Autograph signed letter from the Irish botanical artist Lydia Shackleton to her kinswoman Emma Clark Abraham of Liverpool, dictated to and with a postscript by J. Christine Shackleton, describing a strike at the Anna Liffey Mill, Dublin

17 December 1913.
Bibliographic Details
Main Creator: Shackleton, Lydia, 1828-1914.
Summary:The Shackleton family owned the Anna Liffey Mill at the Strawberry Beds on the River Liffey near Lucan in west Dublin [this is now better known as Shackleton's Mill], which produced flour for over 200 years before closing at the end of 1998. This letter is entirely in J. Christine Shackleton's hand, with Lydia Shackleton's part of the letter ending on the sixth page, after which Lydia Shackleton's shaky signature suggests poor eyesight. J. Christine Shackleton's signed postscript covers the last one-and-a-half pages. Lydia Shackleton's letter, addressed to "My dear Emma", begins "I take the advantage of having Chrissie to help me to compose a letter". She remarks that they are "...now over part of the strike, Anna Liffey Mill working, & many striking men back, but the firm won't work under Larkin, who would like to get the men out again, & stop the mill". Referring to Larkin,she says that she has "...a prejudice against people who tell lies" - he has "maligned Jacobs very much, who are really admirable employers" and "wants to abolish all employers & found a syndical socialism". Saying that the strikes have caused much hardship she reports that "the dockers have gone to work again & the port is open - so coal & other things can come in". "Our nephew Fred [...] got a place as a fitter at Jacobs before the strike & continues on. Jacobs is filled up again with fresh hands instead of those that struck. On the Larkinite side there is idleness, beggary & lawlessness, on the other side what is needed is industry, thrift & honesty". She claims that the "Anna Liffey unskilled men" were "terrorised into striking", and are "glad to be at work with wages again". She says that she is indisposed, but is "...taken every care of by my old friend L. H. & a night attendant, an experienced person, an old fashioned body, who loves work & does a great deal in the mornings". In her postscript J. Christine Shackleton commiserates with Miss Abraham over her rheumatism, hoping that she "will not be hampered in your preparations at Swarthmoor" [which Miss Abraham had purchased that year].
Format: Manuscript
Language:English
Citation:National Library of Ireland. Department of Manuscripts.
Subjects:
Notes:The Shackletons were Irish Quakers, descended, as was Emma Clark Abraham, from Judge Thomas Fell, whose widow Margaret married George Fox, gaining for the family home of Swarthmoor the title of 'the birthplace of Quakerism.

Physical description: 1; letter

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Arrangement:Fonds
Call Number View In Collection
MS 49,392
Manuscripts Reading Room
Access Note
Manuscripts
Reproduction rights owned by the National Library of Ireland.