A family business has created a unique record of life in the Cork town of Youghal.
At the turn of the 20th century when film making was in its infancy, James Horgan from Youghal in County Cork bought the town's first camera and began to record every day life in the area. Many years later, his grandson Jim Horgan has taken on the task of preserving hundreds of his grandfather's photographs and films.
A unique record of life nearly a hundred years ago.
In 1887, when James Horgan was about 10 years old, his father died. He had left the family money for the three boys to get into a trade. However, they could not find the money. The family were so badly off that the children went to school for three days without food and on the third day they were to be evicted as they could not pay the rent. On the third day, the children ran home from school but their mother was not able speak to them. James ran out the back door to his father's shoemaking workshop and fell. As he was getting up, he spotted a little hiding place where he found a gold sovereign.
That was a massive amount of money in those days.
This gold sovereign saved the family and the boys were indentured as shoemakers. In 1892, the boys set up in business as photographers as well as shoemakers. James Horgan had always drawn as a child and taught himself to be a good artist. When he made primitive negatives, he would touch them up with a charcoal pencil. He also ran a travelling magic lantern show. Eventually, the brothers built a Picture Palace in Youghal. James Horgan also went on to invent and patent his own camera. The photographs he took and the films he made form part of the collection which Jim looks after today.
The film collection includes footage of a paddle steamer bought by the business people of Youghal, a Corpus Christi procession, the poor people's excursion to the beach, and locals in their finery at attending church. There is also a remarkable animation of the famous Youghal clock tower.
The films have been donated to the National Film Institute for safe keeping. Jim Horgan is currently writing a book on the history of Youghal and is using about a thousand glass negatives from the collection for research purposes.
Everybody in Youghal has a story about them.
This episode of 'It's Bibi' was broadcast on 6 April 1993. The presenter is Bibi Baskin.
'It's Bibi' was one of several chat shows presented by Bibi Baskin on RTÉ Television, following on from the hugely successful 'Bibi'. It ran from 6 October 1992 to 30 March 1994. It was broadcast for half an hour on Tuesday and Thursday nights during its first season and for an hour on Wednesday nights during its second season. The main producer on the show was Julie Parsons, with Justin Nelson replacing her during the second season.
