History of Weirs of 21 Baggot Street

Weir Family Tree
Family Tree of Irvine, Harry & Edith "Edie" Weir, et al
Dublin, Ireland

Parents:

Father: William Caldwell Weir (1848-1931)
Mother: Susan (Tinkler) Weir (1852-1923)
Married January 15, 1873
See Photo taken 2 years after marriage
Home: 21 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin, Ireland
1901 Irish census shows Weirs were Methodist.

Children: Reportedly, there were 11 Weir children, 10 survived.

1873: William "Wilfie" Frederick Weir (born Dec. 2, 1873, 8 Ashfield Ter, Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ire; died Dec 18, 1964. Was not a 2x2.
Went into business with father in 1900 and business became Wm. Weir & Son. Weirs Store closed with his death. Building was used for businesses.
In 1911, married Grace "Katherine" Lillian Hunt (1878-1927). One son, Wilfrid Mortimer
[NOTE: This is NOT the Wm. Weir listed on the 1905 workers list who was from Scotland and Overseer of Sweden.]

1875: Susan Elizabeth Weir (born July 20, 1875, on 8 Ashfield Ter, Dublin; died Sept 13, 1959). In 1908, married Samuel Delmedge Douglas Trimble (born Sep. 9, 1857, Enniskillen; died April 1, 1947 Armagh); Susan was his second wife. Three children, Edith Nestie Stewart (1910-2003); Letty (1913-1913), Lionel Irvine Trimble (1915-1918). Was not a 2x2.

1876: Rebecca Edith (Edie) Weir (born Nov. 4, 1876 on Upper Beechward Ave, Dublin. Died Feb 21, 1959 in Ireland). She went in the work in 1905 and is listed on the 1905 Workers List. In 1911, age 34, she went to California to preach. She and her brother Irvine can be traced through 1912 in the "When the gospel came…" to California accounts. Reportedly Edie left the work due to bad health and returned to her home in Dublin; never married; and lived above shop on Baggot Street til her death in 1958. The FIRST Sunday meeting in Dublin was held over Weir's Store on Baggot Street and remained there until her death. The Weirs store has continued to operate under various proprieters who continued using that name. See Photo in TTT Photo Gallery. (Scroll to right for more photos)

1878: James Irvine Weir (born September 7, 1878 on Upper Beechwood Ave, Dublin, Ireland). Died October 18, 1957 (fell off a ladder) in Boston and is buried in North Weymouth, Massachusetts. Was in the work 1900–1918, which included time in California, Ontario, and Kentucky. He is listed on 1905 Workers list. He was friends with Carrolls, who invited him from Dublin to Nenagh to hear Wm. Irvine. Went on 1899 bicycle trip (see photo). He was one of the first three workers to come to America in 1903, the other two being Geo. Walker and Wm. Irvine. Irvine Weir was the first worker to go to California. He was put out of the work by George Walker. He married Mary Elizabeth Lillian Reid (1894-1985) on Jan. 16, 1921, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US; they had 3 children, George Irvine, Kathleen Winifred and William Judson.

1880: Walter Caldwell Weir (born July 26,1880 at 31 Windsor Rd, Palmerston, Dublin; died Feb. 4, 1974 in Santa Cruz, CA.) On Dec. 5, 1927, he married widow Rose Ann (Mackman) Jackson in Berkeley, California (1888-1989, aged 101). They professed. She had two daughters by her previous marriage.

1882: Harry Cecil Weir (born Dec 25, 1882 at 31 Windsor Rd, Palmerston, Dublin; died Jan 23, 1964 in Alameda Co., CA). See photo of grave. Harry was a companion of John Long in July 1901, per Long's Journal. Harry married (1908) Agnes (Aggie) Josephine Carroll (1882-1940), sister of Bill, Jack, Fannie & May Carroll. Harry & Agnes came to America in 1911. They were both 28 yrs old when they arrived. (See Ellis Island records; Agnes brought infant Gladys with her) They had 4 children: Gladys, born Dec. 18, 1909 in Dublin who went in the work in 1940 in California, died Dec. 22, 2005; Primrose, born May 28, 1913, who went in the work in 1947 in California, died June, 2004. Son Bill married Joanne, never professed, had one daughter; and Edith/Edie married Norman Leen,both professed, had 3 children. After Agnes' death (May 20, 1940), Harry remarried Ethel Mabel Waite (1903-1968), and they had one child, a daughter, Jean.

1884: Arthur Matchet Weir (born Dec 14, 1884 at 21 Upper Baggot St, Dublin; died Sept 26, 1885 Dublin, Ireland)

1886: Gerald McCarthy Weir (born October 15, 1886 at 21 Upper Baggot St, Dublin; died October 31, 1946, Weymouth, Massachusetts). Married Eva Estelle Stewart (1885-1961). Imigrated to USA. Were not 2x2s.

1889: Emma Kathleen Weir (born September 21, 1888 at 21 Upper Baggot St, Dublin; died Sept. 1981 in Yeovil, Somerset, England)
Married Oswald "Oz" Mortimer Telfer Clarke (1888-1972). After she became a widow (1972), she became a 2x2.

History of Weirs of 21 Baggot Street

In 1791, Richard Lord, Viscount Fitzwilliam, granted permission to Thomas Carroll, Esq. to build a four-story building at 21 Upper Baggot Street, Dublin, Ireland.

In 1885, almost a century later, William Caldwell Weir opened the business at this location in the heart of Dublin: William Weir, Ironmonger and Sanitary Engineer.

He married Susan Tinkler in 1873. They had 10 surviving children, six boys who all worked in the shop at times.

In 1900, 15 years later, as the 20th century kicked off, William C. Weir was joined by his son William Frederick and the company became William Weir & Son.

In 1931 Wm C. Weir died, and in 1956, his son, William F. Weir died. The shop closed.

In 1957, the building was converted into supermarket by D.E. Williams & Co., whiskey distillers of Tullamore.

In 1977, the premises were purchased by Curust Industries Ltd. and reopened by Ronan Brocklesby as the iconic Weirs of Baggot Street. The mid-terrace four-story over-basement Georgian building contains 6,133 sq. ft.

In 2009, after 32 years Brocklesby retired and his daughter, Maeve Plower, took over the Weirs store. It transitioned and expanded from a traditional hardware store a retail variety store rebranded as Weirs Home Gift & DIY. It was a 100% Irish-owned family-run.

In 2025, Weirs Home Gift & DIY store relocated and the building was sold.
Relocation: Weirs Gifts: https://www.facebook.com/weirsbaggotst

Photo taken in 1887, this is the earliest known picture of the store and Wm C. Weir with two sons standing in entry

It is commonly known in Ireland that the first fellowship meeting in Dublin, Ireland took place over Weir's Hardware Store in William C. and Susan (Tinkler) Weir's home at 21 Upper Baggot Street. The three floors above the store were living quarters for the Weirs and their ten children. Whether this was the first 2x2 fellowship meeting ever held in a home, or the first meeting to be held in the City of Dublin is not clear. 

After Susan Weir died in 1923 and William C. Weir died in 1931, the Sunday Meetings continued over Weir's Store where their daughter, Rebecca Edith "Edie" (a former Worker), resided until she passed away in 1959.

After a brief stint in the Work, their son, Harry Cecil Weir, married Agnes Carroll in 1908 and immigrated to the US; two of their daughters, Primrose and Gladys, became Workers. Of the ten Weir children, four did not become 2x2s.

It is presumed that James Irvine Weir was the first one to profess in the Weir family. The Carrolls had invited Irvine Weir to travel from Dublin to the Rathmolyon mission (where Carrolls resided) to meet the "rough Scotsman," William Irvine. Subsequently, Weir went on the 1899 Bicycle Mission Trip to Scotland; was one of the first 12 Workers to enter the Work (in 1900); was one of the first three Workers to go to America (1903); pioneered the Work in California; married Mary Elizabeth Lillian Reid in 1921 and had 3 children—before he was excommunicated around 1950. See Chapter 32, Preserving the Truth.

Chester Ehrig and Cherie Kropp-Ehrig visited Weirs store in 2004 and again in 2014. The Weir family's home was over their store. The owners graciously gave us a tour of the upper rooms. We stood in the very room where the first Sunday Meeting took place. See photo of room