Pawnbroker James Curtis was last of the family who ran business

DID you know that Drogheda’s last old time pawnbroker died in 1954.

James Curtis from Peter Street was the character and was a member of an old Drogheda family that had been associated with that business for many generations.

Mr. Curtis, who had retired from business about two years prior to his death, was a most unassuming personality and only the older residents remembered the days when his name was a household word in the town.

In his youth he was a keen footballer and gymnast but his greatest passion was for rowing and anything connected with the sea. A former member of the Drogheda Rowing Club he was one of the most celebrated Drogheda strokes of his generation and was a member of one of the best crews the D.R.C. ever had.

He was a member of the 1903 crew which won the coveted Metropolitan Cup and the Drogheda Challenge Cup. With many personal triumphs ami victories in this sphere, Mr. Curtis was regarded as the doyen of Drogheda’s rowing experts. He had also been a member of the long-defunct Owen Roe O’Neill football club.