Public vote of confidence for Cork's fascinating archive of local elections

IT MIGHT look like a party of gentlemen at some Victorian club, complete with tweed suits and the handlebar moustaches, but the sepia photograph taken in the chambers of the courthouse in Cork’s Washington Street was more historic than any leisurely fin de siècle gathering for brandy and port.

Not only was it taken on the eve of a new century in 1899, but the photograph also captured the last ever meeting of the Cork County Grand Jury, a group of landlords and other men of wealth charged with providing roadways and bridges and other public facilities throughout the county.

At yesterday’s launch of an exhibition at the Cork City and County Archive, at the Séamus Murphy Building, in Blackpool, to mark the 110th anniversary of local elections, the photograph was proving quite a draw with both public and politicians alike.

Lord Mayor of Cork city, Cllr Brian Bermingham, who jointly opened the exhibition with the Mayor of Cork county, Cllr Noel Harrington, was among those drawn to the photograph as he carefully read through the caption identifying those present at that historic moment.

“It’s fascinating. They were all local landlords appointed by Queen Victoria so it wasn’t a council as such, but it’s very interesting – this was before the Suffragette movement so there were no women, and of course after 1916, the councils became strongly nationalist,” he observed.

The photograph is just one of a number of items of local interest assembled for the exhibition which has been compiled by the Local Authority Archivist Group with the support of the Heritage Council.

It will tour the country in the run-up to the local elections in the summer.

Cork city and county archivist Brian McGee explained that the exhibition is designed to give an outline of some of the major historical themes and events surrounding local elections since the first elections in 1899, including the Local Government Act 1898 and the franchise.

“The first really full democratic local government elections took place in 1899 and we have the results of the first election and its consequences as well as material on famous elections, election campaigns and legislative changes over the years,” said Mr McGee.

“We have documents from the local election of 1920 relating to Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney, so there’s a lot of interesting material charting the evolution of local government in the city and county,” said Mr McGee.

The exhibition runs in Cork until the end of January.