In 1897 J.J. Clarke left Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, to study medicine at the Royal University, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin. He was a keen amateur photographer and the pictures here were all taken between 1897 and 1904. What is most remarkable for the time is his almost journalistic eye for catching people in candid shots rather than photographing formal poses or streetscapes. He died unmarried at the age of 82, and 300 original prints or glass negatives survived to be donated to the archive by his nephew, Brian Clarke.
You can view the whole collection here .
Can you work out what modern watering hole the women are walking past in the last photo?
Man with umbrella standing at the junction of Nassau Street, Grafton Street and Suffolk Street. Hamilton, Long and Co., Apothecaries, No. 107 Grafton Street in background.
Men walking outside cigar shop on Grafton Street. Two men in foreground, walking past No. 67 Grafton Street, R. G. Lewers, ladies outfiting and baby linen warehouse, and No. 66, Tobacconists.
Car driving past the Shelbourne Hotel, St. Stephen
Man in top hat strolling on Earlsfort Terrace. Building in the background is possibly no 1A or No. 1 Earlsfort Terrace. The spire of the Magdalen Asylum and Church on Leeson Street is visible in the background.
Two women, both wearing hats, one wearing fur collar, walking outside Nos. 94 & 95 Grafton St., Edmond Johnson Limited Jewellers.
Woman walking past stationery shop, O
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Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
Hi My name is Richard Grant Lewers and my family came from Castleblaney , Ireland. I was wondering if you know anything more about this R.G.Lewers?
Regards
Richard Lewers
Hi, My name is Richard Lewers Fair, I live in Cork, Ireland. My father was Roderick John Lewers Fair Born in Dublin in 1921, my grandfather was born in Belfast John Lewers Fair, we were then connected to the Lewers family ref, Dr Hugh Lewers and many more who all were born in Belfast, Castleblaney is not more that 70 miles from Belfast, perphaps there is conection.
My ggggrandfather was one Reverend Robert Lewers but I seem to have found two Rev Robert Lewers who lived simultaneously. The Reverend R Lewers who was the pastor at Braddox church, Clontibret near Castleblaney, Monaghan who’s father was a Samuel Lewers according to another website and who is commemorated by a plaque in Braddox church with a date, 1802 or 1809 (my screen hides it exactly), and a Rev Robert, son of Farmer Robert Lewers of a farm, Anahui in Monaghan and owner of several other estates in Monaghan and adjacent counties. His will in 1810 is in PRONI and makes his son, the Rev Robert his executor. They are also descended from the Ross family and one of the brothers of the rev Robert is Ross Lewers.
Hello Norman,
You may think it improbable but has it ever crossed your mind that Lewers could be a variant of McClure/McClewer/McLewer?. Like Andrews is a variant of McAndrews, with the ‘Mc’ dropped and an ‘s’ added. There are several variants of McClure spellings in Co. Monaghan church records going back as far as 1692. Indeed, in other parts of Ulster where Lewers occurs, there are McClures in the same area and I suspect in one or two instances the names may have been used interchangeably. Space prevents further details, I should appreciate your opinion of this possibility.
Regards,
Robert D. McClure in Belfast.