Mr. John Tyndall | Ordnance Survey Office | Youghal
Leighlin Bridge | Feb. 25th, 1841.
My dear John
I would have written to you long before this but hearing that you left Youghal for the field duty I thought it better to wait till your return lest the letter or letters sent by me might be mislaid and you never get them. I read a letter from you1 that Emma got yesterday morning. Its contents pleased me very much as it gave an excellent account of your late pilgrimage through the country. I think an interpreter would be of service to you the next time you go to the fields as it is difficult to know how to act when the language is not well understood at both sides. However I hope your health has improved by the exercise, if it has you are very well paid for your labour. The last letter I received from you contained an expression that I dont approve of, that is that you would not trouble me nor Mr Steuart any more with a letter about such nonsense.2 This is what I dont like, because it is to me you should write when any thing is amiss with you, for I am of course with the exception of your mother the most sincere friend you have on earth and expects at a future day to make interest enough to get a good situation for you. I am glad to hear that your Journal3 has went off with a recommendation for a rise of pay – from everything that I can learn you ought to have got that before this, but better late than never.
I send you a pamphlet containing Doctor Cook’s speech.4 It is a great expose of that imposter O’Connell and will amply compensate you for the trouble of reading it. The postage for it is 2d which you wont neglect sending by return of post. A tremendous fire broke out at Magrath’s of Nurney5 on Saturday night the 6th inst. about 11 o’clock and consumed 13 fine Dutch cows in calf with a great quantity of thrashed oats and oat straw – they say to the amount of five hundred pounds worth. I believe it to be accidental and that is the general opinion, though they have sworn the contrary and has put in their claim against the assizes for the amount of the above sum. I sent you a pair of boots which I hope fits, the heels I know were too low but that is easy changed to high. Willy Tyndall wrote to you about the plan of a school house,6 he is very anxious to have it done if you have any time at all to spare do it for him.
The Dean7 was in the shop with me on Monday last enquiring how you were; when I told him I saw a letter from you to Willy and that I believed you were well he expressed great pleasure to hear so and that you had his best wishes. John McGee’s and Cecilia’s affairs are very bad, it is reported here this day that the latter has been served with three <word(s) missing> one from Mr Jos. Watson the other from a <word missing> man and the third I have not heard his name.8 On the whole they are in a bad state. You see John what extravagance will bring people to.
I hope you are reconciled to your new Superintendent.9 Always act the man and let not trifling things cast you down. The songs you sung leaving Youghal10 and the manner you carried your bundle was truly laughable and shows a manly mind. I will now conclude with letting you know that we are all well and join in sending our love to you.
I remain your | affectionate father | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/10/3210
LT Transcript Only
a letter from you: letter 0043.
The last letter I received from you …such nonsense: letter 0038 in which Tyndall stated: ‘I am only sorry to find that my last did not arrive in time to prevent you from shewing my first to Captain Steuart. I’m afraid he’ll consider me troublesome, however it will be a while before I trouble either you or him on such a foolish subject again’. The foolish subject was the prospect of Tyndall getting a position at the Bank of Ireland.
Journal: Tyndall’s ‘Journal of Progress and Weekly Report’.
a pamphlet containing Doctor Cook’s speech: An eminent Presbyterian evangelical, Henry Cooke (1788–1868), the minister at the May St Presbyterian Church, Belfast, had challenged Daniel O’Connell to debate the latter’s call for the repeal of the union between Britain and Ireland. O’Connell, the foremost proponent of Catholic emancipation and known to his supporters as ‘The Liberator’, visited Belfast in January but refrained from debating with Cooke, whose attack on O’Connell was published as The Authentic Report of the Rev. Dr. Cooke’s Speech at the Great Conservative Meeting Held in the Circus, Wellington-Place, Belfast, on Thursday, January 21, 1841 (Belfast: W. M’Comb, 1841).
A tremendous fire broke out at Magrath’s of Nurney: ‘On Saturday night last, a dreadful fire broke out on the premises of Mr. William Magrath of Nurney … farmer …. Thirteen cows, we understand, were burnt to death, and one hundred barrels of oats, which lay in the barn ready for market, were also destryed. All the out-houses were burnt to the ground, and a portion of the dwelling house.’ (Freeman’s Journal, 12 February 1841, p. [1]).
the plan of a school house: It is not known whether Tyndall produced these plans for his uncle William Tyndall, but he did design other buildings, including the porch at Steuart Lodge, the home of his patrons Captain and Mrs Steuart.
The Dean: Dean Richard Barnard.
John McGee’s … his name: report not traced.
your new Superintendent: Lieutenant Alexander Calder.
The songs you sung leaving Youghal: see letter 0043.
Please cite as “Tyndall0045,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0045