Tipperary Studies had added an interesting collection to its digital archives: the Kent Collection. It's a treasure trove of historical documents and photographs that were kindly loaned for digitisation by Roland Dyer, the great grandson of Walter Francis Kent, a prominent merchant and grocer from Borrisocane in the north of County Tipperary in the late C19th and early C20th.
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| Click for enlarged view of this sample |
Born in 1856, Kent completed his apprenticeship with a hardward store in Birr before opening his own shop in Borrisokane. It offered a wide range of goods, including builders’ supplies, farm and garden seeds, coal, soap, cigarettes and groceries.
The shop’s ledgers, which span 1884 to 1932, provide insight into the daily lives of the local community, including farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths and shopkeepers.
Account transactions were recorded in these ledgers, noting the name of customers, their residence and, in many cases, their occupations, and keeping the necessary tally over time. Fascinating to look through, and an absolutely terrific discovery if you can identify an ancestor.
Each of the two ledgers has been digitised into a set of eight downloadable pdfs. Each holds about 100 pages.
The remaining parts of the collection are mostly photographs, including several of Roland, one of his sons, who enlisted in the South Irish Horse in 1915, and other WW1 army memorabilia.
Take a look through the collection, which is free to access on Tipperary Studies' Digital Archive, here and read a well-research article, including the family's genealogy, by Mary Flynn here