A history of a local family that’s a real page-turner

Photo: David Egan pictured at his home in Cornamaddy with the newly published book 'The Egans of Moate and Tullamore: Business and Politics'.

Never once did David Egan in Cornamaddy believe he would ever be a published author but on a warm Wednesday, he is proudly holding the very first copy, hot off the presses of 'The Egans of Moate and Tullamore: Business and Politics'.

“Never in my wildest dreams. It wasn't on my bucket list,” he smiles, looking proudly at the 300-page hardback publication which he describes in his introduction as “a smorgasbord” of the family tree from 1760 to the 1960s. While that's a most appropriate description on one level, this is no mere family history either, it's much more than that. Such is the breadth of influence the Egans had in terms of land, law, politics, the beer and whiskey business, and much more, their story can stand up almost as a mirror of the social history of Ireland during a tumultuous period.

Then you throw in prominent figures like the Handcock Temples, Daniel O'Connell, William Keogh M.P., Charles Stewart Parnell, Dame Nellie Melba, the Aspreys, to name just a few, and you realise this is no ordinary family and no ordinary tale, and this article can only touch on the huge variety of interesting stories within this glossy publication.

David describes the book, which was over five years in the making, as a joint venture with his cousin Maurice, who is based in Johannesburg in South Africa, and David is happy enough to describe himself as the “junior partner” in this fascinating family history. Both are originally from Tullamore.

So where do you start on this journey? Well, David says there was always “family lore and stories” and he set out to find if there was any truth in them, and it all progressed from there. The first question had to be where did the Egans come from?

“I got back to 1740 and the story brought us to Westmeath and to Moate and that's when my interest really piqued given I live here. I thought it would pass a winter or two,” he jokes, and it did quite a bit more than that.

In this type of investigation, David says you need “time, patience, and a bit of luck” and he got that in an isolated graveyard.

“There, in the abandoned churchyard at Kilcumreragh, chiselled in limestone was the proof we needed: 'James Egan of Toarphalem Esq who departed life March 4th 1811,” he says in book's introduction of the first big breakthrough of finding his great-great-great grandfather's grave in Rosemount.

“That was exciting we had established the earliest link,” David, a lifelong disability advocate since an accident left him paralysed in 1984, and a former Director of CIE and Chairperson of Dublin Bus, explains from his home last week.

He later discovered that his ancestor was a major landholder in Mount Temple, Doonis, and Rosemount among others, and a hearth collector sometime after 1793 in an era when fireplaces were taxed. His post covered the baronies of Clonlonan, Kilkenny West, and Moycashel.

This was an influential position for a Catholic, and he believes through being “astute and agile” and being aligned initially with the Temples, and later O'Connell, that the Egan family managed to become very prominent in a lot of areas of life in the post-Penal laws pre-Famine era.

“It's both painstaking but also exciting. You enjoy the chase, you get a lead and then you're trying to put it into context,” he says of the research, noting that the actual facts he found were much more interesting than the family tales they were told in years gone by.

One of the most interesting stories he discovered was that solicitor Patrick Egan, son of James, made a speech welcoming Daniel O'Connell to Moate for the opening of the National Bank in 1834. Highly political he was also name-checked in the House of Commons by the 'Liberator' arising out of a massacre some years previously in Castlepollard amid claims of a neglect of duty by Judge Baron Smith, which saw all but one accused acquitted. O'Connell wanted the judge to be brought before a parliamentary inquiry.

“O'Connell stood up in and said he had a letter in his pocket from Patrick Egan verifying (the judge's wrongdoing)..He (Patrick) was later vilified for four years by the conservative Standard newspaper,” David says, whether Daniel O'Connell had a letter or not is disputed but one way or the other, Egan was dragged into a major controversy.

He was later appointed a Sessional Crown Solicitor for Westmeath, a position he held for 30 years, and David believes this came about from the influence of O'Connell.

Another incident that the Athlone resident found fascinating was one which brought Patrick Egan into the national spotlight as an election agent opposing the infamous opportunist William Keogh M.P. in 1847, later ending up in a major court case.

He also established a family business in Moate – P. Egan & Son – a general hardware, farmer supplies, provisions shop, bakery with a spirit licence, possibly in the 1830s, which was latterly run by Luke Egan.

Post-Famine Patrick Egan purchased the Bridge House property in Tullamore in 1852 to set up his sons Patrick and Henry in business as P. Egan & Sons Ltd, the forerunner of P&H Egan Ltd. From there, the story moves to Offaly, and from provisions into brewing and significant success in business and politics.

“They were brewers brewing four ales and two stouts. They were also major malters providing malt for Guinness, Mountjoy Brewery, Power's Whiskey. They also had a big hardware/builders providers and general merchants,” he says, adding that they also had a barge to bring the malts to Dublin and they, in turn, brought back drinks like Guinness and Jameson and bottled it under the family name.

In the foreword, historian Michael Byrne described P.H. Egan Ltd in Tullamore as having made an “outstanding contribution to the economic, social, and political wellbeing of Tullamore and the Midlands region from its founding in 1852 right up to the 1960s.” The brothers built a thriving business employing 300 people in a variety of enterprises from agribusiness, sawmills, brewing, malting, general provisions, hardware, hotels, mineral waters, whiskey bonders, wholesale bottlers, undertakers – quite literally from the cradle to the grave.

“The way it is written is an essay style so you can dip into a particular chapter and then come back to it. It makes it more accessible. It's not a big political or history tome,” David modestly points out, saying it deals more with social history, business and politics. There are some intriguing chapters including 'The Tullamore Tweed incident' detailing Henry Egan, a Land Leaguer's visits to Tullamore gaol, and his part in bringing about government change.

Another chapter deals with John Egan, who founded Kilbeggan Brewery, while another centres on the adventures of Dorothy Egan in Argentina in the early 1920s. Every family history has a row, and this one is no different except it ended up in the High Court. Another interesting find was the fact that two Egan brothers fought in the Battle of Messines in World War I quite unaware that the other was there, one being part of Anzacs force from New Zealand.

While David says his cousin was driving force in relation to getting the research published (he, himself, was just doing it as a family history project) now that's it's complete he is delighted with how the book has turned out. There is great interest among the extended family who have ended up in places like Argentina, America, South Africa, the UK, and of course, here in Ireland.

“At least now it's down (on paper) for posterity and if the next generation wants to take it further, they can. It's so important for all family histories to get it down,” he says, thanking his wife Antoinette for her great support as he disappeared down to the bottom room evening after evening, his cousin Maurice for his big part in the collaboration (David doing the Westmeath side and Maurice the Offaly side), Gearoid O'Brien, Martina Griffin, and the library service which was “hidden gem” of sources and help. By all accounts it has been worth it, each chapter could be an article in this newspaper by itself such was the family's regional, national and international impact.

'The Egans of Moate and Tullamore: Business and Politics' is available from Offaly History Centre, Tullamore via offalyhistory.com priced €24.99 plus postage.