Drama in the Four Courts as an unfortunate moneylender only narrowly escapes an angry crowd, beautifully recounted by the Northern Constitution of 17 May 1879.

Thomas Joyce, through his vehicle, ‘The Accommodation Bank,’ had been lending money at 155% interest and then swiftly seizing the goods of defaulters, including a clergyman whose books and furniture had been appropriated from his rectory during a brief absence.

The Accommodation Bank continued to lend at exorbitant rates of interest until 1895, when the Court of Appeal in Ireland affirmed a decision of Monroe J in the High Court declaring that his mortgages should only stand for the principal debt plus 5% interest.

Joyce’s mother Mary Anne Russell had herself been a famous Dublin moneylender, whose descendants moved seamlessly between the Bar of Ireland, the racing world and London high society in a family saga worthy of Barbara Taylor Bradford. Read about them here.