Robert jnr Day
| Robert jnr Day FSA | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||
| Born | 1836 | ||||||||
| Died | 1914 | ||||||||
| Residence |
3 Sidney Place, Cork | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Contents
Notes
Office Notes
House Notes
proposed 1876.01.11
Notes From Elsewhere
JP, Director of the Cork Permanent Building Society
President of the Cork Historial and Archaeological Society, Robert Day, J.P., F.S.A., M.R.I. A., F.R.S.A.
Robert Day (1836–1914) was an Irish antiquarian and photographer who collaborated with Franz Tieze in producing imitation Williamite, Jacobite and Irish Volunteer glassware.
Day was an important and well-travelled antiquarian collector. He was involved in his family's extensive saddlery business together with a sports shop well known to Cork anglers. His wife Rebecca belonged to the Scott family who had an extensive ironmongery business in King Street (now McCurtain Street). They lived at Myrtle Hill outside Cork until 1906 and after at Patrick's Hill.
He was president of the Cork Cuverian Society and its successor the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society from 1894 to 1914. There, he gathered an enormous collection of Irish archaeological artefacts which were auctioned in 1915 and turned up in the collections of John Hunt in Limerick and Walter J. Verschoyle-Campbell, as well as the Birmingham Archaeological Society, the Louth Archaeological Society, the Ulster Museum and the National Museum of Ireland. An ongoing project at the Archaeology Department University College Cork is seeking to trace items from this auction.[1]
His early photographs date from the 1860s and continue until his death. They are atmospheric and depict a Cork which in many ways has disappeared. The pictures are now part of the Day collection which also has photographs by his son William ('Willy')Tottenham Day 1874-1965 and grandson Alec 1902-1980. Another grandson was the noted writer and wood engraver Robert Gibbings.
His daughter was the playwright and novelist Suzanne R. Day.
Born in 1836, Robert was involved in his family’s extensive addler business together with a sports shop well known to Cork anglers on St Patrick’s Street. He was married to Rebecca Scott in 1857. Rebecca belonged to the Scott family who had an extensive ironmongery business in King Street (now McCurtain Street). They had four daughters and four sons.
During his lifetime, he developed an interest in Irish archaeology and seemed to become a well-rounded academic specialising in Irish antiquities. He amassed a unique and comprehensive museum of antiquities, from the Stone age, the early Iron Age and the Medieval period, down to the late eighteenth century, which included a collection of the insignia connected with the Irish volunteers of 1782. At historical meetings he showed some of his collection to other members.
Reputedly, Robert was a man of quiet disposition but with a strong character. He investigated and questioned the objects in his collection whilst listening to the opinions of other interested parties and professionals. He also generously loaned portions of his great collection to various exhibitions, notably to the Irish Exhibition, London and to the Chicago Exhibition.
On his death, an enormous collection of Irish Archaeological artefacts were auctioned off in 1915. They later turned up in the collections of John Hunt in Limerick, Walter J. Verschoyle-Campbell, as well as in those of the Birmingham Archaeological Society, the Louth Archaeological Society, the Ulster Museum and the National Museum of Ireland. An ongoing project at the Department of Archaeology, University College Cork is seeking to trace items from this auction.
Robert Day was also past president of the Cork Literary and Scientific Society. He was Trustee of the Cork Savings Bank and of the South Charitable Infirmary, member of the Royal Irish Academy, Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and member of many other learned associations at home and abroad and was one of the governors of the Commercial Buildings, Cork.
As a President of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society from 1894 to 1914, he strove to keep the organisation and its work to the highest possible standard. As editor of its Journal, it is apparent, he sought to publish material that was meticulously researched and there is a sense the material was in danger of being lost if not published. He contributed much to the Journal between 1892 and 1911. In his own myriad of articles in the journals he seemed to have an interest in a number of topics but a clear focus at least can be seen on the history of the Irish volunteers of 1798, the use of metals – bronze and gold in Irish prehistory as well as Cork silver. He detailed the work of fellow antiquarians, contemporary and from decades previously. He edited the society’s reprint of Charles Smith’s History of Cork, which he annotated from the manuscripts of antiquarians Thomas Crofton Croker and Richard Caulfield.
Robert also had an interest in photography and was one of the first to take a camera into Cork City and around its region to capture various scenes of early photographs date from the 1860s. They are atmospheric and depict a Cork which in many ways has disappeared. The pictures are now part of the Day collection which also has photographs by his son William Tottenham Day 1874-1965 and grandson Alec 1902-1980.
The work of Robert Day for me represents the enormous collections that exist in the public realm. However perhaps Robert’s work is also a quest to understand and explain the unknown and to harness it in a contemporary world. In addition, he is part of a distinct set of local historians that have set a precedent in the research and preservation of Cork’s local history.
To be continued… [Kieran McCarthy]
Robert Day (1836-1914) was an Irish antiquarian and photographer. His family’s business provided the funds which allowed him to acquire a large and extensive collection of archaeological artefacts found in Ireland, which were auctioned in 1915. The Archaeology Department of University College Cork is engaged in an ongoing project to try and trace items from this auction.
A H Bishop purchased some items from this auction which are now in The Hunterian. These can be identified by their attached handwritten labels and some can also be matched with their auction lot number or from their description in the catalogue. Other items from Day’s collection are in the Hunt Museum in Limerick.
Born 12 January 1836 in Cork. Married Rebecca Scott also of Cork. Robert took over the family business from his father, Robert, Sr., and also ran his wife’s family business on the death of his father-in-law, Robert Scott. Day was an active member of the Society and often displayed items from his private collection to members. He also published many papers in the Journal. It can be seen from newspapers that Day also spoke outside Cork, particularly in Ulster where perhaps he had business connections. Robert Day died on 10 July 1914; his wife Rebecca died seven weeks later. For further information about his life, see Margaret Lantry ‘Robert Day: businessman and antiquarian’, JCHAS 119 (2014), 1-22.
– Margaret Lantry, September 6, 2017
Publications
External Publications
Forgotten Cork: Photographs from the Day Collection Hardcover – 31 Oct 2004
by Colin Rynne (Author), Billy Wigham (Author)
House Publications
Related Material Details
RAI Material
Other Material
The Hunterian, Glasgow
