The Monks of the Screw was the name of an Irish drinking club active in the period 1779–1789. It was also called the Order of St. Patrick. The "screw" referred to the

corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attached to a hand ...

required to open a bottle of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

Ethos and foundation

According to the club's song, it was founded sometime in the 5th century by Ireland's patron saint: "''When

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...

this order established / He called us the Monks of the Screw''". The real founder was

John Philpot Curran John Philpot Curran (24 July 1750 – 14 October 1817) was an Irish orator, politician, wit, lawyer and judge, who held the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. He was renowned for his representation in 1780 of Father Neale, a Catholic prie ...

, a convivial and popular wit and a lawyer at the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

. The members were liberal by contemporary standards, and some assisted in the first reforms of the penal laws. Most were lawyers or politicians in the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chamb ...

; Curran being both. Most supported the

Irish Patriot Party The Irish Patriot Party was the name of a number of different political groupings in Ireland throughout the 18th century. They were primarily supportive of Whig concepts of personal liberty combined with an Irish identity that rejected full inde ...

Uniform and meeting places

The members had to wear a black

poplin Poplin, also called tabinet (or tabbinet), is a fine (but thick) wool, cotton or silk fabric that has a vertical warp and a horizontal weft. Nowadays, the name refers to a strong material in a plain weave of any fiber or blend, with crosswise ...

gown and generally met in Kevin Street,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, or at Curran's house "The Priory", near

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council a ...

. Curran was jokingly described as the Prior of the Order.''Irish Literature'' Volume 2 ed. Justin McCarthy Jnr. (1904) at p797.

Members

The membership included

Lord Mornington Earl of Mornington is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1760 for the Anglo-Irish politician and composer Garret Wellesley, 2nd Baron Mornington. On the death of the fifth earl in 1863, it passed to the Duke of Wellington; si ...

Lord Townshend Marquess Townshend is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain held by the Townshend family of Raynham Hall in Norfolk. The title was created in 1787 for George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, George Townshend, 4th Viscount Townshend. Histor ...

(a former viceroy of Ireland), John Philpot Curran, Barry Yelverton, Father Arthur O'Leary,

George Ogle George Ogle (14 October 1742 – 10 August 1814) was an Irish Tory politician. Life He was born 14 October 1742, the only child of George Ogle (1704–1746). He was brought up at Rossminoge, near Camolin, County Wexford, under the care of on ...

Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...

Walter Hussey Burgh Walter Hussey Burgh SL (; ; 1742 – 1783) was an Irish statesman, barrister and judge who sat in the Irish House of Commons, served as Prime Serjeant (1777–79, 1782) and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer (1782–83). He was considered t ...

Dudley Hussey Dudley Hussey (-17 November 1785) was an Irish politician and judge. He sat in the Irish House of Commons for Taghmon and served briefly as Recorder of Dublin. His promising career was cut short by his early death, which was probably due to gaol f ...

Henry Flood Henry Flood (1732 – 2 December 1791), Irish statesman, son of Warden Flood, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became proficient i ...

, Arthur Wolfe,

Arthur Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran Arthur Saunders Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran KP, PC (Ire) (25 July 1734 – 8 October 1809) styled The Honourable Arthur Gore from 1758 to 1762 and Viscount Sudley from 1762 to 1773, was an Irish peer and politician. Early life Arran was the eldest ...

, Jonah Barrington,

William Tankerville Chamberlain William Tankerville Chamberlain (25 June 175112 May 1802) was an Irish judge of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. He was highly praised by his contemporaries for his ability and integrity, but his reputation has suffered as a resu ...

Matthias Finucane Matthias Finucane (1737–1814) was an Irish barrister and judge of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He is notable chiefly for divorcing his wife, which was an unusual move for the time.Ball p.228 Career He was born in Enni ...

, Henry Duquerry and James Dennis.

Modern band

An eponymous Irish traditional music band comes from

Sliabh Luachra Sliabh Luachra (), sometimes anglicised Slieve Logher, is an upland region in Munster, Ireland. It is on the borders of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, and bounded to the south by the River Blackwater. It includes the Mullaghareirk Mounta ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

External links

The tune of the ''Monks of the Screw'' song, audible online

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monks of the Screw History of Ireland (1801–1923) Organisations based in Dublin (city) Gentlemen's clubs in Ireland Alcohol in Ireland