Duthie Larges and Jack Murphy

The urban streetscape of the town of Athy is ever changing. I was reminded of this recently when I came across some ephemeral items which related to Duthie Large & Co. Ltd. They were issued by the company in the early 1900s to promote its business. Shown here are two of these attractive pieces, probably issued at the height of the Edwardian period. The plain undecorated reverse sides are for use as ink blotters. For those of a younger ‘ink blotters’ may be a bit of a mystery. Blotting paper is a thick paper especially made to absorb excess ink when writing with a fountain pen. For my generation the ink pot was accompanied by a fountain pen and a blotter was always close at hand. I am often struck, when receiving correspondence from my peers, of the quality of the penmanship from people who are now well into their eighties. The ‘blotter’ would have been handed out free to customers of the business, and presumably the company ordered these ink blotters in bulk. The blotters were printed in New York and the two examples illustrated here are under the titles ‘When the Airship Flies’ and ‘When the polite man gives up his seat’. Duthie Larges had an extensive premises fronting onto Leinster Street, as well as commodious buildings extending back up Chapel Lane. An early article published in the Nationalist just before Christmas 1900 described Christmas shopping in Athy, writing of the company as doing ‘a big business in the foundry and ironworks trade’, they have in stock a great variety of every class of agricultural implements. They also have on hand all classes of machinery and agricultural implements which would well repay inspection by the farming community’. I was fortunate in the early years of the ‘Eye on the Past’ to interview Jack Murphy of Convent View, Athy who spent much of his working life in Duthie Larges. When I interviewed Jack, almost 30 years ago, he was already in his 10th decade. Jack first started working for Duthie Larges as a bicycle mechanic in or about 1919. After a while he moved to work with Jackson Brothers when they started their garage and bicycle business on Leinster Street. He lost a finger as a result of an accident at work and to add insult to injury it also cost him his job, resulting in his ultimate return to Duthie Larges. In the 1920s and onwards Duthie Larges was an important employer in South Kildare at a time when the only alternative to such employment was in brick yards or Minch Nortons. The busy workshops turned out machinery and farm equipment while the supply and repair of bicycles was an activity as busy, even if not as lucrative as the modern-day sale and repair of motor vehicles. A moulding department, carpentry shop, garage and bicycle shops were some of the main departments to be found in Duthie Larges in those days. Skills abounded with bicycle mechanics, garage mechanics, blacksmiths and pattern moulders working side by side in the huge Duthie Large complex. Prior to the coming to Athy of the Asbestos Factory in 1936 Duthie Larges was the largest employer in the Athy area. Perhaps a lesser-known fact of the history of the firm is that Duthie Larges cast in iron the Garda Station plaques which were placed above the entrance doors of each new Garda Station after 1922. The plaque, derived from the cap badge of the Garda Siochana, was designed by John Francis Maxwell, an art teacher in the Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire Technical School, while Herbert Painting, the assistant principal of Athy Technical School and a teacher of art, made the mould from which the castings were made. By the time Jack left his work bench, retiring in 1979, neither the Large nor Duthie families were still involved in the business, even though the name remained a landmark on the commercial scene of Athy until its closure in the early 1980s The next time you see a vintage tractor, or a piece of antique farming equipment, cast a quick look and you might be rewarded with the sight of an old Duthie Large badge proudly displayed.

Jack Murphy

He must surely be one of the front runners for the unique claim of oldest man in Athy. I realise that is a dangerous suggestion to make particularly given the proximity of St. Vincent's Hospital but I do believe the honour belongs to Jack Murphy. Recently I had the privilege of meeting and talking with Jack, now well ensconced in his 10th decade and still happily married after 62 years. His wife Margaret, originally from Crookstown, has been a particularly kind friend of the local Museum Society and some years ago donated to the Museum original documents relating to her late father Andrew Delaney who died in the First World War.

Jack and Margaret married in 1933, a year after the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. At that time Jack worked for Duthie Larges in Leinster Street where he had started as a bicycle mechanic in or about 1919. He worked alongside Paddy Mullery for eight and a half years before moving to Jackson Brothers when they started their garage and bicycle business in Leinster Street. He lost a finger as a result of an accident at work and to add insult to injury it also cost him his job. A move back to Duthie Larges saw him working alongside Joe Brophy, Dinny Bergin, Jim Eaton and Jim Kenny who is retired and living in McDonnell Drive.

In the 1920's and onwards the firm of Duthie Larges was an important employer in South Kildare at a time when the only alternative industrial employment was in the brick yards or Minch Nortons. Their busy workshops turned out machinery and farm equipment while the supply and repair of bicycles was an activity as busy even if not as lucrative as the modern day sale and repair of motor cars. A moulding department, carpentry shop, garage and bicycle shop were some of the main departments to be found in Duthie Larges in those days. Skills abounded with bicycle mechanics, garage mechanics, blacksmiths and pattern moulders working side by side in the huge Duthie Large complex.

It is difficult to imagine nowadays but petrol pumps were once sited on the footpaths of the main streets of the town in Duke Street and in Leinster Street. Duthie Larges and Jacksons had petrol pumps in Leinster Street as had Tommy Stynes while Maxwell had petrol pumps in Duke Street, opposite the old Garda Barracks. No need in those leisurely days for pedestrian crossings!

Jack remembers attending the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin with his good friend Paddy Kelly and he proudly wears a souvenir badge of that Eucharist. Coincidentally he lives in Convent View where the houses have on their facades a crest reminiscent, if not an actual replica, of the 1932 Congress medal. Sitting in the living room of his house in Convent View he recalls with remarkable clarity his young days when he lived with his parents in a small house, one of three at the end of the present Plewman's Terrace.

Jack's parents moved from the Kilkenny Road, or Blackparks as it was called, to Mount Hawkins then a wonderland of small laneways and alleys with names now forgotten - New Row, Kelly's Lane, Carrs Court and Porters Row.

Jack's grandfather Pat Dempsey lived in Chapel Hill and was gardener to the Sisters of Mercy. He still vividly remembers the day his Grandfather died in the Convent garden while in the company of his then 8 year old grandson. 84 years later the sadness and pain of that day still grips Jack as he recalls how he watched his grandfather die.

He moved to Chapel Hill into his late grandfather's house with his parents and brothers Paddy and Andy around 1912. Paddy and Andy were later to become hackney men having gained experience with a namesake but no relation Dick Murphy who had a hackney business at William Street. Paddy was to set up his own hackney business at Offaly Street along side Dowlings pub, later Kehoes and now McHughs before emigrating to England.

Jack never left Athy spending a lifetime in Duthie Larges from where he retired in 1979. By the time Jack left his workbench neither a Large nor a Duthie were involved in the business, even though the name has remained a familiar one in the commercial life of Athy.