horgan brothers photographers

Chronicling 100 Years of Youghal's History

The career of the three Horgan brothers started when they were about 11 yrs old, with the death of their father, Ted Horgan, circa 1887. With no means of support they and their mother were destine for the poor houses. Ted had been a very big strong man with the power necessary to sow thigh boots for Cavalry officers. These boots requires hundreds of tiny waterproof stitches. The payment for his last pair of boots, one sovereign, saved the family from the poorhouse. This wee coin paid off their debts and paid the deposit for the three boys to enter apprenticeship as shoemakers with DeLaCoeur & Co., Main St. Youghal.

The Horgan brothers served their apprenticeship and by 1892 had opened a shop of their own in Brown St. But by now they had also become photographers. On the occasion of the 3 boys leaving school and receiving their First Holy Communion and Confirmation this new interest in photography had been sparked. The oldest of the three, Tom, took a pinhole photograph of the occasion using a sheet of sensitized paper and a cardboard box. This photograph still exists and is a well browned archival piece.

There were other photographers in the town at the time but the Horgan's could share out between them the unbearable hours in pitch darkness that were needed to develop negatives. Developing prints was done in relative comfort with a red light in the darkroom.

One other advantage was that Jim, the second eldest, was quite a good artist. He was able to retouch glass negatives with charcoal pencil, removing all wrinkles, blemishes, and of course mistakes. He made people look a lot younger and at their best. Jim used a large pyramid-like box for retouching. It was big enough at one end to take his head (with a black cloak over it) and 8" x 5", the size of a glass negative at the other end.

If you went to the shop in Brown St. the mother would answer the knock at the door asking if you wanted to see Mr. Horgan the shoemaker or Mr. Horgan the photographer. If you asked for the photographer one of the boys came out wearing a white coat. If you asked for the shoemaker he wore a leather apron. Such was the formality or pomposity of Victorian Ireland.

The photography business became so successful that the boys gave up shoemaking and took new premises in Friar St. across from the present cinema building (Jack O'Patsy's'). Business was good and the boys worked until midnight going home with pockets full of money. Their mother, a Protestant, was a good business woman and remembering the poor house persuaded Jim to save. The other boys were more interested in having a good time. Jim began to save and as soon as he could put 20 shillings together he converted it into a gold sovereign. Soon he had nearly one hundred pounds in gold, a fortune at that time. The other two boys copped on and began saving as well. In a few years they bought a new studio across the road in Friar St. and an old stable on which they built the present cinema (1912 ­ 1917). Behind these in Strand St. they built four houses with room for three more.

The business varied over the years. As well as taking photos and spending endless hours developing and printing them, they ran magic lantern shows in Youghal and all the villages and townlands around such as Clashmore, Killeagh, Glendine, Knockmonlea, Ballymacoda. The Horgan brothers would cycle to a village, take photographs and deliver photographs from their last visit. In the evening there followed a magic lantern show which was always followed by a music session. All the local dancers, musicians, singers and reciters made a special occasion of each visit. The greatest night was probably in Tattan's Hotel in Killeagh when most of the population were found on the premises after hours by the local RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary).

From 1897 on, the magic lantern shows turned into film shows and business improved even further. The Lumiere Brothers, the inventors of film, were the only suppliers of projectors and movie cameras. All films had to bought from them straight from France. The Lumiere Brothers' cameramen made all the films in Ireland and all over the world. Though these films were extremely good Jim Horgan decided to make a movie camera of his own. This he did by converting a projector. Jim was the first Irishman to make film, circa 1900. Much of the film remain today. This camera needs much telling about. The camera stood on legs over 6' feet high. Jim looked through and turned the handle while Phil, with his arms sown into a large black bag attached to the bottom of the camera, rolled up exposed negative film as it poured out of the camera at 120' per minute. Tom stood by on guard to prevent accidents and to calculate exposure time and aperture.

The climax of their filming career when King Edward and Queen Alexandra visit Lismore Castle. The lads positioned their camera near the entrance to the castle amidst rows of police forming a guard of honor. The police, of course, had never before seen a movie camera and were not prepared to let the king see the man with his hands in the black bag. After all, he could easily have a gun in there. The police knew there was no gun but felt the situation could easily frighten the king and queen. A large constable was positioned just in front of the camera to cover it up when suddenly the courtege arrived.

Jim knocked the helmet off the constable and immediately began filming. Tom gave the constable a nudge and sent him sprawling. Needless to say angry scuffles insued. The king however stopped his coach and explained to the constable that these were the moving pictures and he doffed his hat before the camera. The queen opened the carriage door and smiled graciously into the camera.

Jim's ability to touch up photographs led him into an unusual area, that of animation. He already had a knack of doing unusual things with negatives like giving the Parish church the appearance that it was set amongst heavenly clouds, or making the river run down the main street of Youghal. Taking this one step further he was able to make the Clock Gate come to life and run off out the bay, sprout little arms and swim away. This sounds simple but just to mention one difficulty, when the Clock Gate ran away the south main street came into view. So the whole street had to be constructed before the film could be made. Jim Horgan could well have been the first animator but not enough film is left to establish a definite date. He was certainly one of the earliest and probably the first.