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The History Sale 2015
www.adams.ie816
FAMINE LETTER 1847
From relief committe in Kentucky to Mrss. Joseph Bewley and Pim detailing the sending of provisions
to Ireland, bearing shipping stamp “9th Aug 1847 Liverpool” and postal marking dated “1st Aug 1847”
€150-250
817
QUAKER FAMINE RELIEF, SLIGO
A remarkable autograph letter to the Society of Friends (Quakers) from the Sisters of Mercy in Sligo,
May 1847, 3 pp (single folded sheet), with postal markings and traces of seal, thanking the Society for
their response to an appeal for food. ‘They will be only too happy to have food in any shape (cooked or
otherwise) for the poor starving creatures of this crowded district .. The distress is now much increased
by the number that have been dismissed from the public works .. The S[ister] S[uperior] need not say
how acceptable a grant of or for clothing would be, as every other necessary has been pawned for food
.. Anything the kind members think well to give, will be gratefully distributed by the Sisters of Mercy. ’
Endorsed in another hand at head of letter (presumably by the Quakers), ‘Send an order on Dept for 6
sacks of Indian corn meal 6 sacks of Bailey meal and 4 bags of (illegible), 12.5.47’.
With two further letters, one from a Mrs. Edward Archdale, June 1846, thanking the Committee (of
the Society of Friends) for sending her an order for half a ton of rice, and asking if it could be delivered
at Enniskillen, which is closer, rather than Sligo, with a note at head in another hand saying that
unfortunately there is no rice at Enniskillen; and a third letter from John Hamilton, Tubbercurry, to Col.
Wingfield, Ballina, Dec. 15 1846, with a resolution stating that the public works hitherto sanctioned for the
Upper Half Barony of Leyny are altogether insufficient to afford employment to the numerous destitute
poor within the district. (3)
€300 - €500
818
FAMINE LETTERS, SLIGO DISTRICT
A long autograph signed letter, 3 pp folio, with seals, from John Lynch, Rundle Lodge, Sligo (on Lord
Palmerstown’s estate), to Joseph Kincaid, land agent, Nov. 1846, in a difficult hand, discussing prospects
for local employment on Lord Palmerstown’s estate, giving numbers of men and boys available, mentions
Sir Robert Gore Booth, discusses contractors for the harbour, need for provisions. ‘If you don’t manage
to set the draining and trenching going I don’t know what the people will do, I fear much the people will
suffer let you do what you will.’
With a second letter, sealed and stamped, from Edwin Cuillier, headmaster at Benbulben school (on Lord
Palmerstown;’s estate), Sept. 1846, to Messrs. Stewart & Kincaid, asking about premia for the school
examinations, also mentions an incident where somebody fired a shot in the school portico, thinks it
necessary to get shutters on the windows in front, also additional bolts on the doors and a supply of fire-
arms. (2)
€100 - €150
Lot 817
Lot 818