Mr John Tyndall | Ordnance Survey Office | Youghal
Leighlin Bridge | June 6th, 1841.
My dear John
I believe you think that I have totally forgotten you I not having written to you for so long a time. I have two reasons for the delay, the first is I was very busy for several days farming and when I came home at night I was so fatigued that I could not bring myself in humour to write a line; my second is I heard William McAssey of Nurney say that he saw a letter from you to Debby1 and that in it you desired her not to answer it as you intended to be home in a few days I then thought it foolish to write and I had a watch out ever since for every coach that passed through from Kilkenney2 expecting that you would be with it. I now have given up all hopes of that nature and think it high time to discharge a portion of my debts. I received your letter3 in due time and am happy to hear that you have so good an appetite, I am afraid you overrate it, thinking to please me and your mother, If not, so much the better. You mentioned in your last that the Division is but the skeleton of Mr Wynne’s and mentioned several that had left the office I was partly in receipt of that news myself as Fahy4 passed through this town with his wife not long ago and left an excellent character5 of you, both for abilities and good conduct after him. He did not tell me that he had left the office, he gave me to understand he was going home to see his friends before his departure for England. I hear himself and his wife walked from Youghal and Mr Conwill met them both the next day at Rathamore on their way towards Carlow walking.6
You mentioned that Linedale took to his heels, also that I knew full well, for he came to Bagnalstown and got married to Anne McGhee;7 after their marriage they got off to Dublin, but it is reported he will return to Youghal and pay all his debts. I hear he gave a very impartial account of himself when he came to Bagnalstown – told how he was in debt but that he would discharge all in a short time. I know that you have heard that we are on the eve of a general Election. There are three radical candidates in field for this never to be forgiven County8 - Dan O’Connell Junr and Ashton Yates for the County and Gisbourne for the Borough.9 It is reported that old Daniel himself will agitate our beautiful County in person,10 at the head of forty thousand men. This is a powerful body; but if the big Beggarman11 brought double that number at his tail he will be met with a bold front by the hardy veterans12 of the County Carlow, and his nominees driven with disgrace from the hustings as old Ponsonby13 was before them. The Ministry are their last legs,14 and before tomorrow night may not have one to stand upon
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
Dean Bernard is up in the County Cork at present.
RI MS JT/1/10/3223
LT Transcript Only
a letter from you to Debby: Deborah McAssey; letter missing.
coach that passed through from Kilkenney: the daily coach from Cork passed through Kilkenny on its way to Leighlin Bridge.
your letter: letter 0062.
Fahy: Michael Fahy had worked as a civil assistant in the 5th Division, C District, of the Survey since July 1836, but had been discharged for ‘idleness’ on 29 March 1841 (NAI OS/1/17–18).
character: character reference.
from Youghal … Carlow walking: a distance of about 90 miles. Possibly Rathmore, County Carlow, which is about 8 miles west of Carlow, but is not on a direct route from Youghal to Carlow.
married to Anne McGhee: see letter 0062, n. 7.
this never to be forgiven County: probably because Henry Bruen gained the seat for the Conservatives in the December 1840 by-election.
Gisbourne for the Borough: At a by-election in February 1839 the Conservative Francis Bruen won by 2 votes but he was then unseated on appeal and replaced by the Liberal Thomas Gisborne (c. 1790–1852). Although Gisborne, who earlier represented Stafford and North Derbyshire, was mentioned at the election hustings in 1841, he did not contest the Carlow Borough seat, which was won by the Liberal Captain Brownlow Layard (CS, 22 May, p. [2] and 12 June 1841, p. [2]).
old Daniel himself will agitate our beautiful County in person: ‘I will of course go down to Carlow at once when wanted and go from parish to parish agitating’. (Daniel O’Connell to John O’Connell, 26/28 May 1841: D. O’Connell, ed., Correspondence of Daniel O’Connell, vol. 7, pp. 74–6). Owing to the importance of winning County Carlow from the Conservatives (and also maintaining his investment in his son Daniel’s campaign), O’Connell spent a month agitating in the county. See O. MacDonagh, The Emancipist: Daniel O’Connell, 1830–47 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1989), pp. 195–8.
the big Beggarman: a Protestant nickname for Daniel O’Connell.
hardy veterans: Protestant defenders.
disgrace from the hustings as old Ponsonby: The Liberal candidate, Frederick Ponsonby, had been defeated at the December 1840 by-election.
The Ministry are their last legs: Lord John Russell’s Liberal administration suffered defeat on many issues.
Please cite as “Tyndall0063,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0063