O'Connell, Daniel

deeply affectionate uxorious letters including news of his progress before crucial speeches in London against the proposed suppression of the Catholic Association, 11 pages, 4to, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Shrewsbury, and Cook's Hotel, Albemarle St, London, 20 October 1821 to 21 February 1825, two letters with integral address panels and remains of seals, the earliest letter incomplete with nearly three-quarters of the second leaf, including signature, having been cut away, both the other letters with seal tears, the third letter with an irregular hole approx. 30 x 20mm. in the centre of the second leaf affecting about 4 words and portion of the address

[with:] John Devereux, United Irishman and soldier (1778-1860), autograph letter signed, to Daniel O'Connell, pledging his support ("...happy shall I be to have it in my power to prove the sincerity of my heart otherwise than by words..."), 3 pages, 4to, integral address panel, Dover, 26 February 1818, seal tear; John Hickson, banker, to Daniel O'Connell, on his personal financial affairs, 1 page, 4to, integral address leaf, Dublin, 13 March 1818; Mary O'Connell, wife of "the Liberator", autograph letter, to her son Daniel, describing her journey through northern England with her husband, 4 pages, 8vo, Rushyford, Durham, Sunday [1835], incomplete; Queen Victoria, document signed, appointing Daniel O'Connell [1816-97, youngest son of "the Liberator"] a Lieutenant in the 38th Regiment of Foot, countersigned by Lord John Russell, one vellum membrane, papered seal, 26 January 1838, staining; four copy letters by Daniel and Mary O'Connell, 1822-46; 12 other O'Connell and related family letters, c.1820s-1931; copy letters by the Duke of York and Prince of Wales, 1770s; bundle of memorial cards, letters, envelopes, documents, printed ephemera, and a typescript play ("The Unprotected Female on Board a Man of War"), all relating to the O'Connell family and Derrynane House, c.70 items, mostly 20th century; manuscript recipe book ("Mrs Daniel O'Connell, 41 Linden Gardens, Notting Hill, London"), c.94 pages, 4to, later 19th century; brewing notebook; The Holy Bible. Dublin, 1865, with 6 pages of O'Connell family baptisms, marriages, and deaths added in manuscript, and five other printed books, mostly relating to Daniel O'Connell, some covers detached and other wear and tear; W.H. Holbrooke, engraving entitled 'The Triumphal Procession of O'Connell and Fellow Martyrs ... after 3 Months "Captivity", 7th September 1844', Dublin: J. McCormack, n.d., framed and glazed, frame size 355 x 545mm., spotting, not examined out of frame; most of the collection housed in a metal trunk, sold as a collection not subject to return

"...At all events our motto is 'God and our native Land'..."

AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF O'CONNELL FAMILY PAPERS, INLCUDING LETTERS BY O'CONNELL TO HIS WIFE WRITTEN AT A CRUCIAL STAGE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. Two of these letters were written in the early days of a visit to London as the head of a delegation protesting against a Bill to suppress all Irish Associations, including O'Connell's own Catholic Association. One letter was written shortly after arrival in England and promises that "we will I think make a sensation". His second letter, written five days later, gives a first-hand account both of his own rapturous reception and the Westminster Parliament ("...I have no doubt but this visit will do 'the cause' some good - if it were in nothing else but in showing us what a base and vile set the house of Commons is composed of..."). O'Connell's eloquence and popularity in this campaign was crucial in swinging political opinion in England behind Catholic emancipation, which followed within four years.