Sharing the history of the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland
From the Freeman’s Journal, 19 June 1871:
“TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMAN
DEAR SIR – [D]uring the discussion before of the House of Commons of the Alliance Gas Bill, your reporter… has omitted both the names of Mr O’Hara and myself from the list of counsel retained against the bill. And further, in the report of the Tramways Bill on Friday, my name was also omitted, although I cross-examined and examined several witnesses on behalf of the prosecutors of
From the Belfast News-Letter, 14 March 1884:
“Miss Lillie Tyndall, a young lady of prepossessing appearance, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer outside Arklow [was] charged with having thrown a bottle of… vitriol into the face of [Mr John Kelly Toomey, a well-known solicitor].
[Information sworn by Mr Toomey, from hospital] Lillie Tyndall came to my office… asked me to write a letter that I had no intimacy with her beyond a business acquaintance… to get paper I turned
From the Belfast News-Letter, 21 July 1898:
“Kingstown regatta opened today in ideal weather – bright sunshine and a fair sailing breeze… Sympathy was felt for Mr Justice Boyd, whose fine yacht, Thalia, was competing, while he himself, anxious to be on board, had to sit administering justice in the Four Courts… between four executive creditors and a claimant as to the title of certain goods seized.”
Yachting, a very popular summer pastime for the Irish Bar, often
From the Dublin Morning Register, 20 December 1836:
“Garret Moran and James Doolin, two nice-looking young lads, were next brought up, charged with drunkenness and disturbing the peace.
The watchman stated that he found them fighting in the yard of the Four Courts.
Moran declared that he had a situation there, and could go in and out when he liked; that when he was going in on Saturday night he met Doolin in the yard talking to some women and that without saying more he knocked him down.
The
The Christmas of 1893 was a very sad one for the Law Library. It started in early December when no less than nine members of the Bar went down with typhoid. This was quickly followed by the news that one of the afflicted, Martin Burke QC, had lost his battle with the disease and passed on at his residence in Baggot Street.
The tragic death of this very young and popular silk of exceptional musical talent resulted in a belated realisation that the then Law Library premises – a
From the Freeman, 7 November 1831:
“Dinner to Stephen Woulfe, Esquire, Assistant Barrister:
The solicitors practising in this district invited our learned and impartial Assistant Barrister to a sumptuous dinner at Kilroys on Saturday last. Every luxury of the season was served up in the best style, and the wines, which were of the choicest description, circulated in plentiful profusion. Our worthy Mayor, Edmond Blake Esq, Mr JJ Bodkin, MP and Counsellors John Blake, Henry Baldwin and
From the Irish Times, 17 January 1860:
“COURT OF COMMON PLEAS – YESTERDAY – THE HOT WATER PIPES
Previous to the commencement of the business of the court, Mr Serjeant Fitzgibbon complained of the constant steam that was coming up from the pipes underneath the table close to which the gentlemen of the inner bar were obliged to stand. He declared it was equal to a warm bath, and was likely to be attended
From the Freeman’s Journal, 2 December 1904:
“FOUR COURTS GARDENS: Sir – Having had occasion to visit the Four Courts I sauntered round the new buildings, and as I reached the rere opposite to the police offices I was forcibly struck with the neglect and apathy of the surroundings. Here there is a considerable extent of high, uncut, tufted grass, over which is scattered dirty papers etc. If these grass plots were, as they ought to be, kept as similar plots surrounding the
From the Freeman’s Journal, 7 March 1900, and the Islington Gazette, 5 March 1900:
“At the Clerkenwell County Court, Mrs Dorcas Poyntz sued Miss Rosita Tennyson, an actress, for £25.12s, the value of goods formerly belonging to her daughter, Evaline Poyntz, who had been visiting Miss Tennyson at the date of her death, and which Miss Tennyson had handed over to Mr Eustace Johnstone, a member of the Irish Bar resident in Dublin, where he principally practised.
Mr Johnstone said he
From the Freeman’s Journal, 21 December 1867:
“Great excitement was occasioned yesterday by the announcement that the north-eastern wing of the Four Courts was on fire, and that a large quantity of valuable documents had been consumed.
At twenty-five minutes past seven o’clock, Mr James Reid and Mr Matthew Kennedy, and Police Constable 20D, observed smoke breaking from the building at the north angle, near the recently erected Bankruptcy Court. They proceeded at once to
