Sub-series 2 - Letters to Sarah, 3rd Countess of Clancarty

28 items

28 letters to Sarah, 3rd Countess of Clancarty from her husband William, known as Viscount Dunlo until Nov 1837, when he succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Clancarty. Sarah was the daughter of Somerset Richard Butler, 3rd Earl of Carrick and she had one [full] sister, Anne. Sarah married Viscount Dunlo on 8 Dec 1832 and in the early years of their marriage, wherever he was away from her, he wrote her affectionate letters mainly concerned with her health and with family and domestic matters. In 1835 he refers to his duties as a member of County Galway Grand Jury and he was very involved with the lunatic asylum in Ballinasloe, which was founded in 1833. He appears to have been slightly shocked by the proximity of both sexes when bathing in Galway in July 1835. The letters from the late 1830s and early 1840s were written mainly from London, where he attended the sittings of the House of Lords. In 1838 he writes of the Duke of Wellington's views on the Irish Poor Law and in Feb 1846 he refers to a disagreeable speech he had to make and to Griffith's valuation. Two letters from Loughrea in 1855 mention his son Richard Viscount Dunlo and the expected arrival of the Marquis of Clanricarde and may be related to the affairs of the Galway militia, of which the Marquis was Colonel, Clancarty was Lieutenant Colonel and Viscount Dunlo was a Captain. In later years he was involved with the Midland and Great Western Railway, which entailed going to Dublin where he stayed in the Sackville St. Club. It is also evident that the Clancartys rented a house in Brighton in 1842 and Seamount in Galway in 1851. The letters include family and social news and some instructions regarding estate matters.

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21/05/2019
11/07/2025