A 'congress' group with the name Larkin attached in or around 1918, might indicate a certain Mr. "Big Jim" Larkin(?) Could this be an early example of the Irish Congress of Trades Union? Or perhaps an early version of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association? :)

It is confirmed by [/photos/47297387@N03/ Carol Maddock] that this is the 1918 Waterford meeting of the Irish Trades Union Congress. Though Carol and [/photos/scorbet/ sharon.corbet] advise that the "Larkin" who commissioned the image was not Jim Larkin of Dublin, but maybe Luke Larkin of the Waterford branch of the National Union of Railway Men. [/photos/91549360@N03/ O Mac] also identifies one of the men pictured (the seated man with full beard and lighter suit) as William O'Brien, who was then president of the ITUC. According to the Wikipedia article linked by our intrepid investigators, O'Brien was involved in establishing the ITGWU in 1909, instrumental in the Dublin Lock-out in 1913, participated in the anti-conscription movement of Spring 1918, and became a TD in the early 1920s. Who knows what may follow if any others in the picture are ID'ed :) .....

UPDATE [Nov 2017]: When we posted this image originally [Jan 2017], we wondered if any others in the image would be identified. And, with thanks to an email from D.R.O'Connor Lysaght, we learned that this image appeared in the ITGWU's 'Fifty Years of Liberty Hall' from 1959 - in which almost all of the congress delegates are listed. Our own [/photos/47297387@N03/ Carol Maddock] has helpfully tagged the members of the group....

Photographer: A. H. Poole

Collection: Poole Photographic Studio, Waterford

Date: c.8 August 1918

NLI Ref: POOLEWP 2785