Freeman's Journal/1880/The Late Henry O'Neill

by J. Bernard Burke

The Late Henry O'Neill
To the Editor of the Freeman.

Sir—I venture, even amidst tho absorbing anxieties of the time, to claim a thought for a most pitiable case. Henry O'Neill, the well-known artist and the exquisite delineator of tho ancient crosses of Ireland, died on Tuesday. His widow, a very estimable person, and her young children are left absolutely penniless and destitute. Poor O'Neill is dead, after a weary, toilsome life; but his great work, "The Sculptural Crosses of Ancient Ireland," remains an enduring memorial of his industry and genius, Unfortunately, Irish art is no gainful profession, and no wonder is it that O'Neill, whose latter years were years of most straitened circumstances and oft-recurring illness, found it impossible to make any provision for his family. The consequence is that they are now in abject want. Will not, then, the benevolence of Ireland stretch out tho hand of relief to tho widow and children of one who wore his life away in furtherance of Irish art and Irish archæology? Contributions will be thankfully received by me, by Sir John Lentaigne, C,B,, 1 Great Denmark-Street, and by Messrs. Hodges, Figgis, and Co., 101 Grafton-street.—Yours obediently,

J. Bernard Burke, Ulster.