Madam, – Elaine Byrne (Opinion, March 31st) described Lawrence Knox, the founder of your newspaper, as a “Protestant Englishman”. In fact, Knox was Irish. He came from Castlereagh in Co Mayo, where his family had been living for several hundred years. In 1853, Lawrence’s father, Arthur, was compelled to sell 45,000 acres of land through the Encumbered Estates Court.
Arthur Knox and his wife then moved to live in Sussex. However, the majority of the family continued to live in Mayo and Sligo for the remainder of the century. Elaine Byrne also mentions that Lawrence Knox lost his seat as MP for Sligo because of a petition for corruption. I would point out that this was not an uncommon feature of electoral politics at that time. Indeed, six out of the previous 10 MPs for Sligo had lost their seats as a result of similar petitions. – Yours, etc,