| Summary: | In 1798, Margaret Evans' husband, Hampden, was sentenced to hang for high treason. When his sentence was subsequently commuted to voluntary exile, she was forced to follow him to Hamburg and later to Paris, where she coped with her enforced exile and family tragedies by writing poetry for herself, her daughters and her female friends. Her writing affords us a very personal glimpse of her life as the wife of a leading United Irishman, and also the safe female space that 18th and 19th century women found in the writing and sharing of poetry. Margaret and Hampden Evans played a prominent role in the history of Portrane, and of the United Irishmen, but little was known of their story until now, or indeed of Margaret's poetry.
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