42
111 TEASERVICEPRESENTEDTOPATRICK J. SMYTH
under the terms of theWill ofWilliamSmithO’Brien:
AN IRISHWILLIAM IVFIVEPIECETEASET,Dublin1834,markofPatrick
Loughlin & Joseph Needham on the pot, the rest mark of Joseph Needham
only, comprising a teapot (28.5oz),milk jug (8.5oz), a twohandled sugar bowl
(14.5oz) and a pot on stand with burner (49.5oz), all of hexagonal from, en-
gravedwith rococo scroll and a rest andmotto, withnaturalistic bowhandles
and spouts, the flat lidswith applied leaf stem finials. Thepot 29cmhigh
The teapot is inscribed “Extract from thewill ofWm. SmithO’Brienwhodied
18th June 1864, I desire that £100 may be applied for the purchase of plate
(selected according to his own choice) for Mr P.J. Smyth who went twice to
Australia for thepurposeof endeavouring todeliverme fromCaptivity”
Together with Caroline Queensbury, Ireland’s Future, Maidenhead, 1886,
greenmorocco with original printed wrappers preserved; and associated lit-
erature.
P.J. Smithwas anationalistMP forWestmeath&Tipperary, educated atClon-
gowes, he had escaped to America after the failure of the 1848 rebellion. He
was successful in “springing JohnMitchel” from his penal exile in Austral-
ia and had attempted to do the same for Smyth-O’Brien but was thwarted.
Sweeneypoints out that 19thCenturyNationalist silver is for obvious reasons
much rarer thanunionist plate.
Tony Sweeney adds that this silver tea service and the associated combine to-
gether to provide a hitherto unknown Irish republican connection between
OscarWilde andLordAlfredDouglas. The storybegins in1842whenThom-
as Davis, Charles Gavin Duffy and John Blake Dillon founded the Nation
newspaper from whence emerged the Young Ireland party formed by those
who disagreedwith the purely constitutional tactics being adopted byDaniel
O’Connell inhis campaign to secure repeal of theAct ofUnion.
Amongst the contributors toTheNationunder the penname “Speranza”was
Jane Francesca Elgee whowent on tomarryWilliamWilde in 1851 and gave
birth toOscar four years later. In themeantime the Young Irelanders under
the leadership of a Protestant landowner and old HarrovianWilliam Smith
O’Brienhad attempted anunsuccessful rebellion in 1848, the sequel towhich
was the arrest and trial of O’Brien inClonmel in the Autumn. Legal history
wasmade after his conviction forHighTreasonwhen for the final occasion in
Common Law a sentence to be “hanged, drawn and quartered” was handed
down. It was however commuted and along with other leaders he was trans-
ported toVanDiemen’s Land.
Soon after their arrival inTasmania plotswere being hatched for their rescue
with the moving force an old Clongowes boy, Patrick J Smyth, who had es-
caped from Ireland toAmerica.Hewas successful in “springing” JohnMitchel
but failed in his bid to do the same forWilliam SmithO’Brien. However his
sentencewas reduced through the interventionof his familywhichhadmem-
bers serving in theGovernment of LordPalmerston.
SmithO’Brien did not forget Patrick J Smyth andwhen he died in 1864, the
same year incidentally in which Oscar’s father received a knighthood from
QueenVictoria, henamedhim inhiswill as inscribed.
Paddy was subsequently elected to represent firstly Westmeath and then
Tipperary in the House of Commons. It was amost improbable event that a
memoir dealingwith a person of Smyth’s background should have been pre-
pared by CarolineQueensberry. Not merelywas she the daughter of General
Sir William Robert Clayton who had fought at Waterloo but she married a
ScottishpeerArchibaldWilliamDouglas, 8thMarquess ofQueensberry. Her
husband died in 1858 but she lived on into the 20th century not dying until
1904. Her son, the 9thMarquess, achieved fame through his advocacy of the
Queensberry Rules which govern boxing to this day and infamy through his
entrapment ofWilde.
Thememoirunder the title“Ireland’sFuture:AnAddress to Irishmen, byCar-
olineQueensberry.Abird’s eyeviewof thepubliccareerof aconsistentpatriot
and statesman”was completed in1884but not publisheduntil 1886. Then she
added a footnote: “Since writing this to you, my friends, this noble Patriot is
gone fromourmidst. Irelandhas lost a faithful Son, yea, a friend and a states-
men too,whowill not easilybe replaced; and thewalls ofWestminsterwill no
more resoundwith suchglorious appeals as his for the restorationof Ireland’s
DivineRight - her Legislative Independence, knownby thename of Repeal of
theUnion. Up to the last fewmonths of his life, he struggledhard against the
insane attempts of Irishmen, to dig the grave of IrishNationality; and in the
terrific struggle, his heart was broken, and he died, leaving awife and family
to that country’s care, forwhichhehadgivenhis all.”
Five years after the publication of “Irelands Future” Caroline’s
grandsonAlfred firstmet JaneWilde’s sonOscar - the rest ishistory.
Footnote: ThenameofCarolineQueensberry isnot tobe found in
the index to
RichardEllmann’smagisterial lifeofWilde thoughhedoes
make reference to a youngOscar seeingWilliamSmithO’Brien
when, after his release and return to Ireland, hebecame a regular
visitor to theWilde familyhome at number 1MerrionSquare.
TogetherwithReport of theTrial ofWilliamSmithO’Brien for
HighTreason at the SpecialCommission for theCo. Tipperaryheld
atClonmel, September and October 1848; with the Judgement
of the Court of theQueensBench, Ireland, andofTheHouse
of Lords, on theWrits of Error -By JohnGeorgeHodges,Gov-
ernment short-handwriter -Printed inDublin1849. Binding:
Quarter greenmorocco, green cloth sides ingreen cloth slip case.
This is aword forword account of the fourteenday trial and the
succeeding appeals. The volume runs to almost a thousandpages.
Provenance: The estateofTonySweeney
€4000 - 6000
