Thomas Tobin

He played an active part in the social and industrial life of Ballincollig and Cork until his death in 1881.

The Tobins were an important merchant family in Liverpool at a time when the city was rapidly expanding at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.

After the emancipation many of these slaves came to England, and it was not uncommon to see coloured people in Liverpool who bore a mark identifying them as having once been on the servitude of the Tobins.

Very little is known about the young Thomas' upbringing, except, as the oldest son, he naturally became involved in his father's business.

In 1833–34, Tobin and company of Liverpool purchased the dilapidated powder mills in Ballincollig from the British Board of Ordnance.

One son had died at six months, a second was in the Army, a third was not yet twenty, while the fourth, James Aspinall, who later took over to Liverpool business, was only seventeen.

In March 1806, on his retirement from his position as managing director, he was presented with "'a magnificent piece of plate' by the supervisors and workmen, a small token of their deep regret….

Arthur became a lieutenant in the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers with whom he served in the Crimean War and in the Indian Mutiny.

He was wounded in the thigh while fighting at the capture of Kaiserbogh, Lucknow (16 March 1858) and died on 12 October 1858.

In February 1856, he lectured in the Athenium (Opera House) on 'Egypt, Past and Present', an account of a visit Cairo and a journey along the Nile.

George Kelleher has suggested, however, that while Thomas Tobin was an 'antiquarian and curio collector in the spirit of the Victorian age', his wife Catherine, 'was a far more considerable cultural figure'.

He had greatest influence during the 1850s when he was "one of the most active members" of the Executive Committee which organised the Cork Exhibition of 1852.

The Earl of Carlisle said "In recognition of the services he has rendered for the institution, of the great esteem in which he was held by the citizens of Cork but particularly in reference for the vast goods and great benefits he has dispensed to the public in the conduct of the large manufactory at Ballincollig and especially for his kindness and humanity to the numerous workers over whom he has charge."

Tobin's collection of Irish Bronze Age antiquities, that was mostly found in the area around Cork, was purchased by the British Museum in 1871.

He had been sick for ten weeks with a gastric ulcer and his brother, James Aspinall, was present at his death.

After his death his wife, Lady Catherine, moved back to England, first to London and then to Eastham in Cheshire where James Aspinall lived.