Fig. 49: View of Spike Island from Bellevue Terrace, Cobh (Queenstown), Co Cork, residence of Captain Nathaniel Sutton, Deputy Harbour Master 1873 – 83 (Photo reproduced by kind permission of S. H. Bean). My great grandfather, Thomas O’Keeffe of Kilcrea, Ovens, died at the prison 24 Nov 1874 while visiting with his brother, Patrick O’Keeffe, who became the prison doctor in 1872. ‘High death rates during its formative years meant that many of its malnourished inmates were laid to rest beneath its sod. Yet Spike Island was to become a beacon of prison reform, influencing modern correctional systems in countries as far as apart as the USA and Germany’ (McCarthy & O’Donnabhain 2016). Governor Hay, Deputy Governor Murphy and Medical Officer Dr. O’Keeffe moved on to Mountjoy Gaol in 1883 when Spike Island closed.
Tanning Industry
( James Hackett )
William Hackett with brothers John and Edward owned several tanning businesses in Cork and became the largest leather manufacturers in Ireland. By the end of the 1830s there were forty-eight tanyards in Cork and tanning had become the principal industry in Cork City (Bielenberg 1991).
Timber Trade
( Industry , Volunteer )
During the Napoleonic War, the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, between France and Russia and France and Prussia, sought to limit British access to timber and by 1809 the closure of ports on the eastern Baltic sparked a timber importation crisis in Britain. A major Continental
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