Add MS 89177/8/3

Letters to William Henry Gregory from Lord Dunkellin, sent from Portumna, the Crimea, India, Harrogate, Wiesbaden, Italy, France and Wakefield. The letters have typescript transcriptions, possibly made in the 1950s, attached.

Letters sent July 1852 to October 1857 include:

Letters sent from Portumna regarding voting practices, mismanagement by agents, and the conduct of the Daly family;

Letters written en route to the Crimea and from Sebastopol and Constantinople, including accounts of cramped sleeping quarters and the exercise routine on the ship ‘Vulcan’, news from the camp at Sebastopol, discussion of the armistice, and a first mention of Dunkellin’s expected appointment as Military Secretary to Charles Canning in India;

And letters from India relating Dunkellin’s dissatisfaction with his social life in India, comparing the Indian and British army, and refering in passing to the Indian rebellion and events in Delhi. He also explains the events that led to his resignation as Military Secretary: his giving tickets to a government event to 'kept women' had aroused anger in the local press.

Letters written from August 1861 to c. March 1866 include: letters written from the spa town of Harrogate, in which he discusses his ill health and race meetings at Goodwood and Doncaster; and letters written on foreign travels to Germany, Italy and France, in which he commentates on society events and women.

There are also a number of undated letters written from Portumna, Wakefield and London, with some mention in just one letter of Irish estate affairs, but largely about his continuing battle with his illness and horse racing.