Behan's Hotel and Store, Kilrush, c.1850

[pwaldron]

Can anyone please confirm the location of Behan’s Hotel and Store, Kilrush?

It was used as an Auxiliary Workhouse with a capacity of 674 during the Great Famine. One report notes that `the buildings are not well adapted for workhouse purposes; the yards are limited and close.' They housed small children from two to nine.

There appear to have been two hotels in Kilrush around this time, neither owned by a Behan; there were several Behan or Behen families, none owning a hotel.

[Polycarp]

There is a report of civil litigation, including reference to a bankruptcy in 1848, in the "Limerick and Clare Examiner" of 11 July 1849.

The newspaper report of the court proceedings, Uriah Plant v. Patrick D. Beehan, carried on over two days at the Clare Summer Assizes in Ennis, commences as follows.

"This was an action brought against Mr. Patrick Denis Beehan, a shopkeeper in Kilrush, at the suit of Mr Uriah Plant, merchant in Cork, acting as assignee for the creditor of the defendant's father, Mr Denis Beehan, who formerly carried on business in the town of Kilrush, and became a bankrupt in 1848 ... ... "

The report in the newspaper is quite extensive. There may be a formal report of the case in the law reports or a verbatim transcript of the proceedings in the National Archives.

Polycarp

[pwaldron]

Many thanks, polycarp, for another very useful clue.

[pwaldron]

One clue leads to another:
Clare Freeman 9 July 1849

Plant v Beehan
.... This was an action brought by Mr. Patrick Denis Beehan, a shopkeeper in Kilrush, at the suit of Mr. Uriah Plant, a merchant in Cork ........ affairs subsequently grew worse, and in the summer of 1847 Mr. Denis Beehan and his son formed a scheme whereby in the months of September and October above £1050 worth of goods were transferred to his son. At that perion Mr. Patrick Beehan engaged a shop in the town of Kilrush and another at Ennistymon, and they then removed to these shops all the valuable goods from the shop of the father, Mr. Denis Beehan, ......... Mr. E. Mahony made a will by which he left property to his nephew, Denis Beehan in trust for his eldest son (Mr. Patrick Beehan) the defendant, and also appointed his father (Mr. D. Behan) his executor. ..... Mr. Butler, who had acted as agent over Poole Hickman's property after his death, proved having paid Mr. Denis Beehan £375 of a debt for which he held Mr. Hickman's bond; and Mr. Thomas Keane who had been Mr. Hickman's agent

[pwaldron]

London Gazette 16 Feb 1858, p.808:

Uriah Plant the younger, formerly of No. 24, Georges-street.
Limerick, then of 56, Patrick-street, then of 2,
Dean's-street, Lapps Island, then of 33, Maylor-street, all
in Cork, Ireland, Commercial Clerk and Agent to a
General Merchant, then of 2, Caroline-street, Cork,
Clerk and Agent as aforesaid, and carrying on business
on his own account as a General Merchant, then
of 1, Dyke Parade, at the same time renting a yard on
Albert Quay, and a store on Merchants Quay, all in Cork,
and afterwards of Douglas House, Douglas, county Cork,
General Merchant on his own account, and carrying on
business as a Dealer in Coals, in partnership with one
John Hall, at Merchant's Quay aforesaid, under the name
of Uriah Plant, then a Prisoner for Debt in the Debtors'
Prison for the county of Cork, Cork aforesaid, and afterwards
of the Four Courts, Marshalsea, Dublin, his family,
during the whole time, residing at Douglas House,
Douglas, county Cork, then of No. 258, Great Howard-street,
Liverpool, Lancashire, then of No. 36, Manchester-street,
Crewe, Cheshire, then of No. 258, Great Howard-street
aforesaid, then of No. 36, Manchester-street, Crewe
aforesaid, then of No. 133, Drummond-street, Euston-square,
and late of No. 76, Hatton-garden, both in Middlesex,
out of business.

If only I could find a similarly detailed accounted of the movements of Denis Beehan/Behen/Behan (or any of my ancestors or other people I am researching) ...

[pwaldron]

There is a possible descendant of Uriah Plant in a Plant Surname DNA study.

Also a photograph of what appears to be his son.

What brought him from Cork to Kilrush? Uriah Plant and Mary Jones are immediate lessors in Griffith's Valuation (1855) of five adjoining premises in a prime location on Frances Street with a total rateable annual valuation of 87 pounds 10 shillings.

Were the Behens tenants of all five of these premises before the afore-mentioned court case?

[miriam scahill]

Paddy - I don't know if it is the same family - I see 'Denis Behan, aged 60 died at Kilrush Workhouse in 1850/51 - as per 'Deaths in Kilrush Workhouse' on Clare library website. Miriam.

[miriam scahill]

Paddy - I don't know if it is the same family - Mr. Denis Behan. aged 60, died at Kilrush Workhouse as per 'Deaths in Kilrush Workhouse 1850/51 on Clare Library. Miriam.

[pwaldron]

The Denis Behan in the workhouse list died on 7 Mar 1851 aged 60.

The Mr. Ds. Behan buried in Old Shanakyle died on 22 Aug 1851 aged 58.

They were born around the same time and died around the same time, but were definitely different men. In any case, the man who owned the workhouse is unlikely to have ended up as an inmate in the workhouse!