T.J. Clanchy Descriptive List (Ref. PR11)

PR11/

While the collection contains some record of Clanchy’s business, as well as his public and charitable work, it is the small volume of political correspondence, relating to the Irish Parliamentary Party in the 1890s, which is of most interest. The Irish Party in these years was riven by dissension. The split into Parnellite and Anti-Parnellite factions in 1891-92 was traumatic, creating a long-lasting division and ongoing bitterness. While the Anti-Parnellite group became the dominant one and retained the name of the Irish Party, factions continued to jostle for control of the party and its organisational machinery. Party debts and funds, including the ‘Paris Fund’ set up to assist evicted tenants, also became sources of dispute, as a letter to Clanchy from WJ Lane, the prominent Cork merchant, reveals (PR11/43). The letters in the present collection shed light on a difficult Party Committee election in 1895 (PR11/45-47). They also include correspondence between Clanchy and Justin McCarthy, chairman of the Irish Party (PR11/42, 43). While he declined the invitation to run for parliament himself, Clanchy was clearly a loyal Party man, providing advice and financial assistance. Also present is a letter from TA O’Callaghan, Catholic bishop of Cork, regarding an election, hinting at the close involvement of the Catholic hierarchy in nationalist politics (PR11/44) 2 . Taken altogether, this small but interesting collection provides an insight into the social and political milieu of a Cork upper middle class family around the turn of twentieth century, as well as lovingly documenting its domestic life. System of Arrangement:

SECTION A: Family and Private Papers 1. Legal Documents 2. Family and Private Correspondence 3.

Family Tree, Reminiscences, and Memorabilia

4. 5.

Family Photographs

Poems and Drawings SECTION B: Business, Public, and Political Papers 1. Business Papers 2. Public and Charitable Papers 3. Political Correspondence SECTION C: Newspaper Cuttings on the Death of TJ Clanchy Conditions of Access and Use : Open by appointment to those holding a current readers ticket. Archivists Note: Timmy O Connor Temporary Archivist, CCCA May 2005

2 On the Party in this period, see FSL Lyons, The Irish Parliamentary Party, 1890-1910 , London, 1951. On the ‘Paris Funds’, see p23 and p28n. On Healy’s People’s Rights Association, see p63n.