Norma Dawson | Queen's University Belfast (original) (raw)
Papers by Norma Dawson
Palgrave Modern Legal History
Miscellany Seven by Various Authors
Argyll spoke of Dufferin as "the most intimate friend I ever had of my own age. His friendship ha... more Argyll spoke of Dufferin as "the most intimate friend I ever had of my own age. His friendship has added more than I can well say to the happiness and charm of life." 5 Dufferin, in turn, described Argyll as the "dearest friend man ever had". 6 They corresponded for forty years, and many of Argyll's letters to Dufferin survive in the Dufferin papers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. 7 Of course, not all of these letters were written from Inveraray: as Argyll's personal, social and political life took him to many places, we find in the collection letters from Rosneath, Alnwick, Argyll Lodge in London, the India Office, the House of Lords, Cannes and Argyll's yacht The Columba, as well as from Inveraray castle. Some of Dufferin's letters to Argyll are also in the collection, having been returned to Lady Dufferin by the ninth duke of Argyll after Dufferin's death. Dufferin's diplomatic service in Canada, Russia, France, Italy and Turkey is reflected in his letters to Argyll. There are some gaps in the series, which runs from 1859 to 1899; one significant interruption is the period 1884-9, during which the Napier Commission report was published leading to the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886, 8 and when Dufferin was viceroy of India. The Irish land question dominated their correspondence for thirty years from the beginning of Gladstone's first ministry in 1868. DUFFERIN AND THE ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT CUSTOM Argyll was not alone in his view of Dufferin the man. Described by Bertrand Russell as "delicious", 9 Dufferin was judged by Queen Victoria to be "much too good-looking and captivating". 10 A superficial resemblance to Disraeli was sufficient to engender rumours in the 1830s that Disraeli was his real father; but these are discounted by Harold Nicolson, Dufferin's nephew and one of his biographers. 11 His undoubted wit and urbanity were due in no small measure to influences from his mother's family: born Helen Sheridan, Dufferin's mother was the granddaughter of the actor, playwright and politician, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Dufferin and his mother were close; he was her only child, and his father died when he was just 15. As Nicolson puts it, he and his mother "enhanced each other's merriment and inspired each other's wit". 12 His father's people, the Blackwoods, originally came from Fife and settled in County Down in the late 1500s, gradually accumulating some 18,000 acres and embedding themselves in the gentry of Ulster. The Dufferin barony was granted to secure the Blackwoods' support for the Act of Union 1800. While they
Law and Religion in Ireland, 1700-1970
The Journal of Legal History, 2007
The Journal of Legal History, 2003
The Journal of Legal History, 2005
The Journal of Legal History, 2009
The Journal of Legal History, 2007
Edinburgh Law Review, 1999
Palgrave Modern Legal History
Miscellany Seven by Various Authors
Argyll spoke of Dufferin as "the most intimate friend I ever had of my own age. His friendship ha... more Argyll spoke of Dufferin as "the most intimate friend I ever had of my own age. His friendship has added more than I can well say to the happiness and charm of life." 5 Dufferin, in turn, described Argyll as the "dearest friend man ever had". 6 They corresponded for forty years, and many of Argyll's letters to Dufferin survive in the Dufferin papers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. 7 Of course, not all of these letters were written from Inveraray: as Argyll's personal, social and political life took him to many places, we find in the collection letters from Rosneath, Alnwick, Argyll Lodge in London, the India Office, the House of Lords, Cannes and Argyll's yacht The Columba, as well as from Inveraray castle. Some of Dufferin's letters to Argyll are also in the collection, having been returned to Lady Dufferin by the ninth duke of Argyll after Dufferin's death. Dufferin's diplomatic service in Canada, Russia, France, Italy and Turkey is reflected in his letters to Argyll. There are some gaps in the series, which runs from 1859 to 1899; one significant interruption is the period 1884-9, during which the Napier Commission report was published leading to the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886, 8 and when Dufferin was viceroy of India. The Irish land question dominated their correspondence for thirty years from the beginning of Gladstone's first ministry in 1868. DUFFERIN AND THE ULSTER TENANT-RIGHT CUSTOM Argyll was not alone in his view of Dufferin the man. Described by Bertrand Russell as "delicious", 9 Dufferin was judged by Queen Victoria to be "much too good-looking and captivating". 10 A superficial resemblance to Disraeli was sufficient to engender rumours in the 1830s that Disraeli was his real father; but these are discounted by Harold Nicolson, Dufferin's nephew and one of his biographers. 11 His undoubted wit and urbanity were due in no small measure to influences from his mother's family: born Helen Sheridan, Dufferin's mother was the granddaughter of the actor, playwright and politician, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Dufferin and his mother were close; he was her only child, and his father died when he was just 15. As Nicolson puts it, he and his mother "enhanced each other's merriment and inspired each other's wit". 12 His father's people, the Blackwoods, originally came from Fife and settled in County Down in the late 1500s, gradually accumulating some 18,000 acres and embedding themselves in the gentry of Ulster. The Dufferin barony was granted to secure the Blackwoods' support for the Act of Union 1800. While they
Law and Religion in Ireland, 1700-1970
The Journal of Legal History, 2007
The Journal of Legal History, 2003
The Journal of Legal History, 2005
The Journal of Legal History, 2009
The Journal of Legal History, 2007
Edinburgh Law Review, 1999