Irish Coins & Historical Medals

Total Abstinence Society of Ireland, Cork, a silver medal by J. Jones, male and female figures flanking arms, children at their feet, rev. pledge, edge named (Presented by the Very Revd. F. Mathew to William Ronan, September 30th 1841), 43mm (Frazer p.321; Went, Heritage 125; BDM III, 82). About very fine and a very interesting piece by association; with clip and ring for suspension £150-£200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Irish Historical Medals, the Property of a Gentleman.

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Provenance: J. Spencer Collection, DNW Auction M5, 17 December 2007, Lot 1031.

Theobald Mathew (1790-1856), a Capuchin priest popularly known as Father Mathew, established the Total Abstinence Society of Ireland in Cork in 1838. In less than nine months no fewer than 150,000 names were enrolled as taking the Pledge, an enduring act of will to keep a person sober for life. Went states that most people would receive medals in white metal or brass, with silver medals reserved only for priests or other VIPs.

The recipient was Fr William Ronan (b. 1824), a young priest from the diocese of Dromore, co Down, who was received into the order of the Society of Jesus in 1850. In 1854 he went to the Crimea as spiritual director to the Irish Sisters of Mercy, who were working there as nurses. In 1872 he was appointed rector of the church and college at the Crescent in Limerick and, during the course of his missionary work, was inspired to found what became Ireland’s first apostolic school in September 1880. Two years later and with 28 pupils, the school moved to the government agricultural college at Mungret, near Limerick, with Ronan installed as its first rector. From 1884 to 1886 he travelled extensively in the USA, raising funds to enlarge the school buildings and to finance bursaries