacCarthy aristocratic lineage, to 19th century poetry and historiography, the Irish nationalist movement, the history of Early Modern Ireland, the French Revolution of 1848, the British Empire in India and South Africa, emigration, and the Great Famine and its dire impact on the local population in west Cork.
![Photograph of Alice MacCarthy [née Linton] and two of her daughters.](/media/11fl0234/pr70-f-6-2-3_web.jpg?rmode=max&height=500)
The archive has been painstakingly listed, arranged and catalogued in detail by the archivists of the Cork City and County Archives Service. Thanks to this, and the kind generosity of Susan and Don MacCarthy and family, the archive is now a permanent public resource for Cork.
One document in the archive has been identified as having immense cultural and historical significance: this is a 1784 family pedigree of the Gaelic prince Jeremiah MacCarthy (‘Diarmuid an Duna’) compiled by famous poet-schoolmaster John Collins of Myross, known as the last bard of Munster, who, it is said, could recite much of the ancient history and genealogies of the region. This unique document, written in a combination of both Irish and English, is one of very few original manuscripts that we know of in existence from Collins or indeed any other Gaelic scholar from the period. Written on parchment, the pedigree bears a wax seal of John Butler, Catholic Bishop of Cork, later Baron Dunboyne, who was a controversial figure. The pedigree has been subject to a detailed process of transcription and interpretation by Dr. Cornelius Buttimer formerly of UCC.
T.J. Murphy and Family Archive (Colm O'Sullivan Donation) now available
This remarkable archive of 28 items was kindly donated by Colm O'Sullivan (Prof. Emer. UCC), facilitated by Ruairi Lynch, in 2024. It contains photographs and documents relating to TJ and Margaret Murphy nee Geaney, and a few relations such as George Murphy who fought in the US Civil War, Rev. PB Murphy who was a Fenian and a Chaplain in the US Army, and William Bowen Murphy, a soldier, writer and policeman. Also found is material from family friend Diarmuid Lynch, Sinn Fein TD and member of the IRB, and an original MS. letter from Charles Stewart Parnell to TJ's father Denis Lynch in 1880 concerning the Land League in Cork.
TJ Murphy (b1867 - d1948) was born at Mullaghroe, Ovens, County Cork. His family lived at Brownhill House and his father Denis Murphy farmed a substantial holding leased from Lady Carbery of Castle Freke, from which they were evicted in c1880, possibly during the period of the Land War. Denis may have been involved in the Land League around this time. The family were without income when Denis Murphy obtained a job as Caretaker of the Marina in Cork, which came with housing in the Marina Lodge. As a youngster, TJ sold refreshments to people at the Marina and Cork Racecourse. He then leased stalls 1 and 2 in the Grand Parade Market (English Market) selling eggs and poultry, for which he garnered the nickname "Turkey Murphy". A successful merchant, he opened a butter and provisions shop at 39 Georges Street and a Groceries and Provisions store at 111 Georges Street (now Oliver Plunkett Street). In c1921 he bought Silversprings House in Tivoli and rented 4 Belgrave Place to close friends Mary and Annie MacSwiney, sisters of Terence MacSwiney, who operated Scoil Íte (St. Ita's School) from that location. TJ was appointed to the Board of the Cork Harbour Commissioners (today Port of Cork) and served for many years. He also represented the Harbour Commissioners at Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney's funeral in London in October 1920.
TJ Murphy Photo. c1920-1940
Margaret Geany/ Geaney was from Glanmire and married TJ Murphy in 1901. Prior to this she had emigrated to the USA, where she trained as a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, graduating in 1898. She was a friend of Diarmuid Lynch later an IRB man and TD, who was also in New York in the 1890s.
George Murphy (b1835 - d1917) emigrated from Ovens Co. Cork in the 1850s to Boston, where he worked as a carpenter. He joined the Union Army during the American Civil War , fighting for 3 years as an NCO with the Army of the Potomac. He was captured as a prisoner of war by Confederate Forces at the Battle of Gettysburg, but later returned under a prisoner exchange. A near neighbour of George's from Ovens, Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was a Confederate commander during the Civil War. He was an uncle to Fr. Patrick Bowen Murphy.
Diarmuid Lynch (b1878 – d1950) Sinn Fein TD, IRB member, Friends of Irish Freedom organiser in USA
Rev. Patrick Bowen (PB) Murphy, (b1850 - d1929) was a cousin of TJ Murphy. He was a Fenian, involved in the Fenian Canadian invasion, and a Chaplain in the US Army. Buried at St Josephs Cemetery, Cork.
William Bowen Murphy, cousin of TJ Murphy and brother of P.B. Murphy. William B. Murphy became a writer for magazines and contributed to many New York and Boston newspapers. He served in the US Army under General Miles during the Geronimo uprising (Apr-Sep 1886), after which he was orderly sergeant in Battery 1, 4th Regiment of Artillery under General George W. Getty. Later a Sergeant in charge of the Metropolitan Parks Police of Boston.
