Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1931-1932 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
354pp
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Lewis Goodbody was a son of Lewis Frederick, one of the five sons of Robert of Mountmellick, and was born at Clara in 1866 and died there at Drayton Villa on 8 January 1933, aged 66. He was educated at Birkdale, Lancashire and at Trinity College, Dublin from where he graduated in 1887. He joined the firm of Tisdall & Goodbody, later Goodbody and Tisdall, then of 15 Dame Street and Tullamore on qualifying as a solicitor in 1891. In 1893 he was active in the campaign to save the union and defeat the Gladstone home rule bill and was hon. secretary to an anti-home rule demonstration in Tullamore. Tisdall was pushed out in 1901 and the new firm of A & L Goodbody commenced in 1902. Lewis Goodbody was a keen sportsman with a strong interest in cricket and motoring. He was an original member of the Irish Automobile Club and his firm were the solicitors to the Irish Dunlop Company’s stock exchange prospectus in 1899. Goodbody lived in Kilcoursey, Clara throughout his life and what with inherited wealth and business acumen his establishment was able to support a governess, a cook and a parlour maid. Lewis Goodbody died at Clara at the age of 66 and was buried at the Friends Burial Ground, Clara. He was survived by his wife, Edith Lisetta Pim and two daughters and one son. The latter spent much of his time in India and died there in 1974.
Repository
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Original incoming and copy outgoing correspondence relating to administration of Geashill estate. Matters referred to include tree planting on the estate; insurance/workmen's compensation funds; Irish general election results; taxation of woodlands; and the Geashill Cauldron.
Includes letter from Digby to Goodbody: 'The result of the elections in the Free State do not, I am afraid, seem to be very good, though I imagine that De Valera will think twice before he puts his policy fully into operation, as with a tariff wall between England and a country outside the Empire it would hit Ireland very hard if it came to Ireland really trying to sever themselves from the British Empire. I am quite sure, however, that this is not the intention of the majority of people in Ireland, and they must realise that it is not to their good but very much the reverse.' (22 February 1932)
Includes copy letter from Goodbody to Digby:'...I enclose you some correspondence which has appeared in some of the Irish papers in this matter. As you will see, it comes from the Republican side, and of course misrepresents facts and history, and cannot avoid being insulting at the same time. As you will remember, I offered this Cauldron on loan from yourself to the Irish Museum, then had a box made for it, and before it was packed it was raided. Since then though I have heard rumours about it, I have not heard anything definite about it.' (11 April 1932)
Includes newspaper cuttings containing letters from Sean McGuinness, Kinnity, Offaly and Liam Gogan, Assistant Keeper of Antiquities, National Museum concerning the theft of the cauldron by Offaly IRA and its archaeological significance.