A letter to Mary Donovan 1819 - 1891 by great great great great granddaughter, Erica.
'You were born in late 1819 in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland. I’ve seen pictures of it on the internet. Lush green hills and fields. I read that it was a British Army barracks. One of the largest in all of Ireland at the time.
At age 20, for reasons unknown, you had travelled to London living “on the street” as they politely put it when you were arrested for larceny alongside Matilda Everdon. Was she your friend, Grandmother? Perhaps a roommate? Or just an acquaintance? I wonder what you were thinking when you pawned the stolen jacket of David May, upon Matilda’s request. Did you have any idea that one small action would have changed the course of your life forever? While you were drinking with your ill-gotten funds, at the back of the pub on that Thursday in March 1841, did you ever imagine you would be sent across the sea to the other side of the world to serve out your 7 year sentence and never return?'
Read the story of Mary Donovan 1819 - 1891
