Burkes of Ballydugan / William St. George Burke / Holograph letter from Robert Malachy Burke to his Brother ‘W St G B’
Enclosing copy of letter from their father MHB to General O’Duffy, as detailed below, and also recounting the details of a letter Robert had received from a Patrick Mannion, Rathfarn regarding Dempsey, one of MHB’s (Michael Henry Burke, their father) tenant stating ‘all the people round thought that MHB was treating Dempsey unfairly and that he had always had some trouble with his employees at Ballydugan as long as they could remember’, that the tenants at Togher (Toghermore, Tuam) were always treated well, and that ‘if MHB insisted on evicting Dempsey etc that he was afraid there would be a lot more trouble and unpleasantness in Ballydugan’ (p1). He asks William for his views on the matter, he himself knows ‘very little of the details of the case between MHB & Dempsey, but I do know that MHB is very difficult to deal with. I also know that his attitude towards his employees, from what he has said to me for the past 6 years, is in my opinion unchristian and selfish’ (p2), and ‘I think it quite possible that if MHB had treated his employees and neighbours as well as Uncle Cecil (Henry of Togher) treated his, that Ballydugan might never have been burnt down, nor the stock driven off lands etc’ (p3), and also that he thinks that William’s future at Ballydugan ‘will largely depend on how you treat your employees and neighbours’ (p3).
Includes copy of letter (1930-05-27) from MHB, 11 St James Terrace, Clonskeagh, co. Dublin to General Owen O’Duffy, Commissioner, Garda Siochana, Phoenix Park, Dublin regarding letters of intimidation sent to his workmen and Rev. Anderson, who was staying at Ballydugan, and advising that he fears ‘there may be more outrages’, and also that ‘The Sheriff was unable to execute the decree which I obtained against the herd, Dempsey, for possession of the house he was in, and the lands he has in his possession…’ and ‘if a post of guards could be made at Ballydugan, I should be exceedingly glad, and I think it would help to restore law and order’.