Bennett's of Ballinacurra Descriptive List (Ref. B609)

B609/

met Mrs McNeill [later to become his second wife]. In the entry for 31 August, Bennett notes ‘a most satisfactory season. Largest quantity ever made & the best’. On 17 October his sister Avice agreed to lend money from Jack’s endowment fund for the new house in the high field. In late October a new experimental barley scheme was agreed and Hunter’s salary was increased. B609/9/A/31 Diary, 1911. In late July Bennett toured barley plots in the east of England. There was much labour unrest in Midleton in late August and early September, including among JHB staff. On 17 September the family, including Bennett’s visiting sister Avice, took tea in the dining room of the new house, Bennett observing ‘it seems strange considering it hardly existed as a scheme a year ago’. On 18 October he agreed with the Department of Agriculture to continue his work on the experimental schemes for £150 per annum. On 25 October the Diocesan Synod passed an anti-Home Rule resolution ‘carried with one or two dissents’. At year’s end, Bennett notes the success of three projects: Ballinacurra malt store, DoA grain store, and the new house. B609/9/A/32 Diary, 1912. Bennett notes the commencement of the General Strike by coal miners in Britain on 1 March. On 7 March he was elected to the council of Cork Chamber of Commerce for the first time. On 15 and 16 April he notes the sinking of the Titanic, ‘this the greatest loss of life ever incurred by a single disaster’. On 31 May the family moved up to the new house. On 16 June some officers of the company moved into the old house, now renamed Oikoseen. In September and October there was much discussion and disagreement over barley prices in the Cork market. At Petty Sessions on 14 November, Bennett heard his first cases under the National Insurance Act. In his note at year’s end he states ‘the New House fulfils all out expectations’ and praises the work of his son in this regard, ‘whose help through all my affairs is now most material and indispensable’. B609/9/A/33 Diary, 1913. On 19 January Bennett resigned his place on the Diocesan Board of Education in favour of Sir W. Crooke Lawless so that Crowe property in Cloyne may be looked after. In March and April there was much discussion regarding the prospects for Midleton College in view of a new school in west Cork. Entries for late August make reference to strike and unrest in Dublin. In the entry for 25 October, Bennett describes himself as ‘very depressed and almost broke down’ over the shortage of barley to malt this season. Other maltsters come to his rescue with supplies of barley. On 22 November he purchased the yacht ‘Verve’. On 1 December he called an end to his efforts to raise pheasants at Ardavilling: ‘thus endeth this extravagant and disappointing attempt to rear pheasants for others’.

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