Image of New Oxford Street, London, 1897 by Joseph Pennell, via the National Gallery of Art
Irish lawyers of the late 19th century were indefatigable travellers, always back and forth to London on the mailboat and train in and out of term. London was, however, a strange city, where, unlike Dublin, everybody did not know everybody else, and sometimes these visits could be hazardous! See below this story from the Belfast Telegraph, 12th August 1907:
“IRISH LAWYER’S ADVENTURE
A London contemporary narrates a remarkable story of a well-known Irish lawyer. It would appear that while walking along New Oxford Street, London, the legal gentleman saw a man whom he took to be an old fellow student at Trinity College, Dublin, looking into a jewellers shop window and slapped him on the back. The man turned round in astonishment and closer inspection showed that he was his total stranger.
The lawyer made profuse apologies for his mistake which the stranger accepted in a becoming spirit and the incident ended in the two men having whiskeys and soda together. On parting the stranger expressed the hope that they would meet again. The lawyer afterwards found that a valuable gold watch and chain were missing and has not seen the new acquaintance since.”
Read on here for another tale of an Irish lawyer’s brush with local crime on a vacation trip to London!
Leave a Reply