An insight into Glynn family history

THE Glynn family’s contribution to industrial development in West Clare from 1798 to 1930 was the subject of a talk in Kilrush last weekend.
Given by Paul O’Brien at Merchants Quay Business Centre (formerly Glynn’s Mills) on Saturday night, the talk was attended by a large crowd, which included members of the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland (IHAI) group, who visited Kilrush and Moyasta as part of their 2011 tour. Dr Fred Hamond, Belfast, vice-president of IHAI, chaired the meeting.
Mr O’Brien is a PhD student at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. His PhD is based on up to 20,000 Glynn family papers he has been given access to by Charlie Glynn.
Along with the IHAI, a large number of the extended Glynn family also attended the talk. The main body of the Glynn family archive relates to the operational and administrative processes of M Glynn and Sons. The documents include leases, contracts, insurance certificates, commercial and private correspondence, legal and court documents and range from around 1790 to 1980.
“The earliest record that I have come across of the Glynns in Kilrush dates to circa 1798 and takes the form of a lease,” Mr O’Brien explained.
“The lease is in the name of Bartholomew Glynn and he is listed as a grain merchant. The lease is for a building located in the Market Square in the town. The property was in the ownership of John Ormsby Vandeleur, the local landlord. This transaction marks the establishment of the Glynn family as local business people,” he added.
Many of the original leases attached to Glynn’s Mills bear John Ormsby Vandeleur’s (1765-1828) signature.
From their initial foray into corn milling, the firm rapidly expanded their range of investments and property. A woollen mill was added in 1821, with flour and meal mills opening in 1872 and 1874.
At the height of the Glynn empire, a whole range of products were on offer, including Kilrush white and black seed, oats, beans, peas and crushed oats for cattle.
The milling business provided plenty of direct employment in Kilrush, while an agency for Lloyds Shipping Agency was added in the latter part of the 19th century.
In 1888, the firm invested in the Henry Simon Automatic Roller System. This technology facilitated a more efficient output of corn at the mills. The new machinery was installed by Simons of Liverpool and was at the cutting edge of contemporary technology.
The family also became involved in the development of the Great Southern and Western Railway and in 1891, HR Glynn contributed to the mapping and surveying of the link from Cappa Pier to Kilrush.
An entry into the shipping sector in the 1850s paid dividends for the firm, while, in addition, they successfully tendered for the ferrying of passengers from Tarbert to Cappa Pier.
“The ability of successive generations of the family to diversify and add to their portfolio is further evidenced by the national and international contacts and distribution networks that the firm quickly and steadfastly established,” Mr O’Brien noted in his talk.
Some of the names associated with the family include Lord Pirrie of Harland and Wolff, the Knight of Glin, the Lane-Joynts, De Courcy’s and Barrington’s of Limerick, Sir John Gray MP, Lord Aberdeen and the Fitzgeralds and Dukes of Leinster.
Mr O’Brien’s fascinating presentation included numerous photographs and documents, which were visible to the audience. Among the information relayed was that a PJ Boyle of John Street in Kilrush printed the Kilrush Herald and Kilkee Gazette, in which the Glynns advertised. In an advertisement in 1871, it is noted that Michael Glynn was an agent for Royal Insurance Company.
On December 12, 1867, the social columns of the Freeman’s Journal revealed that the Glynn family were socialising in the upper echelons of Victorian society. At a ball in the Mansion House, Dublin, the Glynns were among 1,300 guests of the Lord Mayor.
The success of the Glynn family business led to increased prosperity for the family. Pleasure sailing was part of this, as was a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost parked outside Kilrush House, the Glynn family home, around 1890.
Glynn’s Mills operated for much of the 20th century, inclusive of a seaweed factory, but improvements in road transportation, allied to the geographical isolation of Kilrush, contributed to the ultimate demise of the mills. Merchants Quay Business Centre is located on the site of the old mills.
Meanwhile, the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland used the opportunity of their trip to Clare to visit the steamer quays in Cappa and Clarecastle.
Cappa was a revenue pier and a fishing pier but it was also the western end of the route to Liverpool. The early steamers ran from Kilrush to Limerick via Tarbert. Kilrush itself benefited from the construction of roads throughout West Clare, which allowed oats, butter and other produce to be brought to the port. It also had mills, a railway connection and even a seaweed processing plant.
Jackie Whelan of the West Clare Railway received an IHAI award in 2010 for his restoration of the steam engine, Slieve Callan, and a visit to the railway station in Moyasta was one of the highlights of the trip. The visitors made the most of the opportunity to examine the Slieve Callan at close quarters.
The IHAI’s trip was organised by Limerick-based member Brian Goggin, who said the trip illustrated the wealth of industrial heritage to be found around the Shannon Estuary.
“There is more than enough to keep visitors amused here for a weekend but we need to start selling the estuary as a whole, as a single industrial heritage site. That doesn’t conflict with any other aspect of its history but the estuary has been important in both transport and energy for hundreds of years and we should highlight that to tourists interested in industrial heritage,” he said.