Timothy Quill

Timothy Quill was born to Daniel and Mary Quill in Clondrohid, Macroom, County Cork, on 9 May 1901. He had five siblings in total, all brothers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Clondrohid/Garranenagappul/426754/|title=National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911|website=census.nationalarchives.ie|access-date=29 April 2019}} Initially living in Macroom,{{Cite web|url=https://centenaries-ituc.nationalarchives.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/30th-annual-report-1924.pdf|title=ANNUAL REPORT (ITUC) 1924}}{{Cite web|url=https://centenaries-ituc.nationalarchives.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/31st-annual-report-1925.pdf|title=ANNUAL REPORT Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress (1925)}} he moved to Cork City with his wife and young family, and in 1936 was living near Victoria Cross.{{cite news|title=Views And Interviews|date= 15 November 1955|work=The Cork Examiner}}{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=EEC/1938/06/07&id=Ar00214&sk=490DB52E|title=The Nominations | publisher = Evening Echo | date = 7 June 1938 |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}} Before his time in the co-operative movement, he was involved in the insurance business.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX%2F1930%2F08%2F21&id=Ar01407&sk=72533DD1|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=13 August 2021 | title = Insurance Federation - Large Party to Visit Cork To-day | publisher = Cork Examiner | date = 21 August 1930 }}

Quill was a regional trade union secretary for North-West Cork. Quill, along with TJ Murphy and Paddy Crowley MCC, have been credited with establishing "labourers' clubs" in County Cork during the 1920s and 1930s. The clubs would meet after Mass and some were supported by parish priests. The clubs began to go into decline in the 1940s as farm machinery became more commonplace.{{Cite web|title=Recalling the many Working Men's Clubs of West Cork|url=https://www.southernstar.ie/news/recalling-the-many-working-mens-clubs-of-west-cork-4218616|access-date=2021-03-14|website=The Southern Star|language=en}}

Quill was a councillor on Cork County Council at the time, having been elected in 1925. It has been said that he was recruited into the party by Labour politician and fellow Clondrohid native T. J. Murphy.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/politicalparties0000gall|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/politicalparties0000gall/page/77 77]|quote=T.J Murphy Irish labour.|title=Political Parties in the Republic of Ireland|last=Gallagher|first=Michael|date=1985|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-1797-1|language=en}}

Quill was 26 years old at the time of the general election on 9 June 1927 and was one of 44 Labour candidates in total. While campaigning, Quill described himself as a "temperate man".{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=SST/1927/02/26&id=Ar00607&sk=397C2D9B|title=For Ladies Hosiery Try JAMES O'BRIEN 4 Bridge St., SKIBBEREEN |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=13 April 2020}} In June 1927, at a meeting in North Cork, Quill outlined what he believed the Labour Party stood for. Referring to the level of unemployment, he spoke about the "right to work" and the government's perceived failing of "humbler people" over the "well-to-do class".{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX/1927/06/09&id=Ar00913&sk=3AC16354|title=NORTH CORK. MEETING IN MACRO.OM|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}}

Quill was elected as a Labour Party TD for the Cork North constituency at the June 1927 general election, receiving 18% of first preference votes.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Timothy-Quill.D.1927-06-23/|title=Timothy Quill|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=11 November 2008}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nCdDwAAQBAJ&q=timothy+quill+irish+politician&pg=PT700|title=Irish Elections 1948–77: Results and Analysis: Sources for the Study of Irish Politics 2|last=Gallagher|first=Michael|date=4 June 2019|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-99772-4|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IND/1927/06/15&id=Ar00916&sk=560D2A9B|title= Names of the New Deputies | publisher = Irish Independent | date = 15 June 1927 |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}} Slogans, such as 'Be Labour This Time' and 'Away With Slums & Mud Cabins' were featured on his election posters.{{Cite book|url=http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000516078|title=Away with slums and mud cabins. Vote Labour, number one for Quill.|author = Labour Party |date=1927|publisher=The Kerryman}}{{Cite book|url=http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000516086|title=Be Labour this time : vote one for Quill.|author=Labour Party |date=1927|publisher=The Kerryman}} He was the youngest member of the 5th Dail.{{Cite news|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=EEC%2F1927%2F09%2F29&id=Ar01016&sk=3597787E|title=The Defeated Labour Candidate|date=29 September 1927|work=Evening Echo}}{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=SST/1927/07/02&id=Ar00704&sk=138AFEAA|title=Macroom - The Youngest Deputy | publisher = Southern Star | date = 2 July 1927 |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}}

He spoke against the Public Safety Bill 1927 in August 1927.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1927-08-03/16|title=ORDUITHE AN LAE—ORDERS OF THE DAY. – PUBLIC SAFETY BILL, 1927—THIRD STAGE (RESUMED). – Dáil Éireann (5th Dáil) – Wednesday, 3 Aug 1927 – Houses of the Oireachtas|website=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=3 August 1927|access-date=2 June 2019}} During a finance committee debate on old age pensions in July 1927, he decried what he described as the "strict and harsh manner" of some pensions officers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/1927-07-05/9|title=IN COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. – VOTE 7—OLD AGE PENSIONS. – Dáil Éireann (5th Dáil)|website=Houses of the Oireachtas|date=5 July 1927|access-date=3 June 2019}}

Quill lost his seat at the September 1927 general election, serving only three months as a TD. He received 4,123 first preference votes. T. D. Keating of the ITGWU said that it was regrettable that Quill was not re-elected. The number of Labour candidates almost halved (from 44 to 28). Speaking on the heavy defeat for Labour in the September 1927 election, T. J. Murphy regretted that the party had lost candidates, like Quill, who he described as "young men of the ability and honesty of Mr. Quill, who had been defeated in North Cork by a mere handful of votes, after making a marvellous fight against a combination of influences".{{Cite news|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=EEC%2F1927%2F10%2F06&id=Ar00929&sk=27DF6453|title=Mr. T. J Murphy T.D., in Bandon|date=6 October 1927|work=Evening Echo}}

Quill did not contest the 1932 general election, declining to stand at a convention in Millstreet, Cork. According to The Southern Star, it was thought Quill would be the chosen candidate, but, according to the newspaper's columnist, had "to a certain extent, lost touch with the electors of this division and he declined to accept the honour".{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=SST/1932/01/09&id=Ar00311&sk=1C2E5354|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com| publisher = Southern Star | date = 9 January 1932 | title = District Doings - Macroom |access-date=13 April 2020}} According to the Cork Examiner, having been proposed and seconded, Quill declined the nomination and asked "that some other candidate […] be proposed".{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX/1932/01/04&id=Ar00902&sk=E1FD8F70|title=Labour Convention at Mill Street | publisher = Cork Examiner | date = 4 January 1932 |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=13 April 2020}} In a letter published in The Southern Star in June 1933, Quill labelled criticisms leveled against him and the Labour movement as 'ignorant'.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=SST/1933/06/24&id=Ar00818&sk=85E17704|title=PIN PRICKS FROM PIGMY POLITICIANS MACROOM LABOUR CONVENTION CONTROVERSY |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}} As of 1936, he was Chairman of the Cork County Executive of the Labour Party.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=EEC/1936/05/18&id=Ar00607&sk=17128D82|title=MEETING IN CORK|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}}

Quill contested the 1937 general election as a sitting city councillor on the Cork Corporation,{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX/1937/06/15&id=Ar00916&sk=CED64260|title=Munster Candidates | publisher = Cork Examiner | date = 15 June 1937 |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}} as one of 23 Labour candidates, receiving 14.9% of first preference votes, but was not elected. He ran again in the 1938 general election,{{cite web|url=http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=1507|title=Timothy Quill|work=ElectionsIreland.org|access-date=11 November 2008}} this time as one of 30 Labour candidates,{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IPR/1938/06/01&id=Ar00915&sk=4968E423|title=Labour To Fight Thirty Seats ? First List Of Candidates|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}} receiving 4,950 first preference votes (12.6%), but was once again not elected. This was to be his last general election campaign,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HTJAwAAQBAJ&q=timothy+quill+cork+north&pg=PA271|title=Longman Handbook of Modern Irish History Since 1800|last1=O'Day|first1=Alan|last2=Fleming|first2=Neil|date=11 June 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-89711-8|language=en}} however he would remain as an elected city councillor on Cork Corporation.

According to A Biographical Dictionary of Cork, by Tim Cadogan and Jeremiah Falvey, Quill served as a councillor on Cork County Council for two periods. As a Transport member, he was nominated and won a seat in 1925, retaining his seat in 1928 and lost the seat in 1934, before winning a seat again in 1942 and serving until 1945. He was elected to both the Cork County Council and the Cork Corporation that year. Quill was at one time Chair of the South Cork Board of Public Assistance.

Quill also served as a city councillor with Cork Corporation.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PqVFDkYv0_AC&q=tim+quill+cork+corporation|title=Report|publisher = Labour Party |date=1940|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbUZAQAAIAAJ&q=tim+quill+cork+corporation|title=The Municipal Year Book and Public Services Directory|date=1945|publisher=Municipal Publications Limited|language=en}} The City Councillor's 1920–1945 roll book seems to record that T Quill was elected in 1936.{{Cite journal|title=Councillors' Roll Book|journal=Cork Corporation Roll Book|via=Cork City Archives}} In 1939, he is listed as a member of the Labour Party's Cork Centre Branch.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hW__lw3PVxUC&q=timothy+quill+cork+corporation|title=Report|date=1939|language=en|last1=(Ireland)|first1=Labour Party}} There was a local election in the city almost every year from 1929 to 1936 to elect portions of the city council and others in 1942 and 1945.{{Cite book|url=http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000542099|title=Cork Corporation elections 1942 : Labour Party candidates /|author=Labour Party|date=1942|publisher=Eagle Printing Works}}{{Cite book|url=http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000544324|title=Cork Corporation election, 1942 : Wednesday, 19th August, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. /|author = Labour Party |date=1942|publisher=Guy & Co.}} Quill was a member of the South Cork Board of Public Assistance and the South Cork Board of Public Health.{{Cite web|title=««I TINORI I «CURES CORNS WITHOUT PAIN * fi SOLD EVERYWHERE £|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=SST/1940/10/19&id=Ar00605&sk=012831FC|access-date=2021-03-19|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com}} He is still listed as a councillor in this book in 1944–1945.{{Cite web|url=http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/streetandtradedirectories/1930directory/1930dir/files/assets/basic-html/page31.html|title=Page 31 – complete1930directory|website=corkpastandpresent.ie|access-date=13 June 2019}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N99awUWqYksC&q=timothy+quill+labour+party+cork+corporation&pg=PA272|title=Philip Monahan: A Man Apart : the Life and Times of Ireland's First Local Authority Manager|last=Quinlivan|first=Aodh|date=2006|publisher=Institute of Public Administration|isbn=978-1-904541-35-6|language=en}} Quill served as Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork and on the Committee of Management of the South Infirmary.{{Cite web|title=Shared Article|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX/1940/03/14&id=Ar01215&sk=BFC61CDE|access-date=2021-03-19|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com}}{{Cite web|title=SOUTH INFIRMARY|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX/1944/11/03&id=Ar00429&sk=87E474E9|access-date=2021-03-19|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com}}

In 1936, Quill said that "the Irish Labour Movement has its own road to travel and had no place for the cries of Fascism or Communism that plagued the world today."{{Cite web|title=LABOUR FUNCTION|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=EEC/1936/08/25&id=Ar00604&sk=B83F2FDE|access-date=2021-03-19|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com}}

During the 1940s, Quill became chair of the Liam Mellows Branch of the Labour Party. In this capacity he proved to be an enemy of Michael O'Riordan.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} The branch had been established by former members of the Curragh Camp's Communist Group. O'Riordan had retrospectively asserted that Quill was imposed as chair to ensure that Labour in Cork City could control the new branch. O'Riordan also stated that Quill had made an attack on what Quill "called 'the Jew boys' of Cork". It was during this time that the ITGWU had disaffiliated from the Labour Party and the National Labour Party was established on the basis that communists were infiltrating the party.{{Cite web|title=Micheal O Riordain|url=http://www.rjtechne.org/century130703/1940s/riordan.htm|access-date=2021-01-30|website=www.rjtechne.org}}{{Cite web|date=2011-03-25|title=Gerard Murphy's The Year of Disappearances {{!}} The Irish War|url=https://theirishwar.com/a-review-of-gerard-murphys-the-year-of-disappearances-niall-meehan-17th-november-2010/|access-date=2021-01-30|website=theirishwar.com|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=O'Riordan, Michael (Micheál; Mick) {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oriordan-michael-micheal-mick-a9433|access-date=2021-03-19|website=www.dib.ie}}

A report in the Irish Press suggests that the Administrative Council "had become aware that certain persons in Cork were engaging in activities which appear to be inconsistent with their membership of the Labour Party and accordingly they appointed a subcommittee to investigate the membership and administration of the Liam Mellows Branch".{{Cite news|title=The Irish Press|date=20 April 1944}}{{nonspecific|date=June 2020}}

O'Riordan's son, Manus, would later refer to Quill as an "anti-Semitic red-baiting villain" who was responsible for O'Riordan's expulsion.

During the 1920s, Quill established the City of Cork Co-operative Society with Con Desmond.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} Quill was the secretary of the City of Cork Co-operative Society and manager and secretary of the Cork Co-operative Bakery Society. This included social enterprises such as Cooperative Tea, Cooperative Cream and Cooperative Bread.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IPR/1935/07/24&id=Ar00215&sk=BDA443A4|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|title = Cork Bread Prices | publisher = Irish Press | date = 24 July 1935 | access-date=2020-04-14}}{{Cite web|url=http://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IND/1935/07/24&id=Ar00607&sk=CE911884|title=Finding on Prices Commission | publisher = Irish Independent | date = 24 July 1935 | quote = Mr T Quill said his firm charged 10d for the 4lb loaf |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-14}} He was also a member of the Cork Co-operators' Guild.{{Cite news|title=Advertisements|date=June 1939|work=The Cork Co-Operator}} He was also the editor of The Cork Co-Operator,{{Cite news|title=Letters to the Editor|date=January 1940|work=The Cork Co-Operator}} a monthly publication of the co-operative movement in Cork. In a letter to the editor, published on the cover of the June 1939 issue, Steve Denny (director of the London Co-operative Society) described The Cork Co-Operator as a "bright little paper".Cork Co-Operator, June 1939, Page 1, Letter from Director of England's biggest Co-operative Society Quill frequently attended the Co-operative Congress in the UK throughout the 1930s and 1940s.{{Cite book|title=The Co-Operative Congress 1939 Edition|year=1939|location=UK|pages=Delegates To Congress}}{{Cite book|title=The Co-Operative Congress 1942 Edition|year=1942|location=UK|pages=Delegates To Congress}} Inspired by Robert Owen, he built cottages for the workers on his land.{{Cite news|title=A Day with 'The Cork Co-Operator' Timothy Quill|year=1951|work=The Evening Echo}} Quill regarded himself as a Christian Socialist. He resigned his position in the co-operative movement in 1954. These societies were defunct by the time of his death in 1960.

In 2021, an article in The Southern Star described Quill as "an icon in the Irish co-operative movement".

He married Mary McCarthy on 7 January 1930.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX/1930/01/18&id=Ar00103&sk=3A5E783A|title=Marriage - Quill-McCarthy | publisher = Cork Examiner | date = 18 January 1930 |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-29}}

In the 1940s, Quill lived at Ferney House in Blackrock, Cork,{{Cite web|url=http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/streetandtradedirectories/guyscorkdirectory1945_25feb/files/assets/basic-html/page20.html|title=Page 38-39 – Guys Cork Almanac 1945_OCR|website=corkpastandpresent.ie|access-date=31 October 2019}} where he grew vegetables and kept livestock. His first trial of Holstein Friesian cattle took place here, and he owned what The Southern Star described as "one of the largest and most successful herds in the country".{{Cite web|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=SST/1955/10/22&id=Ar00615&sk=01F768F5|title=Blarney Field Day | publisher = Southern Star | date = 22 October 1955 |website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-29}} He was used as an example in a 1950s advertisement titled "Friesian T.T Herd Makes History", and served as the honorary secretary of the Irish Friesian Society.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=TNT/1956/12/15&id=Ar00703&sk=2E855E02|title=FRIESIAN T.T. HERD MAKES HISTORY|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com|access-date=2020-04-29}} He served on the General Committee of the Munster Agricultural Society, wrote a farming column for The Cork Examiner and contributed to The Evening Echo under the pen name Carrigeen.{{Cite web|title=Shared Article|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IEX/1956/01/30&id=Ar00603&sk=1DCD550B|access-date=2021-03-19|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com}} By the 1950s he had settled at a property near Blarney,{{cite web|url = https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IFJ/1960/06/18&id=Ar00309&sk=35D13673 | publisher = Irish Farmers Journal | date = 18 June 1960 | title = Obituary Timothy Quill | via = archive.irishnewsarchive.com }} left politics and was Chair of the Blarney National Farmer's Association.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xjEiAQAAIAAJ&q=timothy+quill+cork+county+council|title=Annual Report|last=Agriculture|first=Ireland Dept of|date=1959|language=en}} According to the Irish Independent, Quill was the Chair of the Federation of Cow Testing Associations.{{Cite web|title=Cow Testing Group's Deputation|url=https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=IND/1959/12/16&id=Ar01310&sk=91D7386A|access-date=2021-03-18|website=archive.irishnewsarchive.com}}

He died on 10 June 1960, aged 59 and was buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RP6UAwAAQBAJ&q=timothy+quill+cork+north&pg=PA374|title=Elections 2011|last=Donnelly|first=Seán|date=2012|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-0-9520197-8-7|language=en}} In an obituary published on 11 June 1960, the Evening Echo described him as an "{{sic|hide=y|authorative}} writer on agricultural matters". The Timothy Quill Perpetual Challenge Cup for the MAS (Munster Agricultural Society) Holstein Friesian Senior Cow Class at Cork Summer Show is named after him.{{Cite web|url=https://www.corksummershow.com/custom/public/files/cork-summer-show-2019-schedule-of-classes.pdf|title=Cork Summer Show Schedule of Classes|website=Cork Summer Show}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.corksummershow.com/custom/public/files/prize-schedule-2019-1.pdf|title=Cork Show Schedule 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.corksummershow.com/custom/public/files/cork-summer-show-2019-schedule-of-classes.pdf|title=Schedule of Classes 2019 (Cork Summer Show)}}

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{{Wikiquote|Timothy Quill}}

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{{Cork North (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quill, Timothy}}

Category:1901 births

Category:1960 deaths

Category:Labour Party (Ireland) TDs

Category:Members of the 5th Dáil

Category:Politicians from County Cork

Category:People from Macroom