GIBSON BEQUEST SUB-COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING
CORK QUARTER SESSIONS
Punch and Co. v. Dowdall and Co. Ltd
The plaintiffs, John Francis Punch and George Harrington Punch, trading as Punch and Co*, 7 and 8 Academy Street, Cork, sued the defendants, Dowdall and Co. Ltd., steamship brokers and carriers, 27 Grand Parade, Cork, for £20 2s for breach of agreement in the transmission by steamer and rail of one case of boot polish from Cork to Tralee. Mr G. J. Daly (instructed by Messrs Foley and Emerson Solicitors) appeared for plaintiffs, and Mr. A. Healy, solr [solicitor] for the defendants.
Evidence on both sides was taken on Tuesday, and the Recorder, giving judgement for the defendants today, said that the defendants were bound to take reasonable care for the protection of the goods, and in his judgement, he did not think they [Dowdall and Co. Ltd.) were guilty of a breach of duty.’
(Extract: Cork Examiner, 3 April 1924, p12)
*Punch & Co was founded in 1851 ‘when Abigail Punch entered the predominantly male world of retail business, trading in tea and coffee. Although population numbers in rural Ireland were still in decline following the Great Famine, consumerism in the cities was nevertheless on the rise, fuelled by the Industrial Revolution in Britain. The shop became a major tea importer, and later Punch & Co moved to larger premises at Academy Street and became involved solely in the wholesale trade. In 1941, John F. Punch was appointed by Minister for Supplies, Seam Lemass, as one of four directors of the newly formed Tea Importers (Eire) Ltd, a company established to maintain tea supplies to the Republic’ through the ‘Emergency’ years (1939-1945).
In 1912, George Punch, had been manufacturing shoe polish on a small scale, based on a formula he developed in this garden shed at Glanmire (now in the suburbs of Cork City). By 1919, a five-floor mill at Glanmire, close to the family home, was producing the company’s boot polish and leather creams. In the 1920s, Punch & Co products had become a household name. Through the 1930s to 1960s business flourished due to the indigenous footwear industry but when the economy opened to outside competition, it began to diversify by purchasing companies of soap, detergents and in 1985 acquired ERCO, the plastic packaging producer. In 2006, the Punch family sold Punch Industries to a pan-European cleaning product company called the Spotless Group thus ending a 150-year partnership with Cork.
(extracts from Dick Hogan, Irish Times, 23 November 2001 and Aine Coffey, Irish Times, 17 November 2006)
Monday 20 November / Thursday 30 November 1922
Thursday 16 November / Saturday 18 November 1922
Thursday 9 November / Tuesday 31 October 1922
11 July / 7 August / 11 August / 12 August 1922