John McCarthy and Sons, Funeral Directors

At the Registry of Deeds in Dublin, the following entry is recorded:

‘A memorial of an Agreement bearing date 7th July 1819, made between Timothy Horgan, victualler, and Patrick McCarthy, shopkeeper, both of Kilfinane, whereby T Horgan for and in consideration of 46 pounds, 23 pounds thereof paid in hand, and 23 pounds payable on 1st August, then next agreed, forever unto said Patrick McCarthy, his heirs and assigns all that and those… the street house to the same with the yard there onto belonging, situate on the south side of the street in Kilfinane aforesaid, then occupied by Margaret Hanrahan. To hold said slated house and premises unto said Patrick McCarthy, his heirs and assigns from the 1st May.’

[The actual Deed confirming this written agreement, was registered five years to the day later, on 7th July 1824. Information courtesy Maureen (McCarthy) Ryan, Kilfinane and Ontario]

With these words, began six generations of McCarthy occupancy of the above premises (full-size image), incorporating a variety of enterprises: grocery, bakery, public house, flour and meal merchant, oil and paint store, and the subject of this article – funeral undertaking. The author is indebted to Henry McCarthy and Richie McCarthy for generously granting access to three volumes of hand-written funeral ledgers, from which the data facilitating this survey is sourced. These records constitute a priceless repository of local history.

John McCarthy and Sons funeral ledger – front cover

The survey spans January 1907 to December 1981 – thus 75 years inclusive. The very first entry is that of widow Bridget Quinlan, Darranstown who died aged 85 years on 3rd January 1907. The following sample, relating to IRA Volunteer Edmund Crawford and dated 26th March 1921, serves to illustrate the rich level of detail contained in many entries:

Full-size image

Not all entries pertain to the actual funerals of the individuals named – some relate to the provision of carriages to ceremonies – and there are instances where the entry refers to proceedings carried out on behalf of a fellow undertaker. Also there are cases, particularly in relation to the provision of children’s coffins, where the named individual is the contractee rather than the deceased. With these considerations in mind, there follows a statistical overview of the 3,274 funerals supervised by John McCarthy and Sons over the stated span of 75 years –

Year	Male	Female	Children	N/A	Total
1907	27	35	8	9	79
1908	38	36	6	5	85
1909	20	33	4	1	58
1910	23	24	6	6	59
1911	33	26	6	6	71
1912	26	25			51
1913	23	27	6		56
1914	32	20	1		53
1915	32	23	3		58
1916	26	39	5	1	71
1917	36	21	5	1	63
1918	41	23	5	2	71
1919	22	39	10		71
1920	24	23	5		52
1921	27	29	2		58
1922	27	38	6		71
1923	26	21	3		50
1924	27	23	5		55
1925	13	22	6		41
1926	22	22	6		50
1927	30	22	4		56
1928	20	24	1		45
1929	30	19	4		53
1930	21	18	5		44
1931	27	13	2		42
1932	19	13			32
1933	16	19	1		36
1934	24	14	6		44
1935	23	19	2		44
1936	23	13	3		39
1937	24	26	3		53
1938	18	18	3		39
1939	19	22	2		43
1940	25	18	3		46
1941	32	18	5		55
1942	25	21	7		53
1943	25	21	5		51
1944	16	19	5		40

Thomas P McCarthy (d1913) who initiated the archive in 1907

Year	Male	Female	Children	N/A	Total
1945	22	17	2		41
1946	22	21	4		47
1947	21	16	8	3	48
1948	10	19	1	4	34
1949	27	18	1		46
1950	17	18	3		38
1951	23	17	1		41
1952	24	15	2		41
1953	19	11	3		33
1954	15	17	3		35
1955	18	12			30
1956	12	15			27
1957	12	13	1		26
1958	17	14			31
1959	21	10			31
1960	20	15			35
1961	13	12			25
1962	12	12			24
1963	17	15			32
1964	19	5			24
1965	19	15			34
1966	25	15			40
1967	9	12			21
1968	20	14	1		35
1969	17	11			28
1970	17	5			22
1971	17	13			30
1972	17	10			27
1973	12	17			29
1974	17	16			33
1975	23	15	1		39
1976	20	14			34
1977	22	17	2		41
1978	20	17			37
1979	14	15			29
1980	20	15	1		36
1981	10	21	1		32
TOTALS	1622	1420	194	38	3274