Richard Dowden Papers Descriptive List

Governor of the Lunatic Asylum. He also served on the Cork Poor Relief Committee, which was established to provide relief during the famine, and on the Cork Anti-Slavery Committee. Dowden and his wife Mary (nee Clear) had one child, a daughter Susan, who inherited her father’s zeal for philanthropy and greatly assisted him in his efforts. Richard Dowden was an active member of the Royal Cork Institution, where he held the position of Librarian, and of the Cork Literary and Scientific Society, and he was involved in setting up the Mechanics Institute, the School of Design, and other institutions. A plaque erected in his memory by the latter in the Cork School of Art (now the Crawford Art Gallery ) reads: “ In memory of Richard Dowden (Rd.) sometime Mayor and Alderman of this City and for 26 years Censor of the Cork Literary and Scientific Society, the members of which desire to place on record their appreciation of his life-long zeal for the advancement of learning in this their own and in o ther kindred institutions.” Among the many other societies of which Dowden was a member were the Cork Cuvierian Society, the Celtic Society, the Zoological Society of Dublin and the Cork City and County Horticultural Society. A competent botanist, he lect ured extensively on the subject and his book “ Walks after Wild Flowers” or “The Botany of the Bohereens” was published in 1852. He died on 5 August 1861. Dowden’s daughter, Susan Allman , received a letter after his death describing hi m as a man whose ‘... heart embra ced the larger family of the whole human race’ (PR42/1/1). Archival History Donated to Archives via Cork County Library in 1973 by Mr. Alec Day. The Richard Dowden fonds was donated together with material, including essays and minute books, from the Cork Scientific and Literary Society of which Dowden was the Censor for many years, and a small number of records of the Royal Cork Institution probably held by Dowden in his position as Librarian, as well as a later artificial collection of material mainly relating to Dowden’s family following his death. The whole of the material donated by Mr. Day was originally identified as the ‘Day Papers’, however, this refers to the overall accession, and the Cork Literary and Scientific Society and the records of the Royal Cork Institution, and the later artificial collection, are each separate fonds and have been separately catalogued, although they share an association with Dowden, and form part of the original ‘Day Papers’ accession by Mr. Day.

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and Content Personal papers of Richard Dowden.

Notebooks and journals relating to his activities, positions, and interests, including; education, religion, education, science, literature, language, philosophy, geology, evolution, biology, Cork Corporation/Borough of Cork, botany, politics. (Section A)

Small number of essays, loose notes or lectures by Richard Dowden, such as religious constitutions of America, the death penalty and punishment, land ownership, botanical matters, biology, zoology,

U140 Richard Dowden Papers Descriptive List