Introduction to the McPeake Papers
Date published:
Details
The McPeake papers were the collection formed by the late B.Y. McPeake, now dispersed but photocopied by PRONI in 1973. They include around 450 documents, 1704 to 1916, mainly on the United Irishmen and the '98 Rebellion, which were Mr McPeake's main area of collecting activity.
The around 400 documents on these latter topics include:
Letters mainly to and from the Rt Hon. Thomas Conolly and his wife, Lady Louisa Conolly, Castletown, Co. Kildare, and Lady Louisa's sisters, Lady Sarah Napier and Emily, Duchess of Leinster, 1783 to 1838, relating mostly to the family's financial affairs, British and Irish politics and the '98 Rebellion (these are described, in their proper context, under 'Bunbury papers' on the PRONI website).
United Irish letters and papers about the French expeditions to, and landing in, Ireland 1796 to 1799, which include some copy extracts from Wolfe Tone's journal, 1797 to 1798, a letter from Tone announcing his embarkation in France for Ireland, 1798, letters and papers about Tone's last days, including some letters from Tone himself just before his execution, 1798, and a report on Captain Bernard McSheehy's mission to Ireland in 1796 to gauge the extent of rebel support in Ireland.
Papers of Evan Nepean, Secretary to the Admiralty, about United Irish intrigues with France, 1797-1798.
Letters and papers on the mission to France of Edward Joseph Lewins on behalf of the United Irish Executive Committee, 1797-1803.
Letters from General George Lake, Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, to General Sir William Loftus about disaffection in the King's County militia and about military operations against the rebels, 1798.
Letters and papers of the Rt Hon. Henry Dundas, Secretary of State for War, and which include the first account of the 'Races of Castlebar', 1798.
Miscellaneous letters and papers on the '98 Rebellion, the Catholic Question, the Union, the prospect of a French landing in Ireland in 1803, and the state of the Masonic order in the north of Ireland in 1814, correspondents including Thomas Pelham, Henry Grattan and Viscount Castlereagh, 1776-1820. All this material bears reference T3048.