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CSO/RP/1818/41

Letter from Francis Johnston, Architect's Office, Dublin Castle, to William Gregory, Under Secretary, Dublin Castle, asking to borrow tarpaulins for use of contractor Mr Carolin on project of Board of Works. Some measure of protection is required, he continues, ‘as rain would cause damage and damp’ to area receiving attention.

13 Aug 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/42

Letter from Sir Ulysses Burgh, Sackville [O'Connell] Street, Dublin, to William Gregory, Under Secretary, Dublin Castle, with enclosure from Richard Price, printer of the ‘Carlow Morning Post’ and to recommend for employment the name of Richard Thorpe of county Carlow, who is ‘ready to give any security that Government may require to the amount of £5,000’. Annotation on rear suggests that position sought by Thorpe is collector with revenue or a post from a list given below that. Enclosed letter from Price to Burgh requests intervention with Gregory, in hope of securing ‘Insertion of Government Advertisements and Proclamations’ in the ‘Carlow Morning Post’ which is claimed to circulate ‘in 4 Counties, where no other Paper is printed’.

13 Jul 1818-24 Jul 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/43

Letter from William Brown, Johnstown, Naas, County Kildare, to William Gregory, Under Secretary, Dublin Castle, to enquire about a report on his personal case conducted by Major Wills and presented to Robert Peel, Chief Secretary. Since Peel has not made contact, Brown supposes he has been overlooked due to ‘Pressure of Business’, he requests intervention by Gregory on his behalf.

11 Aug 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/44

Petition of Henry Baylis, Four Courts Marshallsea, Dublin, to William Gregory, Under Secretary, Dublin Castle, requesting financial assistance as means of removal from gaol and to avail of the Insolvency Act. Recounts that he was imprisoned for failure to pay debt and discusses legal dispute with guardian, Richard N Bennett, Harcourt Street, Dublin, whom he alleges fraudulently withheld financial settlement of property. He recounts that Bennett promised to settle with him ‘but avoided it by various pretences and Excuses, until at last I became Embarrassed and unable to pay some Debt I had Contracted in the Expectation of receiving my Property, and was Arrested in the Month of November 1816 and thrown into this Wretched abode [Four Courts Marshalsea]’. Being held with his wife and three children, suffering ‘all the privations of want and hunger’ he confides that all his belongings are pledged and ‘only my Wife is handy at her needle and has earned a trifle now and again we must Certainly have perished long since with famine and want for I Could not bring myself to apply to Strangers, particularly to such who are imprisoned and Incarcerated with myself’; in order to seek redress, Baylis tells Gregory, ‘Three Guineas would answer fully my wants’.

14 Oct 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/45

Petition of Mary Baynes, widow, 25 Kevens Port, Dublin, to Earl Talbot, Lord Lieutenant, Dublin Castle, requesting government employment for her son William. Explains that her three sons participated in ‘His Majesty’s Service in the Year 1798 in the Rebellion of Ireland’ and William, her surviving son, lost his wife to typhus fever and is now responsible for the welfare of his ‘four helpless children’; William, she emphasises served in ‘Captain Beresford’s Infantry’ and later ‘was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant of Colonel Keating’s Corps of Loughlinstown Gunners’ but since that ‘through Various Losses in Trade has been compelled to take the Situation of Lance Constable of St Peters Parish at ten Shillings per Week’, an income insufficient to his needs. Baynes further reveals that her third son John, a custom house official at Liverpool port, ‘lost his life in the Execution of his duty in boarding an American Vessel named the Miss Sophia at 8 o’clock at Night on the 13th of August 1811 leaving a Wife and Seven Small Children to deplore his loss’; and her second son, James, ‘served with the Duke of Wellington in Spain where he fell in Battle on the 14th of October 1813’. A note to confirm authenticity of statement is added to base of memorial, signed by John Lewis, St Peters, 30 York Street, [Dublin]. Annotation added to back states ‘regrets it is not in his power’.

10 Oct 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/46

Petition of William Boyle, 179 Great Britain [Parnell] Street, Dublin, to Charles Grant, Chief Secretary, Dublin Castle, requesting government employment. Petitioner reflects that he has ‘done business three years in this city for two Houses in the Mercantile line, but from the great decline of Trade, it has became totally out of my power to obtain a situation’, yet declares himself ‘willing to act in the humblest occupation rather that drive myself forever to Distinction’. Encloses follow up letter from Boyle to Grant, acknowledging enquiry into his employment background, but due to lack of progress, expresses doubt that ‘this person did not report according to the favorable information he received’; in order to advance his claim, Boyle urges the Chief Secretary ‘for the sake of suffering Humanity’, to make further investigation of the matter; requests that answer be directed to Alexander Hamilton, 23 Rutland Square, Dublin, whom also he states will ‘be happy to satisfy your Honor as to my Conduct and habits of life’. Also includes note marked ‘Private’ instigating enquiry into character of Boyle and incomplete letter, from Head Police Office, stating that he was engaged as salesman with a wine merchant on Abbey street and in a similar post with a spirits seller on Jervis Street, ‘his income when Employed was about £50 per year’.

26 Oct 1818-20 Nov 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/47

Petition of Thomas Byrne, Clonwilliam, near Arklow, County Wicklow, to Earl Talbot, Lord Lieutenant, Dublin Castle, requesting reward for apprehension of robbers in his locality, both of whom are sentenced to transportation. Refers to his capture of one William Death, part of a gang engaged in larceny on the Estate of the Earl of Carysfort, near Arklow, and detention ‘at the price of his life’ of James Murphy, a ‘Robber and House Breaker’. A testimony added on reverse describes Byrne’s actions as ‘truly meritorious’ and note below that, in hand of E Lees, magistrate for the counties of Wicklow and Wexford, recommending petitioner as ‘of most practical service in giving information against all outlaws’.

12 May 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/48

Petition of Alexander Barrett, 25 Bride Street, Dublin, to Charles Grant, Chief Secretary, Dublin Castle, requesting government employment. Conveys notice of vacancies of Barrack Master at Clonmel, County Tipperary, and as Ensign with the 12th Regiment of Foot ‘on the Irish Establishment’; having supplied details of the employment openings, Barrett requests that he be permitted to ‘solicit one of the above situations’ for himself.

9 Nov 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/49

Petition of Dorothea Browne, 7 South Cumberland Street, Dublin, to Charles Grant, Chief Secretary, Dublin Castle, requesting financial relief to facilitate return to employment. States that she is in ‘frequent want of every necessity to sustain life’ and complains that ‘an expensive recourse to medical aid obliged me to part with nearly all my clothes – so that I cannot possible resume my employment as a teacher unless I am relieved by the benevolent assistance I solicit’. Annotation in pencil added to back states ‘this writer is a person of very improper Character’.

12 Nov 1818

1818

CSO/RP/1818/50

Letter from V Blake, Hibernian Hotel, Dublin, to the Chief Secretary's Office, recommending that the name of Dr Leigh be placed before the Lord Lieutenant for employment. Stipulates that since ‘Dr Leigh’s ability and education are such as are not easily equaled’ his appointment should be secured to the House of Industry, Brunswick Street, Dublin.

17 Nov 1818

1818