LORD LYNDHURST'S IRISH DESCENT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 491, 8 September 1882, Page 23

LORD LYNDHURST'S IRISH DESCENT.

The antipathy of the late Lord Lyndhurst to the people of Ireland « bum made known to almost every schoolboy by the telling reply ot Sheil to Lyndhurst's bitter attack on the Irish people, in which, speaking with the arrogant and imperial airs of an Englishman, he denounced the people of Ireland as aliens— aliens in race— aliens in country— aliens in religion, and, therefore, not entitled to the equal privileges of English law. When Lord Lyndhurst spoke these words in the House of Lords, it was not known to his fellow-peers, it was not known to Shiel, and p w? PJP J ? Ot t0 L y ndhurst himself, that the natural ability which enabled him to rise from an humble station to the proud position of Lord Chancellor of England was inherited from his Irish grandmother, Mary Singleton. He can hardly be supposed to have known that this lady was Irish, but he must have known that she was a woman of rare ability and strength of character. After the death of Copley, her nrst husband, she established herself successfully in business in Boston, and took good care of her family of young children, one of whom was the painter Copley, the father of Lord Lyndhurst. What a sad and suggestive fact— this man hurling his invectives against the race whose blood coursed in his veins, and supplied the brain-power which enabled him to win an eminent position in life ! — Exchange .