Grehan Estate Papers, Special Collections, Boole Library, UCC

 

Projects:  The development of a Catholic middle class in post-penal Ireland, exemplified by the Grehan family and their network. In addition, the papers of Maj. Stephen A. Grehan suggests a study of personal and family involvement in the First World War.

The Archive:  The indication BL/EP/G designates the estate papers generated by the Grehan family of Clonmeen, Banteer Co. Cork. They were deposited in the Boole Library, University College Cork in 1983 by Mr. Peter A. Grehan.

The Grehans family, originally prosperous Dublin wine merchants, first acquired land in Cork through a legacy of the lands of Clonmeen left by one John Roche about 1830    ( see BL/EP/G/101 ff.). Stephen Grehan ([1776] - 1871), the main beneficiary of Roche’s will, then set about acquiring more land in the area and also in County Tipperary. This work was carried on by Stephen’s son George ([1813] -1885) who in about 1860 moved from his Dublin home 19 Rutland Square, to take up permanent residence at Clonmeen, where his son Stephen (1859 - 1937) was raised.

After the sale of Clonmeen estate, the surviving records which form the Grehan Estate Collection today were removed by Mr. Peter A. Grehan to his residence in Co. Kerry after a short period of storage at Inch, Co. Tipperary. It was from Kerry that they were later transferred to the Boole Library. An initial boxing and cleaning of the material was then carried out by Library staff who took care to ensure that any original order still apparent in the records was preserved.

The bulk of the nineteenth century material in the collection was generated by Major Stephen (Stevie) A. Grehan (1895 - 1972). Major Grehan went directly from school in England to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and signed up as a cadet just at the outset of World War I. A diligent letter writer over 200 of his letters home written while on active service in Europe, Salonica and Mesopotamia (1914-1922) are contained within the collection. These together, with his diaries, evoke the world of a British Army officer, proud to be part of the British Empire. Contemporary attitudes towards current affairs and international events are all reflected in the letters and diaries

 

http://booleweb.ucc.ie/index.php?pageID=278