Series 8 - Assisted emigrants letters to James Hack Tuke

144pp

The transcripts of the James Hack Tuke letters were excerpted from Tuke, J.H. (1889), Reports and papers relating to the proceedings of the committee of "Mr. Tuke's Fund," for assisting Emigration from Ireland, during the years 1882, 1883, and 1884. ; also Report on distribution of seed potatoes in Achill and west of Ireland, in 1886, with suggestions for permanent relief; and letters from Donegal and reports of success of emigrants, 1889. [S.l. : s.n.]. As of October 1990, the original manuscripts were held by Lt. Commander C. Barry Tuke of Honiton, Devon, with whom Kerby A. Miller consulted for supplemental information on James Hack Tuke.

Letters sent from emigrants from the west of Ireland whose passages were assisted by English philanthropist James Hack Tuke, as published by Tuke in Tuke, J.H. (1889), Reports and papers relating to the proceedings of the committee of ""Mr. Tuke's Fund,"" for assisting Emigration from Ireland, during the years 1882, 1883, and 1884. ; also Report on distribution of seed potatoes in Achill and west of Ireland, in 1886, with suggestions for permanent relief; and letters from Donegal and reports of success of emigrants, 1889. (self-published).
Per Howard F. Gregg: ‘James Hack Tuke, 1819-1896, Quaker philanthropist, was a member of the distinguished York Quaker family. His concern for Ireland began whilst involved in Quaker relief work during the Great Famine. The distress of 1879-80 again involved him in Irish difficulties and from 1880 to 1894 he was actively concerned in improving conditions in the West of Ireland. His efforts culminated in his appointment as one of the first Commissioners of the Congested Districts Board by Arthur James Balfour, Chief Secretary for Ireland 1887-91.’
The series consists of:
-a 1989 letter from Kerby A. Miller’s collaborator, Gerry Moran, introducing the Tuke letters;
-correspondence between Miller and manuscripts owner Lt. Commander C. Barry Tuke;
-correspondence between Miller and fellow historians, particularly Howard F. Gregg, regarding the letters, including relevant bibliographic excerpts from Gregg’s 1984 dissertation Two Nineteenth Century Quakers and the Irish Question: Jonathan Pim and James Hack Tuke, 1846-96;
-Miller’s notes on the Tuke letters;
-photocopies from Mr. Tuke Fund featuring transcripts and extracts of the emigrants’ letters;
-screen captures of 2026 email correspondence sent to the Imirce project, University of Galway, from Michelle Josephson, descendant of Pat Casey of Mweenish (Maínis), County Galway, the likely ‘P.C.’ who authored the letter of 2 May 1884 [P155/52/8/9]. The correspondence includes marriage and death records and copies of ship’s passenger lists mentioning Casey.

A further letter gathered by Tuke and printed in his 1880 book Irish Distress and Its Remedies : The Land Question; A Visit to Donegal and Connaught in the Spring of 1880 is located at P155/62/5/1.