Sir,
—Further to the letter in the July/August 2005 issue of HI by FelixM. Larkin regarding errors in the Oxford Dictionary of NationalBiography entry on Edmund Dwyer Gray (1845–88), there is a furtherpossible error in one edition of that publication, which states that hemarried a young lady named Caroline Agnes Chisolm, author of TheEmigrant’s Friend, who had witnessed his heroic deeds on KillineyStrand during the rescue of the crew of the Blue Vein. The CarolineChisolm who was known as ‘the emigrant’s friend’ was of an earliervintage, 1808–77. She was born in England and did sterling work inhelping impoverished women immigrants in Australia during the gold-rushera. She died in England and the inscription ‘the emigrant’s friend’ isinscribed on her headstone. Her namesake, who married Edmund Dwyer Grayin 1869, may well have written about her but it seems more likely thatthe two are being confused. Edmund Dwyer Gray later served as lordmayor of Dublin.
—Yours etc.,
CORMAC F. LOWTH
Tallaght
Dublin 24