Local Hackney Service

Brothers Simon Mitchell (b.1898) who served in the Irish Army in 1922 and Frank Mitchell (b.1912)  to parents Patrick Mitchell and Bridget Curley, Derrylissane, Menlough, ran the local hackney service with their motor car. We are fortunate to have a photographs of the two brothers with their Chrysler motor car with it’s registration plate Z 2822. They serviced a large area in the Skehana-Menlough region. Patsy Laffey still has the original horn from this car.

The Mitchells have nearly every local name mentioned in this hackney logbook. They brought landlords to trains, bands to dances, footballers to matches and even officers he named “the blue shirts” to their destinations during very troubled times in Ireland, just to name a few.

They are known to have carried coffins on top of the car for local families and brought honeymooners home. I am sure the Mitchells has kept many a secret during their careers as the local hackney drivers. It was a great service to have during this time period as most local families would have had either a horse or donkey and cart or just an old high nelly bike.

Their hackney record is a great insight into a life and time now gone and bring us back into the world of the comings and goings of rural life in Ireland during 1920/30s.

We are so lucky to have photographs of Frank and Simon and the car they used. I would like to thank Patsy Laffey, Windfield Road, for allowing the Skehana & District Heritage Group to scan this beautiful record and to now have it for future generations to see.

Mitchell's Hackney Car

Mitchells home house Derrylissane 1940s

Courtesy of Patsy Laffey

Front Cover Mitchells Hackney Logbook

Courtesy of Patsy Laffey

Inside page of Mitchells Hackney Logbook

Courtesy of Patsy Laffey

1960s Simon Mitchell on right

Frank Mitchell in middle 1950s

Simon Mitchell in Irish Army uniform c1922

Simon's army record from Mullingar Division 20 February 1922

Patsy with original Hackney Chrysler motor car hor

Emma Laffey