Limerick Soviet 100 anniversary

[ThePloughman]

Is there anything happening on the Emerald Isle for the 100th anniversary of the Limerick Soviet?
Or will Ireland be its usual minimalist self where historical events are concerned.

[DOC]

Here is a link to a draft programme of events

Deadlink removed — The Governor

[DOC]

A number of events are scheduled this week to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of The Limerick Soviet. I came across this interesting link which shows a slightly different design for a Limerick Soviet 10 Shillings note.

https ://ww w.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/limerick-people-locked-out-of-city-after-attending-hurling-match

[Mac]

Interesting, the signatures are correct. Casey has signed himself as James M Casey, his non-standard signature, which we have seen on various non-issued instances of the notes.

[DOC]

I wonder if this is an early proof note ? Perhaps the note was redesigned to make it clear that The Workers of Limerick were Against British Militarism. In the image above, Against is isolated in the top panel.

[Mac]

Yes, 'against' is a little lost up there.

There may well have been other design proofs also.
As we have learned more about the issue, a greater variety of notes have been turning up.

[DOC]

Hopefully other interesting items turn up as people check their heirlooms during centenary year. In the meantime, here is a link providing details about an interesting new commemorative currency issue. An example of the new 10 shillings note is attached.

https ://ww w.limerickleader.ie/news/home/376874/limerick-soviet-shilling-notes-revived-for-centenary-celebration.html

[Mac]

Very 1930s

[DOC]

I stumbled upon this image of a promissory note for 1 shilling issued by The Bowhill Mineworkers of Fife, Scotland and was struck by its similarity to the Limerick Soviet notes. Further investigation suggests that the Bowhill Mineworkers Issue of 1920 was inspired by that of the 1919 Limerick Soviet Issue. In both cases, three denominations for 1, 5 and 10 shillings were issued.

[callahiljo]

DOC, that is really very interesting. we did not include this in Paper Money of Scotland, as neither my co-author nor myself had ever seen it before. If you are able to find out any more about this note issue, I would love to write the story up for the next issue of Banknote Buzz, the e-magazine of the Banknote Society of Scotland.

Could I ask where the image came from? It's remarkable how these new discoveries keep popping up!

[callahiljo]

Having dug around a little I can confirm the note resides in the archives of the National Library of Scotland. See here for more: https://www.nls.uk/learning-zone/politi ... sory-note/

No excuse for not spotting it when we wrote Paper Money of Scotland!

The obvious similarities with the Limerick notes suggest to me that the workers movements of the time were in close contact across not only in Ireland but also across the UK. It will be interesting to see if any more similar issues can now be unearthed.

[Mac]

Wow! That Bowhill Mineworkers' Strike note is a nice discovery!
And as you say, very similar in design to the Limerick Soviet notes.

[DOC]

Mac, I think they call it serendipity, finding something interesting by chance that you were not looking for

[DOC]

Having dug around a little I can confirm the note resides in the archives of the National Library of Scotland. See here for more: nls.uk/learning-zone/politics-and-society/labour-history/promissory-note/

Callahiljo, yes, you found the source This is an interesting story and it would be great to unearth some additional information. It is always interesting to see new material emerge and this is now possible as venerable institutions such as the National Library of Scotland digitise their collections.

Btw, I have copies of Paper Money of Scotland (Volumes I & II) and these tomes provide a truly comprehensive guide to the paper money issues of Scotland !

[callahiljo]

DOC, not many people can say they have both PMI and PMS, congratulations! My PMS co-author and I are working on Bowhill and will be the looking much more closely at the several Scottish mining histories to see if more than just the Bowhill miners produced promissory notes during the strikes of the 1920s.

[callahiljo]

Re Bowhill a 10s note, unissued and with the signatories' names stamped on it, has come to light and is to date the only one in private hands. A scan is attached. A total of three Bowhill notes have now been identified, two 1s and one 10s. A 5s note was also issued and the hunt is now on!

The link to the Limerick notes was confirmed in an article in the West Lothian Courier of March 1921 (with thanks to DOC for locating it). The Fife miners had heard all about the Limerick Soviet and so issued notes with designs based on the Limerick ones in a very similar process. Reportedly they issued £1500-worth (rather more than the Limerick issue) but redeemed them all, apart from £50-worth kept by some as souvenirs.

[DOC]

Callahiljo, that 10 shillings note is a great find, thanks for sharing the image. It is interesting to see that the serial number of this cancelled example is low, which suggests a small issue for the 10/- notes.

Here is an image of the third Bowhill note identified to date, a cancelled 1 /- note, with a relatively high serial number. Hopefully other examples will turn up in due course including a 5 /- note !

[Mac]

It is also to see that the Bowhill Mineworkers' Strike 10 Shilling note has the officers' names stamped on it rather than them being handwritten. So we now have two varieties, stamped 'signatures' and hand signatures.