Alo O'Brennan, Cormac St, Tullamore was a member of a strongly republican family. He served a month in jail for nationalist activity and the family home in Church St, Tullamore, was raided on a number of occasions. He was manager of the employment exchange in Tullamore from the late 1920s until 1974. Leading member of Irish National Forresters and a former Chief Ranger, he was a founder member of Tullamore Pipe Band in 1911. He died in 1976 aged 82.
Séamus O’ Brennan was born James Michael Brennan in Daingean, Co. Offaly c. 1886. He was educated in Daingean NS and the old CBS Tullamore. He worked in the GPO from 1903 and soon after joined the Keating branch of the Gaelic League and the Geraldine Football Club with two others, but after six months’ probation all three lost their jobs, obviously for their patriotic tendencies. He returned to Tullamore where he worked as a clerk in P. & H. Egan’s. He helped form the Tullamore Pipers’ Band in 1911 and was a key member of the Tullamore Volunteers in 1914. He went on the run with Peadar Bracken following the shooting of Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Sergeant Ahearn who had attempted to disarm them on 20 March 1916 (the Tullamore Incident). In his military pension application, Brennan states that on Good Friday he was sent by PH Pearse to Tullamore. Following the Easter Rising he was interned until June 1916. He joined F Company, First Battalion, Irish Volunteers upon reorganisation. During the War of Independence he acquired a number of arms for the IRA before being arrested again in November 1920 and interned in Ballykinlar until December 1921. In 1922 he married Miss May Margaret Doody, daughter of James T. Doody, Tullamore. He was a personal friend of de Valera since the 1917 Ennis election and for a time served him as a bodyguard. President de Valera and old comrades were among those who attended the funeral in 1968.
Eamonn Bulfin was born in Argentina to Irish parents. His father William Bulfin of Derrinlough, near Birr, County Offaly, had emigrated to Argentina in the 1880s and became the editor of The Southern Cross newspaper. On the family's return to Ireland, William Bulfin enrolled Eamonn in Pearse's school, St Enda's in Rathfarnham, and he later attended University College Dublin. Eamonn joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1913, and along with some fellow St Enda's students created home-made bombs in the school's basement in preparation for the Easter Rising.
Notable for raising the 'Irish Republic' flag over the GPO In the Easter Rising of 1916. Following the insurrection he was condemned to death, but was reprieved and deported to Buenos Aires after internment in Frongoch in Wales along with the other Irish soldiers of the Rising. In 1920 he was elected Chairperson of Offaly County Council in absentia and held the post when the decision was taken to rename King's County as Offaly. He returned in 1923 on the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 and was active in local politics.
The distillery was founded in 1757 by Matthew MacManus, and went through several owners until by 1843 it had been taken over by John Locke who transformed its fortunes. In 1893 it became a limited company. The 20th century saw a decline in profitability and by 1958, the distillery ceased production. In 1982, it re-opened as a whiskey distillery museum following restoration by the Kilbeggan Preservation and Development Association. In 2007 distilling recommenced at Kilbeggan and it is known now as Kilbeggan Distillery.
Pattersons & Co. Ltd. traded at the Old Established House, J.K.L Street, Edenderry and consisted of a public house, a general provisions shop and an undertakers.
Patrick Moore & Sons, Victuallers
Patrick Moore & Sons were a family run victuallers who supplied meat to many local people and businesses in the towns of Edenderry, County Offaly and Rathangan, County Kildare and many smaller towns in the surrounding area.
J. & L. F. Goodbody was established in 1865 as a jute manufacturing business based at Clashawaun in Clara and also with offices in Dublin. Its directors were Jonathan Goodbody (1865-88), Lewis F. Goodbody (1865-87), Robert Goodbody (c1870-88), Joshua C. Goodbody (c1873-88), Fredrick R. Goodbody (1880-88) and J. B. Clibborn Goodbody (1880-88).
The business was formed into a limited company in 1888 and traded under the name J. & L. F. Goodbody Ltd. As well as jute, it also manufactured cotton and synthetics. Its main factories at Clara and Waterford were later joined by factories at Dublin, Limerick and Slane. In 1937, it became a public company when outside shareholders and directors were introduced. It was quoted on the Dublin Stock Exchange and wound up in 1984. The family crest was adopted as the registered trade mark.