Some of the documentation of the guild has already emerged into the semi-public domain. Unfortunately the material that has been made available only seems to draw loose connections between people and events. It is currently impossible to verify the authenticity of any of the material, as crucial information seems to have been lost or destroyed. We’re hopeful that more information will emerge if we can organize the research efforts and increase the standards being used to judge the legitimacy of documents and testimonial accounts.
Initial Discovery: Document Box
As will be familiar to anyone with the slightest awareness of the MGRT rumor, active interest in this secret guild-history began with the uncovering of a document box dated 1888. The box was discovered during the demolition of a stone cottage in the county Cork in Ireland in late 2004.
Property speculators who were preparing the land for the construction of a large corporate retreat did the demolition. The cottage in question had been an outbuilding of unknown history and unclear function. It had been decades since the building had been entered due to debris and overgrowth that had effectively sealed the entrance.
During the first phase of tear-down the crew working the site were surprised to come across a large engraved stone tablet which they took to be a headstone embedded in the earthen floor of the cottage's center chamber. The stone was carved with the phrase "Rural Tailor". The displacement of the earth which occured when the stone was removed revealed the partly buried document box.
The box contained a wide array of material (both documents and artifacts) which seemed to provide evidence of the existence of a militant group of rural tailors founded in Ireland at a time when the negative influence of Industrial Revolution was being felt in the trade classes in rural areas of England, Ireland, American and the then colonies of those nations.
Contents of the Document Box
1. Brass-Knuckle Shears: Similar to others subsequently discovered in other countries during our research, but missing the blade-engraving common on the other examples
2. Draft Statement of Rural Tailoring Standards & Ethics: A manifesto-like proclamation listing the mission and ethical standards of the guild- this document is important since it is the earliest to bare a draft-version of the insignia of the Guild of Militant Rural Tailors -it is also important because it seems to represent the initiating dogma which is reflected in later material found elsewhere in the world - this is the document some claim to have been signed with the name "Young Meagher" along with two other names, however the writing is unclear and none of the three names have been substantiated
3. Letter of Tendering Bid to Purchase Commercial Premises: A letter from R. Newbold industrial clothing company offering to buy the Irish rural-collaborative tailor shop of "T.F. Meagher" for the an undisclosed sum -this document is regarded as representing the action that tipped the scales toward militancy and the sharp anti-industrialization posture that would characterize the ongoing dogma of the MGRT
4. Response to Tendering Bid Above: The hostile response to the letter described above
5. Prospective Membership List: A list of both tailors and clients thought to reprsent likely allies and possible future initiates of the guild – interesting in that this list includes prospects both inside Ireland and the UK but also in remote rural areas of the America and the Colonies.
