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Letter
Letter, framed and glazed so that both sides of the page can be read, from Daniel O'Connell MP at Stony Stratford, to Mrs O'Connell, Merrion Square, Dublin, 2nd February, 1830.
Letter, framed and glazed so that both sides of the page can be read, from Daniel O’Connell MP at Stony Stratford en route to London, to Mrs O’Connell, Merrion Square, Dublin, 2nd February, 1830.
In 1828, Daniel O’Connell was elected MP for Clare. He was the political leader of Catholic Ireland in the first half of the 19th century and when he won Catholic Emancipation, he become the first Catholic to sit in the House of Commons.
His letter was written to Mary O’Connell, his wife since 1802 and his third cousin. They had four sons and four daughters together. O’Connell was regularly unfaithful to his wife, but despite this it is said that their marriage was a happy one. She died in 1837.
The letter was written in Stony Stratford, which was then a small market town in Buckinghamshire, England, on the London to Ireland route, via Chester. Today, it is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, but at the time when the letter was written, the town was a rest and exchange point for stage coaches. The letter was probably written in one of the coach inns in the town. At this time about over 30 coaches per day stopped there, but this came to an end in 1837 with the opening of the railway in nearby Wolverton.
At the time the letter was donated, it was framed and glazed, allowing the viewer to read both sides of the letter while protecting the paper during handling. It was removed for digitisation purposes.
Collection: John Holohan
Category: Communication Equipment