The Midleton Local History Collection has been fully catalogued and is listed below.
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Midleton Local History Collection (BL/LH/M)
BL/LH/M/1/1 [1873-1913]
Hardback leather covered account book with broken clasp lock and five loose enclosures. The account or receipt styled book was retrospectively written mainly by Mrs Anne M. Ronayne, wife of the late Maurice Ronayne and her son Philip S. Ronayne. The account book has an alphabetical index at the front with entries for “Expenditure”, Receipts”, and “stock”. These entries record both the history of wine and spirit business founded by her husband Maurice and life events and family expenses of the Ronayne family. Most of the entries are made by Annie M. Ronayne and include some personal entries relating to family events including educational, expenses, health and illness, and life events including marriage and deaths associated with the Ronayne family.
Folio page 1 (1888-1892) records the education expenses of Mrs Annie M Ronayne and her husband Maurice for their three children. Details include entries for school fees for Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare and Ursuline convent school, Blackrock, Cork, travel and other related expenses. Folio page 2 has a personal and signed entry by Anne M. Ronayne recording the illness and death of her husband Maurice in 1895. Includes also a list of personal and family expenses made between 1892-1902.
Expenditures Folios 1876-1902 with heading “Expenditures include Rent, Rates, licenses, salaries of assistant and porter as well the house expenses” are recorded annually in pounds, shillings and pence. Includes also “explanatory notes” column for each year which highlights a particular expense relating to the family including life events and business expenses incurred for a particular year. Comments include “Nothing over the usual expenditure this year” (1879), “Jerome & Philip went to Clongowes this year & Helen to the Ursuline Convent” (1888), “Building coach house”, “Coffee roaster” (1892), “setting up his office” (Jerome, son of Annie and Maurice Ronayne as a Solicitor in Midleton, 1896).
The “Receipts” (folio page 33) opens with an entry by Annie Ronayne about the history of the opening date of the business by her husband, Maurice in 1862. Also notes that the “First book of Receipts” for the business being lost. Anne records a list and balance of “Cash Received” 1864-92 with 1862 & 1863 noted as “pages lost”.
The “Stock” entries include Balance sheets with detailed balances in pounds, shillings and pence for April 1873-April 1913. Entries from 1873 -1881 noted being copied from “old Stock Book”. The entries list the types of wine and spirit stocked such as “Garveys sherry in Bond” and “Brandy in wood or Bond”. References also to costs for horse, stock in shop and share amounts. Includes also balance sheets for “Whiskey in Bond” from 1873-1893. Almost all the annual balances are signed by Anne M Ronayne and her son Philip S. Ronayne from 1907. Anne refers to the death of “my dear Husband Maurice Ronayne” in February 1895 (folio page 60) and notes the change in stock balances in March 1895. Final entry by Anne Ronayne on folio page 69 noting her ageing years and retirement from the business and the transfer of the business to her son Philip S. Ronayne.
35ff
Enclosures within Account Book
BL/LH/M/1/2 [Dec. 1882]
Mss Covering letter from Margaret Ronayne to her brother, Maurice enclosing an illustrated card bearing the family crest and motto of the Ronayne family. She refers to the origins of the family with reference to the founder, “John de Ronayne” and his arrival in Cork. Closes letter wishing both Maurice and his family best wishes for the “New Year”.
Illustrated Heraldic style card produced by the Irish Engraver, Thomas Culleton, 25 Cranbourn Street, London of the Ronayne family crest in pen and ink. The card has mss notes on the reverse side. The illustration features a shield with a blackbird perched on a gold-colored barrel with tree roots beneath the barrel. Above the blackbird is leafy foliage and vines. The crest features a mermaid’s or woman’s head in affronté pose. The family motto “Hors-Non Mutat Genus” is inscribed in a reddish ribbonlike effect below the shield. The back of the card has mss notes on the cover illustration with heading “Ronayne Waterford & Cork” with descriptions of both the “Shield” and “Crest”. Also at the bottom end of the card is an ink stamp for “CULLETON; 25 Cranbourn Street, London.”
2 items
BL/LH/M/1/3 29 Dec 1895
Mss letter and envelope from Most Rev. Bishop Robert Browne, D.D. Bishop of Cloyne, Bishop’s House, Queenstown, to Rev. Willliam Hutch, P. P., Midleton mainly discussing his decision to allow Mrs Ronayne tobuild a temporary grave in the Old Church cemetery (Most Holy Rosary Cemetery, Midleton) for her deceased husband “I cannot bring myself to compel the good lady to exhume the remains”. Refers to his concerns about the near location of the Roynane grave to the old church and the future building plans for the site such as “a curates presbytery” after the opening of the new Catholic Church.
2 items
BL/LH/M/1/4 2 Jan. 1896
Cheque issued by the National Bank Limited, Midleton from Maurice Ronayne to the Very Reverend Canon William Hutch, P.P., Midleton for £20. Cheque signed by Revd. William Hutch on the reverse.
1 item
BL/LH/M/1/5 1 Feb. 1898
Invoice from J. J. Coffey, (Builder and Contractor), Church Street, Midleton, to Mrs M. Ronayne, Midleton for the amount of £110.00 for supplying and erecting a monument in the old Roman Catholic Churchyard, in Midleton.
1p
BL/LH/M/2 6 Aug 1906 – 29 June 1910
Worn leather styled account book for “T.S. & R. COPPINGER, MIDLETON” embossed on its cover, and the name of the account holder “Miss B. Donovan, Midleton”, which is handwritten on the cover. It records the details of a porter account of Miss Bridget O’Donovan with Coppingers and includes details of date, amount of porter bought and [barrels] of porter returned to Coppingers. The final entry is signed by “J.S. & R Coppinger with a red one penny stamp.
37ff
BL/LH/M/3 Feb. 1979
Ts note with the heading “FROM O’SHEA/DALY COLLECTION” by J. P. McCarthy, Assistant Librarian, Library, University College Cork explaining some biographical details of members of the Ronayne family of Midleton, and other local businesses mentioned in the collection.
1p
