Information Regarding William Egan & Sons of Cork

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A topic for recording information regarding William Egan & Sons of Cork.



William Egan & Sons Ltd. - Cork - Sales box detail

If you have any details of the above company, advertisements, examples of their work, markings, etc., anything that you are willing to share, then here's the place to post it.

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Wm. Egan & Sons, Limited - Cork - 1919

The above advertisement is not without note, for it illustrates perhaps the most important piece of silver ever to have made in Cork. The ceremonial mace for the newly created University College, Cork was commissioned by the President of the College, Sir Bertram Windle in 1910. In granting the commission to William Egan & Sons, Sir Bertram had a major stipulation, he insisted that the mace had to be made in Cork. As virtually no silver of any note had been produced at Cork since the later part of the first half of the nineteenth century, Barry Egan Snr. and Barry Egan Jnr., who were running William Egan & Sons at that time, had to recruit skilled silversmiths from Dublin to perform the task, they also took the opportunity to introduce an apprenticeship scheme enrolling boys from the North Monastery and ensuring that they also attended drawing classes in the Crawford School of Art. The mace was to prove to be the catalyst for the re-establishment of the craft of the silversmith in Cork, without it we would not see pieces such as the alter plate in the Honan Chapel that was made in the 1915-1916 period or that of the famed items from the 'Cork Republican Silver' period in 1922.

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An example of the work and mark of William Egan & Sons, a wafer-box, assayed at Dublin in 1940:




WE - Dublin - 1940

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WILLIAM EGAN AND SONS, Watchmakers, Diamond Merchants, and Ecclesiastical Furnishers, 32 & 33, Patrick Street, Cork.

One of the most attractive establishments in the leading business thoroughfare of Cork is that conducted by Egan and Sons, who carry on at the above address two separate and distinct businesses, each of which has secured for the firm an eminence not merely throughout Ireland but in all parts of the civilized world. The business is an old established one, having been in existence for more than a century, during which period it has passed from father to son, each succeeding possessor adding fresh renown to the already honourable traditions of the house. The premises occupied by Egan And Sons comprise two magnificent adjoining shops–the one, No. 32, being devoted to high-class art jewellery, gold and silversmith's work, and watchmaking; the other being occupied in connection with the hardly less artistic business of ecclesiastical furnishing, vestment manufacture, and embroideries, appointments, and sacred utensils of every description. The two shops have excellent frontages, the windows affording every accommodation for the display of the magnificent stocks. The shops are lighted by electricity from dynamo and storage battery power, supplied by a 6-horse power gas engine on their premises, which is also used for the silver-plating factory, where old articles are done up as new, such as cruets, teapots, etc., etc.; and bicycling and car irons are nickel-plated, and all kinds of Bizantine goods for altar and otherwise are lacquered. This is the only factory of its kind in the South of Ireland, and has only recently been added to their business. As evidence of the work turned out by the establishment, we may mention a silver model of the world-renowned Shandon Church made expressly for the Cork Exhibition, 1883, and exhibited at the New Orleans Exhibition, where it attracted universal attention. This church has been made famous by Father Prout's immortal poem– "Bells of Shandon, Loud, so grand on."

In the jewellery department the stock consists of ladies' and gentlemen's gold and silver watches of every description and an elegant assortment of gold and silver-plated goods, including a large variety of standard silver waiters, trays, fish and fruit knives and forks, cock-up spirit frames, revolving-cover dishes, carvers, saltcellars, cruets, entree dishes, etc., of the newest patterns, both plain and exquisitely chased, engraved, and embossed. There is also a splendid assortment of jewellery, comprising brooches, bracelets, chains, diamond crescents, and stars for the hair; dress and other rings composed of pearls, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, opals, and other gems. The stock of diamonds is especially extensive, and probably no house in Ireland at the present day will compare with this in the value and variety of these precious stones at all times kept on hand.

The interior of the establishment is fitted with appointments of a most superior description, and the goods are arranged for inspection with conspicuous taste and judgement. Articles specially suited for wedding, birthday, and complimentary gifts, as well as presentation and prize plate, form a very prominent and attractive feature of the stock, special attention being directed to this important branch of the business. The repairing department supplies one more significant detail, skilled and competent workmen being retained for the execution of repairs in watches, plate, and jewellery and the rearranging and re-mounting of gem ornaments of every description.

Turning next our attention to the adjoining premises, we find them spacious and commodious, extending a long way to rearward, and specially arranged as a showroom for ecclesiastical requirements. All the fittings and appointments of the place are of a superior and elegant character and display to great advantage the large and exquisitely beautiful stock embracing embroideries of every description for ecclesiastical purposes. Among the many artistic productions in ecclesiastical needlework turned out at this establishment may be mentioned embroidered altar-covers, stoles, bookmarkers, silk chalice veils, burses, tabernacle curtains, banners, copes, chasubles, surplices, albs, silk and other cinctures, birettas, dalmatics, etc., etc., while in the department of church and altar furniture will be found a most complete assortment of ciboriums, remonstrances, pyxes, lamps, candlesticks, cruets, missal stands, altar crosses, processional crosses, vases, gongs, statues, stations of the cross, oleographs, altar cards, fringes, registers, rosaries, medals, and a hundred other items appertaining to the business. Messrs. Egan And Sons have conferred a lasting service on the Roman Catholic Church by the invention of a new " safety custos," which quite supersedes the form of lunette generally used in the Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament. So easy is it with the "safety custos " to fix the Sacred Host in the Monstrance, and replace the Blessed Sacrament after Benediction, that a nervous or infirm priest could easily perform the act without risk of irreverence or accident.

The firm's connection extends over the whole of Ireland and the United States, a representative being constantly employed in the latter country. Altogether a very large business is done, and Messrs. Egan And Sons enjoy the support and patronage of a most influential connection among just that class who know how to properly estimate superior quality, artistic merit, and moderate price in a class of productions where there is but too much ground for believing that buyers are, by less scrupulous firms, sadly taken advantage of.

Source: Dublin, Cork, and South of Ireland: A Literary, Commercial, and Social Review - 1892

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William Egan - Cork - 1854

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The mark of William Egan & Sons as a retailer, noted on a item by John Smyth & Sons and assayed at Dublin in 1909:


EGAN - CORK - J·S - Dublin - 1909

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Egan & Sons - Cork - 1883

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The following particulars of an installation I have just put to work to light the shop and show room of Messrs. Wm. Egan & Sons, jewellers, of this city, may be of interest, as they more than bear out the statements of Mr. J. H. Greenhill in your two last issues as to the work to be got out of the ½ H.P. Crossley gas engine. The installation at present consists of 25 Swan lamps, 20 and 10 candle-power; 26 E.P.S. cells, 17 S type, one modified Gramme armature dynamo, which I have designed and built specially for this installation, and a ½ H.P. Otto gas engine as motor. On the first night that the engine and dynamo were run (the accumulators were not used) it was found easy to light to their full incandescence 11 Swan 20 CP. 52 volt lamps, and one 50 CP. 50 volt (this latter being a little overworked), or equal to 13.5 of the 20 CP. lamps. The consumption of gas was taken simultaneously, and was 54 feet per hour, from which it will be seen that Mr. Greenhill has rather under-stated the power to be obtained from an Otto ½ horse engine. The consumption of Cork gas is about 10 to 12 feet per hour more than of Belfast, but the light obtained is greater per unit of gas consumed by about 7 to 9 per cent. ; this result is doubtless due to the high resistance of the shunt wire used to excite the field magnets of the dynamo, which are of wrought iron with laminated pole-pieces, and to the low resistance of the armature, whereby a considerable economy in the production of the current might reasonably be expected. But as Mr. Greenhill's dynamos are of as high efficiency as any in the market, it is probable that the saving is effected as much as anything in the transmission of the power from the engine to the dynamo, a matter about which electricians, especially in small installations, seem to trouble themselves but little, though it would repay attention quite as well as the most painstaking study of the best proportions for the electrical and magnetic portions of the dynamo, as with the high efficiency already obtained, four or five per cent, is all that could be realised in this direction! scarcely more than the difference arising from the use of good or bad lubricants. As the installation has been so successful, Mr. Egan is about extending the use of the light throughout his workshops and dwelling house with Messrs. Woodhouse and Rawson's lamps, on the completion of which extension I will send particulars of interest.

G. Percival.
Per pro Arthur Percival,
Cork, January 18th, 1886.

Source: The Electrical Review - 22nd January 1886

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Wm. Egan & Sons Ltd. - Cork - 1920

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Silver-plated spoons by William Egan & Sons:






A1 - EGAN - CORK

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Regarding Barry M. Egan (Senior):

.....on 21 January 1916 Mr. Barry M. Egan, principal of the firm of William Egan & Sons, had passed away at his residence, Carrig House, Tivoli. Born in Cork 73 years ago, Mr. Egan came from a family that for generations had been connected with the trade and art of working with metals.

Source: Cork in 50 Buildings - Kieran McCarthy - 2018

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Wm. Egan & Sons Ltd. - Cork - 1922

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The mark of William Egan & Sons Ltd. applied to an item assayed at Dublin in 1971:


W·E - Dublin - 1971

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CORK SILVER

For several centuries the City of Cork was noted for the skill of its craftsmen in the manufacture of silver. In the Cork Records of the 15th and 16th centuries were found several references to goldsmiths, and there are a number of exquisite chalices and patens of this period preserved both in the City and County, testifying the unique skill of the goldsmiths and silversmiths of old Cork. This industry attained to considerable importance and prosperity in the 17th and 18th centuries, and several of the Master Wardens of the Goldsmith Guild were elected Mayors of Cork. After the Union it rapidly declined, and before 1850 the Guild had ceased to exist. The only piece of silver work between that date and 1910 that is known to have been made in Cork is a model of Shandon Church, made for the Exhibition of 1883 by the late Mr. Clare, foreman jeweller at Messrs. Wm. Egan and Sons, Cork. During this period Cork was entirely dependent on imported silver, and the old traditions, which had existed for so many generations, of pride of craftsmanship and excellence of workmanship, disappeared absolutely. Of the score or more of busy workshops, humming with industry, ringing to the sound of many hammers, cheery with the sound of workmen's songs, not a vestige remained.

In 1910 the late Mr. Barry Egan, head of Messrs. W'm. Egan & Sons, Ltd., who had been contemplating the revival of the Industry for some time, had a conversation with Sir Bertram Windle, President of University College, Cork, who wanted a silver mace for the College, to be made if possible in Cork. A start was made, and premises which would admit of considerable development were taken. Workmen were brought from Dublin and the necessary machinery installed. The mace in solid silver, jewelled and enamelled with the arms of the chief towns of the Counties assigned by the Act to the College, was made in the various workshops belonging to Messrs. Egan. Very soon the fact that the firm were making their own silver ware began to spread abroad. In 1911 the Coronation Cup in solid silver, presented by His Majesty King George V. to the Cork City Regatta Committee, was made in these workshops, and many important orders for presentations, household silver, church plate, etc., came from various parts of the country.

In carrying on their work Messrs. Egan at once saw that their chance of permanent success lay in the production of articles which would compare for excellence with the old Cork Silver which to-day, having outlasted the ravages of time and use, is so valuable. They realised from the beginning that it would be impossible to compete with the cheap work turned out by machinery in immense quantities in English factories. They, therefore, bent their energies to the production of articles hammered out by hand, perfect in form and ornament, and of a standard that would compare favourably with the best of the antique work. Silver manufactured in this way, hardened and tempered under the hammer—as it was made one or two centuries and more ago—resists the effects of time and use, while the machine made silver finishes in a soft state, and after some years breaks down and is fit only for the melting pot. We have never lost the craft of the hammersman—the silversmith proper—in Ireland; in England and elsewhere machinery has driven him out. An English trade journal on this subject some years ago said, probably the only silver made to-day that will be fit for use in 40 years' time is the Irish hand made work ; all the rest w ill have broken down and vanished into the melting pot. Ireland, it said, is the last home of the silversmith proper. Messrs. Egan have steadily developed their work, and not only are they manufacturing all classes of household ware, cups, shields, church plate, and reproductions of old Irish silver, but they are extensively engaged in the making of ecclesiastical metal work, and the renewing, relacquering and replating of old work of every description. The founder of the firm, Mr. W'm. Egan, employed one of the last of the old Cork silversmiths ; the present generation of the firm is building up a new school of craftsmen who will bridge the past, and hand on to future generations of craftsmen the traditions of an industry that once was a source of fame and pride to the City of Cork.

CHURCH EMBROIDERIES, VESTMENTS, &c.

The firm of Messrs. Egan & Sons, Cork, has been engaged in the embroidering and manufacturing of church vestments and altar requisites for a considerable period. Until some years ago this industry was on a small scale, giving employment only to a few makers and embroiderers. Then one of the members of the firm, just returned after several years' experience of the industry on the Continent, realised the possibilities here, and at once took steps to develop the industry in Cork. An important order was obtained from the Right Rev. Monsignor Arthur Ryan of Tipperary for a set of vestments in Celtic hand embroidery on cloth of gold. This order was executed so successfully that many others quickly followed, the firm being able to increase its staff as required from the students of the School of Art. In 1914 the most remarkable set of vestments the firm ever undertook to make was commenced, and for over two years nearly thirty expert needlewomen were busily engaged in producing a series of embroideries that are perhaps unequalled in these islands. These vestments are now in use at the Collegiate Chapel of the Honan Hostel, Cork. It is to the enthusiasm and the goodwill of Sir John R. O'Connell, M.A., LL.D., Dublin, for Irish art and craftmanship that the creation of these vestments is due. They are an expression of Celtic art in needlework that is unique. Beauty of form, wealth of detail, gorgeousness of colour, and solidity of work are all seen in these vestments, and will serve as models of Irish ecclesiastical artwork for many generations. Two of these vestments shown at the recent exhibitions of Arts and Crafts in Dublin, in Belfast, and in Cork were much admired.

As well as these articles of artistic craftmanship, this firm has been paying attention to the more usual requirements of this branch of its work. The ordinary vestments used in the Church are embroidered chiefly bv machinery, and all this was of course done on the Continent. Some years ago, after a variety of experiments, Messrs. Egan & Sons installed their first machine, driven by a small motor, and this proved so successful that they quickly put in several more. For several years before the war important orders were executed, not merely for all parts of Ireland and Great Britain, but also for America and Canada. The result was that when war broke out, and imports from France were becoming scarce and more difficult to obtain, the firm were fully equipped for supplying all requirements. Their machines are working fully loaded all the working hours of the week, and they look forward to very important developments after the war. They were the first house in the United Kingdom to install and work these machine embroideries for cheap vestments, and their efforts have been attended with most successful results. These embroideries on Irish poplin, turned into finished vestments in their own workrooms, enable Messrs. Egan and Sons to compete on equal terms with any part of Europe for the ordinary requirements of the Church.

Besides vestments this Cork firm are makers on a large scale of all manner of Church fittings and embroideries, such as lace albs, surplices, oak altars, pulpits, brass candelabra, gongs, thuribles, sanctuary lamps, medals in gold and silver, which they supply in large quantities to all parts of the Kingdom. The development of the department of Applied Art of the Municipal School of Art has given a great stimulus to enamelling, metal working, wood carving, and lace making. Twenty years ago the majority of the medals, Celtic crosses, brooches, badges, clasps, etc., sold in Cork, bore a foreign hall-mark; today ninety per cent, are designed and manufactured in Cork.

Source: Cork, its trade & commerce : official handbook of the Cork Incorporated Chamber of Commerce & Shipping - Cork Incorporated Chamber of Shipping and Commerce - 1919

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Wm. Egan & Sons Ltd. - Cork - Undated

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Silver-plated forks by William Egan & Sons:






A1 - EGAN - CORK

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DONNELLY V. EGAN & SON, LIMITED

Before the Vice-Chancellor at Dublin last week, Dr. Donnelly, of 14, Rutland Square, Cork, sought an injunction to restrain defendants, who are jewellers, carrying on business at 32, Patrick Street, Cork, and their servants from keeping, working, or using a large dynamo, gas engine, and electric plant and machinery, on certain premises in Elbow Lane, Cork, at the rear of the defendants establishment to the injury of the plaintiff's adjoining premises. Mr Ignatius J. O'Brian, with whom was Mr Stephen Rowan, Q.C. (instructed by Messrs. John L. Scallan and Son), moved on behalf of the plaintiff for an ad interim injunction to prohibit the use of the machinery pending the hearing of this action, relying on an affidavit of plaintiff stating the injury the vibration of the machinery was causing plaintiff's premises, and that defendants had specially covenanted by the lease under which they held the premises in Elbow Lane not to use machinery therein to the annoyance of their neighbours. Mr George Wright, Q.C., on behalf of the defendants, stated that he could not resist the motion, but it should be limited to the large engine and machinery recently placed on the premises, and the action not be further proceeded with. Mr O'Brian consenting, the Vice-Chancellor made an order accordingly, and directed defendants to pay all plaintiff's costs to date.

Source: The Electrical Review - 22nd July 1898

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Wm. Egan & Sons Ltd. - Cork - 1928

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The mark of William Egan & Sons Ltd. applied to an item assayed at Dublin in 1966:


W·E - Dublin - 1966

The additional mark on the far right is 'The Sword of Light' mark, struck to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter uprising.

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Cork Republican Silver

The period before and after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in London on the 6th December 1921, which was to create the Irish Free State, was a time of great disturbance in Cork.

Cork was a fiercely Republican city and fierce anti-treaty resentment was inherent throughout the area. This resentment had propagated itself into the establishment of anti-treaty, militant groups, formed for the sole purpose of disrupting British governance. Following a series of attacks on the police and other officials by these anti-treaty groups the British government was forced into taking firm action in order to prevent further violence. Part of this response was the ill-fated decision to send in the infamous ‘Black and Tans’, a paramilitary police force renowned for their aggressive nature, to back up the local Royal Irish Constabulary. The situation of course was made far worse and anti-British resentment grew into hatred. What followed was a series of tit-for-tat atrocities that cumulated in the sacking of Cork on the night of the 11th December 1920. In this incident the ‘Black and Tans’ went on a rampage and set fire to Cork city centre, destroying over three hundred properties.

One of the properties to catch fire that night was the only real working silversmith in Cork, William Egan & Son, based in Patrick Street. Egan’s was under the management of Barry Egan, the grandson of the founder and described by one writer as ‘an energetic man, with literary, philanthropic and political interests and with a record of concern for his employees’. Barry Egan fought in vain that night to save his business. Fortunately he was able to recover all the records of William Egan & Sons from the huge safe at the premises when it had cooled down the following day. It says much of Barry Egan’s spirit, that in little more than a week he was back trading again.

Another business that was probably damaged that night was the jeweller, clock and watchmakers James Mangan, who was just a few doors down from Egan’s.

Mangan’s and Egan’s can both be traced back to the early years of the nineteenth century, both resumed trading again from the same properties. Egan’s was rebuilt in 1925 with a splendid Celtic revival shop front and landmark clock, but sadly both firms closed their doors for good within three years of each other with Egan’s closing in 1986 and Mangan’s in 1989.

Following the fire however was perhaps one of the most interesting periods in Cork’s silversmithing history. From July to September 1922 Cork was a closed city occupied by anti-treaty forces following the withdrawal of British troops in June of that year. All road and rail links to the city were cut off and as a result Egan’s was unable to send their output to Dublin for assay and hallmarking.

The silver created in the period is known as Cork Republican Silver, it is thought that Egan’s produced some sixty to eighty pieces. All were marked with the maker’s mark ‘WE’ in Celtic style script and the original marks of Cork: a two-masted ship with a single-towered castle on either side of it.

Jackson’s has just the briefest of mentions regarding these marks, stating that these pieces are illegal and would be destroyed by the Dublin Assay Office unless their marks were also present.

After the hostilities had finished, Barry Egan destroyed the punches that were used on the Republican Silver.

Today these pieces are, not surprisingly, very keenly sought after, and there was a display in 2005 of 250 pieces of Cork silver through the ages, including some of the Republican Silver pieces at the Crawford Municipal Gallery in Cork that attracted 50,000 visitors.

Although Egan’s is no longer in existence, the spirit of the firm survives; after the closure of the business in 1986 the tools and equipment were purchased by Sean Carroll & Sons run by Chris Carroll whose father and brother worked at Egan’s, working alongside Chris Carroll are Jimmy Callanan and Eileen Moylan and the tradition of silversmithing in Cork continues.

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