In my last post on the Fox Family, I recounted how Granna's maternal Grandmother Mary Anne Fox from 45 Ballybough Road married Laurence Gunning in 1882.
I would now like to tell you about Laurence's side of the family; the Gunnings (or, as you will see further down, the Goonan's.) As my research is ongoing, I have divided the ancestor profile on the Gunning Family into two parts. This, part one, will begin to tell the story of Laurence's father Arthur's family origins (this will be further developed in part two), Laurence's early life with his parents and siblings, his own family with wife Mary Anne, and the successful silver business he created which enabled his family to start a new life outside of the inner city and resulted in one of his pieces being on permanent display in the National Museum of Art and Decorative History, Collins Barracks.
Laurence Gunning. Any ideas which beach this is?
Laurence was the son of Arthur Gunning (b. circa 1828) and Teresa Branigan (b. 1824). The spelling of Teresa's surname varies from record to record; in some instances it is listed as Brannigan, Brangan and even Brennan. The couple married in St. Paul's Church, Arran Quay, Dublin 7, on the 16th November 1845. Arthur and Teresa were 18 and 22 years old respectively when they married.
A statue of the third Marquis of Downshire Arthur Hill in Hillsborough, Co. Down.
An example of a West and Sons hallmark from the period Arthur worked there.
Family Origins
Laurence was the son of Arthur Gunning (b. circa 1828) and Teresa Branigan (b. 1824). The spelling of Teresa's surname varies from record to record; in some instances it is listed as Brannigan, Brangan and even Brennan. The couple married in St. Paul's Church, Arran Quay, Dublin 7, on the 16th November 1845. Arthur and Teresa were 18 and 22 years old respectively when they married.
Laurence was born in Dublin in 1854 and was christened in St. Paul's Church, Arran Quay, on the 11th September of that year. His mother Teresa came from the area and was also christened in this church (I hope to tell you more about her side of the family in a future post). Laurence was named after Teresa's father, who shared the same first name.
Laurence was a middle child and had nine siblings; Mathew (born 1846), William (born 1847), Anne (born 1848), Bridget (born 1850), Teresa (born 1857), Peter Edward (born 1859), Ellen Mary (born 1861), Arthur Patrick (born 1862) and John Augustine (born 1866).
The question of where Laurence's father Arthur Gunning originated from has been an intriguing one. Unlike his wife Teresa, whose parents and grandparents hailed from Dublin 7, there were no clues as to Arthur's parentage or origins to be found in any Dublin records. All that was known was that he was living in Dublin by the time of his marriage in 1845.
Granna and Uncle Walter had been convinced that the Gunnings hailed from Offaly; they even made a journey there in their later years to search grave headstones for names. However, unable to locate a birth or baptismal record for Arthur, and with his parents names absent from his marriage certificate, this was proving impossible for me to prove. The breakthrough eventually came when I located Arthur's death notice in the Freeman's Journal newspaper archives, which finally confirmed Granna and Walters belief in an Offaly heritage. The death notice stated that he originated from a small, sparsely populated hamlet consisting of a cluster of landholdings called Ballynowlart, Kings County (Offaly). Ballynowlart was in the civil parish of Clonbullogue, and the religious parish of Clonsast, located in the east of the county close to Offaly's border with Kildare (coincidentally, Ballynowlart is located less than 30 minutes drive from the Murray ancestral farm in Cappagh, County Kildare). According to his employment history detailed in the death notice, Arthur began working in Dublin at around twelve years of age (circa 1840) so must have migrated from Offaly before this time.
An old map of Kings County showing the location of Ballynowlart.
A modern day map showing the location of Ballynowlart.
The Goonans
The Goonans
While there are no records to indicate a family called Gunning ever lived in Ballynowlart, there are numerous records showing that a family by the name of Goonan were small landholders (tenant farmers) in this tiny rural community around the time of Arthur's birth. Gunning is the anglicised form of Goonan; these Goonans are in fact our Gunning ancestors (there were only five tenant farmers in total in Ballynowlart around the time of Arthur's birth; the others were Laurence Neary, Bartholomew Lynam, James Power and Thomas Holman.
The 1824 Tithe Applotment Books records list one William Goonan as the head of the Goonan family living in Ballynowlart. He rented 9 acres (acres were measured differently at the time and this would have equaled less than 9 acres in today's measurements). However, Goonan, Lynam and Neary are also listed as jointly holding 12 acres in nearby Cloncrean. It appears that William and his neighbours held additional land which they potentially subletted. As Arthur was born only three years subsequently, it is highly likely William was his father. Another piece of evidence pointing towards this is that Arthur called one of his own sons William. However, while I believe William Goonan was most certainly a relative of Arthur's I can not as yet say with conviction that the connection was that of father, especially as two other Goonan men appear in the Tithe Applotment Books records and in the later Griffiths Valuation of Ireland living in nearby villages. These individuals must also be considered as prospective fathers.
We do not know for certain whether Arthur migrated to Dublin on his own, with siblings or with his parents. However given that he was only about 12 years of age when he began working in Messrs West and Sons, and given the fact that numerous Gunnings are named as Godparents on his Dublin born children's baptismal certificates, I believe that Arthur came with family members. Either way, it is very likely that he (and his siblings or parents if indeed that was the case) adopted the anglicised version of their name on moving to the capital. Certainly an Arthur Gunning would have been much more socially acceptable as an employee in an Anglo-Irish Protestant company by appointment to her Majesty the Queen such as the firm Arthur went on to work for than an Arthur Goonan would have.
The Marquis of Downshire
The land in Ballynowlart North rented by Arthur's family was part of the Edenderry Estate owned by the English Marquis of Downshire, who also owned the Blessington Estate in County Wicklow and the Hillsborough Estate in County Down.
At the height of the Downshire Estate, it's portfolio included a total of 115,000 acres across Ireland with an additional 5,000 in England. It was one of the most extensive estates in the United Kingdom.
It's Edenderry Estate was managed from the Irish seat and estate office in Hillsborough, Co. Down. The estate became part of the Downshire estate portfolio through marriage when in 1786, the second Marquis, Lord Kilwarlin, married heiress Mary Sandys. The estate was made up of 14,000 letted acres, with valuable additional income in the form of unpopular tithes on landholders. However much of the land was bogland and it would have been a struggle for the Goonan's to make a living as farmers.
Seven Generations of the holders of the Marquis of Downshire title were called Arthur Hill, including the third Marquis who held the title at the time of our Arthur's birth. Indeed, the Downshires thought so highly of the name that many of them, including the third Marquis, named not one but several or all of their sons Arthur! Whether Arthur Goonan's parents named him after their absentee landlord out of genuine admiration or as an attempt to garnish favour we do not know. Perhaps it was just a popular name in the area at the time and there was nothing more to it than that. However it is also worth noting that Arthur's potential father William Goonan held the same first name as the first Marquise of Downshire, William Hill, who most likely held the title at the time of William's birth.
Part 2 of this ancestor profile will focus solely on the Ballynowlart Goonans. My research is still ongoing. The next step is to study the Downshire Estate papers which are held in Northern Ireland's Public Records Office. This will hopefully provide answers regarding Arthur's parentage, details of when his family first became land holders in the area, and give an insight into why they migrated to Dublin.
Arthur Gunning, Silversmith
It is believed that there was an abundance of silver and silversmiths in Ireland during medieval times. However little survived the wars and depredations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was only following the restoration of George II to the the British throne and the advent of relative stability that domestic silverware survived in any quantity. The new aristocracy and the growing middle class made increasing use of silver, and the eighteenth century ushered in the heyday of silver production in Ireland.
The silversmith tradition within the Gunning family began with Arthur, who worked as a silversmith for Messrs West and Sons Goldsmiths and Jewellers, located at 18 College Green, Dublin 2. By the time of his death in 1890 at the age of 62, Arthur had been an employee of Messrs West and Sons for over 50 years. This means he would have started his employment with them at the approximate age of 12, circa 1840. The world of a busy Dublin firm must have been very different to the farming world that he was born into. This must have been a huge adjustment for such a young boy. However given that he stayed with the firm for over fifty years, he must have done very well there.
At the time of its closure in 2010, West and Sons was considered the oldest European jewellery store and one of the longest running companies in Ireland. The business was started by brothers Mathew and John West in 1720 from their premises on Capel Street, which was the main shopping street in Dublin at the time. The shop transferred to College Green in 1845 in line with the transition of the fashionable shopping streets from the northside to the southside of the River Liffey. This was due to the mass exodus of the wealthy Anglo-Irish from their northside Georgian townhouses in favour of leafy southside properties far removed from the increasing numbers of working classes who had begun to settle on the northside of the city.
During the nineteenth century Messrs West and Sons was one of the foremost jewellers in Ireland, specialising in the revival of ancient Celtic designs. The store was particularly renowned for its magnificent displays of jewellery in its windows. Queen Victoria gave West and Sons the royal warrant as her watchmaker, and the British Royal collection has two Tara brooch replicas made by the firm that Prince Albert bought for Queen Victoria on a visit to Dublin in 1849. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was another customer, while the firm also created the original 22 carat gold chain of office used by the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
An illustration of the premises of Messrs West and Sons at 18 College Green
A newspaper advertisement for the jewellery firm circa 1913
The company relocated to 102 Grafton Street in 1913, with a workshop on nearby Fade Street, before moving to its final smaller home of 33 Grafton Street following the death of the last family member involved in the business in 1965. With a diminishing clientele of the discreetly wealthy, and facing competition from the addition to Grafton Street of more ostentatious jewellery chains such as Tiffany's and Boodles, the company closed its doors for the final time in 2010.
Housing and Social Conditions
Arthur and Teresa began married life living at 12 Monck Place in Phibsboro, Dublin 7, and raised their large family here. Certainly they are listed as living there in the 1851 National Census, and in Thom's Directory of 1868. The house was listed as a first class building due to the number of windows (9 to the front), number of rooms (6 in total) and quality of materials used in construction (i.e. brick as opposed to wood). Five out of the thirty-two houses on this street were recorded as being tenements in 1868, and many of the houses on nearby streets were tenements also. However the Gunnings house was not one of them according to these records. Number 12 Monck Place did in time end up becoming a tenement dwelling, but more on this later.
12 Monck Place today. Contrary to how it is described in two different census reports (1901 and 1911), the house only has five front windows as opposed to nine. This has really puzzled me!
The only explanation I can come up with is that number 12 was rebuilt or adapted at some point post 1911. On examining it close up in person, it does look like a newer build than it's neighbouring houses of 11, 10 and 9. Number 13 has also been adapted and is larger than listed in the census.
Given the size of the Gunnings home at Monck Place, and the fact that Arthur was a skilled craftsman within a successful firm, we can assume that he and his family had decent means and a relatively good quality of life. While Phibsborough was a respectable area, it was not a particularly wealthy area either; and while a six roomed house was considered large, it would not have been that spacious when occupied by twelve people! Having ten children to feed and clothe no doubt ate up a large portion of Arthur's income. When you consider that he and Teresa married and had their first children at the height of the famine, Arthur did very well for himself and his family overall, especially when you take into account his humble origins.
Endings
Arthur passed away in 1890 at the age of 62 years. At the time of his death he was resident at 4 Phibsborough Avenue, Dublin 7. Sometime between 1868 and 1899, he and Teresa must have left Monck Place for a smaller home, most likely when their children had grown up and they didn't require such a large house. His death notice printed in the 'Freemans Journal' can be found on findmypast.ie. It reads as follows:
Gunning - March 7 1890 at his residence; 4 Phibsborough Avenue, Arthur Gunning, senior, for over 50 years the faithful employee of Messrs West and Son, College Green, a native of Ballynoulard (from discussions with a genealogist in the local genealogical centre this is a spelling error and should be Ballynowlart) Kings County. Burial Glasnevin.
Phibsborough Avenue today. The original houses on the right hand side of the street still exist, but the houses on the left hand side (including number 4) have been demolished with modern homes built in their stead.
Arthur's wife Teresa died in 1906 at the age of 82 (Her grave record states she was 66 but I believe this to be a transcription error as it does not tally with her birth or marriage records). By the time of her death she had moved from Phibsborough to 3 Russell Place, Dublin 3 (beside Croke Park). They are buried together in Glasnevin Cemetery (St Brigid's, RK 312), along with their children Arthur junior, Brigid and Anne.
The Gunning Siblings
It is unknown where Laurence learnt the silversmith trade, or which company he worked for as a young man. There is a good likelihood that he followed his father into Messrs West and Sons.
We know from the 1901 and 1911 census returns that Laurence's brother William was also a silversmith, as was William's son Mathew. William took over the family home at 12 Monck Place when his parents left. By the 1901 census he was a widower, living here with his children Bridget, a housekeeper, aged 22; Thomas, a blacksmith, aged 20; Mathew, a silversmith, aged 18; and Peter, a printer, aged 16. The Gunnings no longer lived in the full house; William and his children occupied four rooms while the fifth was occupied by a man named Thomas Connell and the sixth by a family of two headed by one Thomas Gaynor.
By the 1911 census, however, a 65 year old William was living at 22 Iona Drive, Glasnevin, and had remarried eight years previous; his new wife, Elizabeth, was 29 years his junior. Together they had two children, Mary Clare (7) and Josephine Mary (2). One Elizabeth Gunning, her husband and her four children were now occupying two of the rooms at 12 Monck Place, with the remaining rooms divided among four other families. I do not know at this time who Elizabeth was, but presumably she was a relative through marriage (she is listed as being married but her husband is not named; he must not have been present the night the census was taken).
The Act of Union, economic stagnation and the decline of the aristocracy all had detrimental effects on the silver industry in the nineteenth century, and perhaps this is why Laurence and William's other brothers did not follow into their father's profession. Maybe due to limited employment opportunities in Dublin at the time, or maybe due to a sense of adventure, their eldest brother Mathew emigrated to the United States in 1868, and raised a family in Connecticut, while another brother Peter also left for the States in the 1879's and raised a family there. He now has many descendants in the States; in fact his great grandson, Steve Gunning, has been in touch through this blog!
Their brother Arthur junior remained in Dublin as a coal factor who married but died quite young at the age of 42 in 1908. In Slater's Royal Directory of 1894 he is listed as living at 15 Phibsborough Road, however by the time of his death he was living at 113 Gunning Terrace, Connaught Street, Dublin 7. It has to be more of a coincidence that a member of the Gunning family was residing at one Gunning Terrace; maybe Arthur had the opportunity to name it after himself. I have not be able to locate it on any present day maps. The executor of his will was an Anna Gunning, presumably his widow.
One of Laurence's sisters, Bridget, a shop assistant, died young at the age of 22 in 1875 while still living in the family home while Laurence's another sister Anne, who never married, died in Grangegorman mental hospital at the age of 83. At this time we do not have any further information about the youngest brother John Augustine or sisters Ellen Mary and Teresa. As I cannot locate any records for them in Ireland subsequent to their baptismal records, it is possible that they also emigrated. There are certainly a number of American emigration records for individuals named John Gunning who emigrated from Dublin, however it has not been possible to confirm whether any of these were John Augustine.
Continuing the Family Tradition
Laurence married Mary Anne Fox in 1882. At the time of their marriage he was resident at 188 Phibsborough Road, a stones throw from Monck Place. They lived first with her parents at 45 Ballybough Road, before moving to 9 Phibsborough Road and then on to 60 Lower Dorset Street sometime prior to 1885. By the time of the 1911 census however, they and their children had moved to 23.1 Cabra Road. Here they had four front windows and eight rooms.
Laurence and Mary Anne had ten children; Emily Mary 'Emmy' (b.1883), Theresa Josephine 'Tossie' (b.1884), Anne Euphrasia 'Frazia' (b.1885), Mary Bridget 'May' (Granna's mother, b.1887), Joseph (b.1889), Arthur Vincent (b.1891), Marion Clare (b.1892), Annie 'Anne' (b.1894), Eveleen Alphonsus (b.1896), and Eileen Aloysius (b.1898). Eveleen sadly died at the age of 7 in 1904.
Mary Anne Gunning with five of her daughters. From top left: May, Tossie, Frazia, Emmy, Mary Anne and Anne.
It was at the age of 40 that Laurence co-founded a silversmith firm specialising in eccliasiastical works with a partner called Kane in 1884, entering their mark 'K&G' at the Dublin Assay Office. Their store was located at 18 Fleet Street, Temple Bar (just off Westmoreland Street), while their workshop was based at 7, 8 and 9 Prices Lane (the lane running down the side on the store). Certainly, Granna recalled to me how she used to call in to her grandfather Laurence's workshop after school in Loretto on the Green, when he would give her pocket money.
Sometime between 1896 And 1903, for a reason unknown to us, Gunning's business partner changed from Kane to a man by the name of Reynolds. The location of the business remained the same.
Laurence Gunnings sanctuary lamp currently on display in the National Museum of Ireland.
The information displayed beside the sanctuary lamp.
Laurence and Marianne with their children, children in law and grandchildren on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1932.
Granna's parents May Gunning and her husband Patrick Joseph on their wedding day in 1910.
Laurence Gunning
A small section of the Gunning workshop on Prices Lane, off Fleet Street, circa 1940's.
The staff of Gunnings pictured in 1947 outside the newly refurbished premises on Fleet Steet. Larry Gunning and his wife Mary are pictured in the middle of the second row from the front, with Kerry and his wife their right.
The new premises in Glasnevin
A Royal Irish tea set made in 1968, now worth over 2,000 euros!
Above is a Gunning and Reynolds newspaper advertisement from 1903.
A photograph from 1912 of the Gunning and Reynolds staff outside their premises. Laurence Gunning is pictured last from the right in the middle row. His son Joseph who was part of the family business is pictured last from the left in the middle row. We
know from his great grandson who has been in contact that Laurence's silversmith nephew Mathew Gunning was also involved in the firm and is last from the left in the front row.
A 1904 newspaper advertisement for Gunning and Reynolds.
A letter to the editor of a newspaper from a client recommending Gunning and Reynolds (1905).
Then, sometime between 1912 and 1920, the Reynolds was dropped from the businesses name and the Gunning's went out on their own. Gunning and Co. went on to become one of the largest ecclesiastical silversmiths in the country, exporting their wares all over the world. Laurence and his colleagues pieces can be seen in Cathedrals and churches around the country.
Laurence Gunnings silver mark
A Gunning and Co. advertisement from 1920.
A sanctuary lamp made by Laurence between 1923-1924 for the Sacred Heart Oratory, Dun Laoghaire, is on permanent display as part of the Irish Silver Collection in the National Museum of Arts and Decorative History, Collins Barracks.
Laurence's Legacy
We do not know when the Gunnings moved to 72 St Laurence's Road, but it was probably not long after the 1911 census. They were certainly living there by the time of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1932.
Laurence and Mary Anne Gunning pictured with their children outside their home on St. Laurence's Road on the occasion of their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1932. Top row left-right: Eileen Crowley, May Scott, Joe Gunning, Ann Kelly, Marion Campbell, Frazia Wilson. Bottom row left-right: Tossie Finn, Laurence Gunning, Mary Anne Gunning, Emmy Scott. Arthur Gunning was absent as he had gone to America.
Laurence Gunning died on the 5th November 1936 at the age of 82 in his home on St. Laurence's Road. His wife Mary Anne died just four months later on the 16th March 1937 at the age of 81. They are also buried in Glasnevin Cemetery (St. Patrick's YK 249), not far from Laurence's parents and siblings, and Mary Anne's father William Fox.
With the exception of Eveleen, Laurence and Mary Anne's children all grew up to marry and have children of their own. As you may know, two of their daughters May and Emily (a school teacher), married two of the Scott brothers (Patrick Joseph and James Francis respectively) in a double wedding ceremony in 1910 in Clontarf. Arthur Vincent married a German woman despite his family's disapproval and had emigrated to America by the time of his parents fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1932. As far as we know he lost contact with the family and never returned.
Joan Campbell told me that Joseph, who bore a striking resemblance to Michael Collins, volunteered as a Collins body double during the War of Independence.
A group photograph of the Gunnings at the joint wedding. Patrick Joseph and May are pictured second and third from the left in the middle row, while James Francis and Emily are pictured second and third from the right in the middle row. The girls mother Mary Anne is seated in between the two couples. Their father Laurence is not pictured for some unbeknownst reason. Other Gunning siblings are also pictured.
Following Laurence's death the business remained in the family. His son Joseph who lived on Hollybrook Road, Clontarf took over, followed by his sons Laurence (Larry) and Kieran (Kerry) following his own death in 1939.
The two brothers were famously commissioned by Kathleen and Kieran Conroy late in 1947 to design and craft what is now known as the Irish Monstrance, which was gifted to Fatima. The Monstrance was designed by Larry Gunning and crafted by him, Kerry and their staff throughout 1948. The Monstance was paid for by public donation of money and personal jewellery. The design evolved into something much more elaborate than initially planned as the donations kept coming in. The Monstrance is 42 inches high and is made of gilded sterling silver. It weighs 8 kilos and is studded with 1,700 jewels, of which 650 are diamonds.
Even when the Monstrance was complete, money and jewellery continued to arrive at the Gunning workshop. Therefore it was decided by the Gunning brothers to make an 18ct solid gold lunette and house it in a custos of silver gilt studded with diamonds. The custos, in which the Eucharist is placed when not exposed in the Monstrance, was a creation in itself. Before being brought to Fatima in 1949 the Monstrance was put on display due to public demand both at the Gunning workshop and at the Dublin Horse Show, with many well known public figures coming to see it including Eamonn DeValera and Sean Lemass.
During the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's Gunning and Co. were the largest ecclesiastical silversmiths operating in Dublin, exporting their wares all over the world. During the 1950's and 1960's Larry Gunning made 67 trips across the Atlantic on assignments for the U.S Catholic Church. From coast to Coast and from Canada to Mexico there are few dioceses that don't have examples of work from the Gunning workshop in their places of worship. Some of Larry's favourite creations for U.S sites included:
- The furnishings for the crypt alters, National Shrine, Washington D.C
- The furnishings for the Carmelite Church, East 28th Street, N.Y.
- The Blessed Sacrament alter furnishings, St. Augustine, Florida.
- The sanctuary furnishings in St. Mels, Woodland Hills, California.
- The sanctuary furnishings in the African Mission Church, Tenafly, New Jersey.
- A Monstrance, comparable to the Fatima Monstrance, for St. Patrick's Church, New Orleans, Louisiana.
However changes to the Catholic Church's use of silver following the passing of Vatican Two (1962-1965) had a devastating impact on the Irish silver industry, effectively wiping out the demand for eccliasiastical silver. Gunning and Co. had to adapt to survive, and in 1968 amalgamated with another Dublin eccliasiastical silver firm M.H Gill and Sons Ltd. to become a Royal Irish Silver; making mostly Georgian replica silver for domestic use. Their premises relocated from Fleet Street to the Dublin Industrial Estate in Glasnevin.
The new venture was a success for a time, particularly in America. However Royal Irish Silver closed it's doors for the last time in October 1981, thirteen years after it was founded, due to the negative impact on the business of the 1978 recession in the United States. Larry and Kerry continued to work on individual pieces of interest to them upon their retirement, and in 2001 the Irish Monstrance was transported in secret to Larry's home in Howth where the brothers worked for one year on its repair and renovation. On the death of the two brothers (Larry in September 2009 at the great age of 92 followed by Kerry four months later in January 2010), the family trade sadly died with them.
The link to the Gunning/Goonan family tree will be included in part two.
Sources
findmypast.ie
askaboutireland.com
glasnevintrust.ie
nationalarchives.ie
rootsireland.ie
familysearch.org
irishgeneology.ie
proni.gov.uk
aidanjbreen.com
925-1000.com
925-1000.com
'The Irish Monstrance' by Leo Madigan
'Edenderry, County Offaly, and the Downshire estate, 1790-1800' by Ciaran Reilly
http://archive.irishartsreview.com/irisartsrevi1984
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