Showing 68 results

The grand juries were among the most important organs of local administration at county level until the passing of the Local Government Act of 1898. Although originating in Norman times, the first mention of grand juries on Irish Statute books is in 1634. King’s County, which was shired in 1556, and like all other counties was used as a unit for the administration of justice, although over time, its administrative function increased and it became responsible for public works such as road construction and later for construction of infirmaries, bridewells and other institutions of local governance.

The jurors originally comprised ten in number but this was raised to twenty-three. Members of the grand jury were selected by the high sheriff from the leading property owners in the county, the order in which the jurors stood on the list being an indication of their social standing. The sheriff’s discretion in the nomination of the grand jury was total. The sheriff was a political appointment and it frequently happened that he filled the list with his friends and supporters. Catholics were prohibited from serving on grand juries until 1793 but even after this date, jury lists were predominately Protestant due to the concentration of property in Protestant hands.

Over time the administrative function increased. The 1634 and subsequent acts authorized the justices of the assizes with the consent of the grand jury to levy the costs of roads and bridges on the county or barony. This rate was called the county cess. By 1705 the grand juries were authorised to make presentments or propose works.

The grand juries met twice yearly at the Spring (or Lent) Assizes and the Summer Assizes. The King’s County Grand Jury held its assizes at Philipstown (Daingean) until 1835 when the administration of the county moved to Tullamore. The presentment sessions dealt with the expenses of each barony and then for the county-at-large. They were conducted by the justices of the peace and from 1833 included five to twelve cess payers.

The Local Government Act of 1898 abolished the administrative functions of the grand juries, these functions transferring to the newly formed county councils in 1899. The judicial functions ceased in 1924.

King’s County Infirmary was established under King George III’s reign with the passing of the Irish County Infirmaries Act of 1765. This act enabled the creation of infirmaries in thirty Irish counties. In an amending act from 1768, King’s County Infirmary was moved from Philipstown (Daingean) to Tullamore, the new county town. During the redevelopment of Tullamore town by the Earl of Charleville, a new infirmary building was erected in 1788 on Church Street and was further extended in 1812.

The County Infirmaries Act was enacted to provide healthcare to the poor which fulfilled the eighteenth century philanthropic ideals of the landed gentry who supported these institutions through donations and subscriptions. King’s County Infirmary was supported by an income comprising of parliamentary funds, grand jury presentments, governor subscriptions, donations, and patient fees. The infirmary was managed by a Board of Governors who paid subscriptions for their position on the board. Governors had absolute control over the infirmary including staff appointments and patient admissions. To gain access to the infirmary, Governors issued tickets of admission which were most likely given to their employees, tenants, and servants. The governors who supported the hospital were made up of local gentry and landowners such as the Earl of Rosse, Lord Digby and prominent businessowners such as the Goodbody family.

During the War of Independence, King’s County Infirmary came under the jurisdiction of the new Sinn Féin majority council, now renamed Offaly County Council. On the 21st of January 1921, the secretary to Offaly County Council attended a meeting of the board to inform them of the closure of the infirmary. It was to be closed under the Offaly amalgamation scheme whereby the workhouse hospital would become the new County Hospital. The board pleaded with the council to delay the closure in order to settle the affairs of the hospital in relation to critical patients and financial matters. The hospital eventually closed in August 1921 after it was reported by the surgeon and registrar to the board, that the bedding and beds were carried out of the infirmary by unknown persons suspected to be under orders of the county council.

Following its closure, King’s County Infirmary accommodated the civil guards and then housed the county library until 1977. The façade of the original King’s County Infirmary can still be seen on Church Street, Tullamore, which has now been repurposed into apartments.

The Loyal National Repeal Association was organized by Daniel O'Connell in 1830 with the goal of breaking political ties with Britain and repealing the Act of Union of 1800. The association was well organized and gained members throughout the early 1840s. The repeal campaign failed in its mission to escape British rule but did engage millions of Irish people in a political cause, and the famed "Monster Meetings", which were attended by tens of thousands of people, demonstrated that the majority of people in Ireland opposed British rule.

The premises were first mentioned in a lease from Charles William Bury to John Shaw in 1790. It became a brewery in 1805 when Richard Deverell acquired the property. The ownership changed again, i.e. to George Wilkinson, a baker, in the 1850s.
Michael McGinn (1879-1973) bought the premises in 1920 from the widow Brophy under whose ownership a pub was run by the Keeney family. McGinn was from Mountmellick and managed a D. E. Williams grocery shop there before he bought the pub in Tullamore. He continued the pub trade and also operated a bakery and a grocery on the premises. The licence was transferred in 1967 to his son Philip McGinn who renovated the pub in 1978 and changed the grocery part to an off-licence in 1980.

The whiskey production involved its own malting facilities within the distillery. D. E. Williams Ltd. started supplying malt in the 1950s. Together with F. A. Waller & Co. Ltd. the malting plants in Banagher were build. The Midlands Malting Co. Ltd. was incorporated in 1968. The Williams Group held 51% of the shares.
The barley was purchased via Williams-Waller Ltd. - seed fertiliser and grain merchants founded in 1975 in corporation with F. A. Waller. Suppliers were ca. 4000 local farmers.
The company supplied Guinness and additionally exported malt via Irish Malt Exports Ltd. (the Williams Group held 16% of their shares).
Greencore acquired the Williams Group in 1996 and hence the Midlands Malting Co. Ltd.. The closure of the Maltings was announced in 2005.

Auctioneers and Valuers, Church St, Tullamore

The Naval and War Pensions Committee was set up in 1917 to administer national provisions for war pensions for the thousands of Irishmen who fought in the First World War. At local level there was for instance the Banagher Local War Pensions Committee.

North Offaly GAA was a sub-committee of Offaly County Board consisting of delegates representing Ballinagar, Ballycommon, Ballycumber, Bracknagh, Clara, Cloghan, Clonmore, Cloneygowan, Edenderry, Durrow, Geashill, Gurteen, Killeigh, Knockballyboy, Philipstown (Daingean), Rahan, Raheen, Rhode, and Tullamore clubs.

Boards of public health and assistance were formally set up in 1924 under the provisions of the Local Government (Temporary Provisions), Act, 1923. However, the process of setting up the boards of health and public assistance was initiated during the War of Independence when local government in the form of county councils nationwide, ceded political control to republicans in the 1920 local elections. Declaring the abolition of the English poor law system and its workhouses as a major policy objective, the newly elected councils proceeded to wind down the boards of guardians who oversaw the administration of poor law by the end of 1921. In the interim period before the establishment of the Free State and the passing of the 1923 enabling legislation, a process known as ‘Amalgamation’ took place, which attempted to reduce the number of institutions in each county on the grounds of economy and efficiency.

In Offaly, the semi-independent King’s County Infirmary was closed in 1921. The three workhouses in Tullamore, Edenderry, and Birr, were also closed in 1921, the building in Tullamore being repurposed into a county home to accommodate the aged and infirm, the destitute poor, invalids, and unmarried mothers and their children. It also provided maternity services. The old workhouse infirmary was repurposed into the county hospital for medical and surgical services transferred from the closed King’s County Infirmary. There was a separate fever hospital on the same site. In Edenderry, a district hospital was established in the old fever hospital attached to the former workhouse. In Birr, the workhouse infirmary was used as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients, and the district hospital for the Birr area was in the old fever hospital. In the 1930s, Hospital Sweepstakes money funded the construction of a new county hospital at Tullamore and further improvements to the local hospital network.

The responsibilities of the boards of health and public assistance were wide ranging and included poor relief, administration of hospitals and homes, services to the sick poor, maternity services, and services to unmarried mothers. They also had responsibility for public health, sanitation, disease control, water supply, and certain services formerly carried out by the rural district councils, which were dissolved in 1925.

The board was a charge on the county and board members, who had executive functions, were appointed by the county council. A series of legislative changes changed the role and function of the board. In 1942, the enactment of the Public Assistance Act, 1939 formerly replaced the poor relief acts of the nineteenth century, and combined central control exercised by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, with local administration. At this point, the board came fully under the control of the county council and the executive functions transferred to the County Manager.

The Health Act, 1947 made county councils health authorities in their own areas. The Health Act, 1953 transferred hospitals and institutions to health authorities, thereby separating public assistance from the treatment of the sick. The Health Act, 1970 set up eight regional health boards, transferring health services from county councils, Offaly falling under the jurisdiction of the Midland Health Board. The Social Welfare (Supplementary Welfare Allowances) Act, 1975 transferred the administration of public assistance to the health boards, which were set up in 1970. This completed the transfer of responsibilities in the area of public health and public assistance from local authorities to central government.