Descripción
Correspondence with John Wilson Croker over the sudden death of his brother: five autograph letters signed ("Donoughmore"): 11pp. 8vo &c, Knocklofty, 15 August 1817 & undated. "From a sick bed, tho' in a state of progressive amendment for the last two days, it becomes my painful duty to communicate to you the accompanying detail [a medical report, not present] of the event of this day: which has, in a moment, & from apparent perfect health, deprived you of a Brother, & myself of an esteemed friend . . ." Walter Croker (1767-1817), Barrack-Master of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, was the elder half-brother of John Wilson Croker (1780-1857). The Times reported his death on 29 August: "Walter Croker, Esq. of Corrabella, county Tipperary, brother of John Wilson Croker, Esq. Secretary to the Admiralty. He was seized with an apoplectic fit, at his country seat, as he was preparing to get on horseback, on Thursday last, at two o'clock in the afternoon, and continued in the fit until four o clock the following morning, when he breathed his last. Mr. Croker had returned to Ireland only the preceding Saturday from London, where he had been some weeks on a visit to his brother." Lord Donoughmore is solicitous, efficient, circumspect. "Care was at once taken," he continues, "by a communication with the General of the District, to protect the public stores, for which poor Croker was responsible, against peculation, by any of his own inferior officers or agents. Being entirely unacquainted with the State of his personal affairs, I am enabled to form no estimate whatever, of the situations in which he may have left his Widow [née Margaret Nagle, married 1792] & his three children, respecting pecuniary matters. Nor Can I be aware, how far you might conceive it proper to suggest the son [John], as a fit person to be recommended, under all the circumstances of the case, to succeed to the Father's office, of one of the Barrackmasters of this County . . ." Nevertheless, he has taken it upon himself to "secure an opening" for such an application and is forwarding at the same time a copy of his letter to Mr Peel (the future prime minister; since 1812 Chief Secretary for Ireland). Richard Hely-Hutchinson (1756-1825, succeeded 1788 as second Baron Donoughmore, created 1797 Viscount Donoughmore, 1800 Earl of Donoughmore, 1821 Viscount Hutchinson), sometime joint Postmaster-General in Ireland and a generous spokesman for Irish Catholics, was appointed in Walter Croker's will joint trustee and guardian - with his brother - of the three children. Their correspondence on the topic is preserved at the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor. Donoughmore's four other letters, all equally civil, relate to John Wilson Croker's immediate visit to Ireland, who he might like or need to or will see, &c. Rather than stay at Corrabella, why not make Knocklofty his "dining & sleeping place"? This would be "very satisfactory" to the Earl and his brother Lord Hutchinson (John, 1757-1832; created 1801 Baron Hutchinson). N° de ref. del artículo TM00017
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