Kelly

Submitted by edpope on

Kelly 8.6.1800 at John King's / 5.8.1800 (in Ireland at Wallace's trial) hear Barrington: int. Kelly. M Kelly in Godwin's 1796 list for 1800 / 9.12.1801 theatre adv mrs Inchbald (mrs Martyr, Hooke & Kelly) / 21.1.1803 mrs Kelly at Nicholson's & 3 Smiths / 20.1.1805 E Kelly at Nicholson's & 3 Smiths / 25.7.1835 RR & Kelly call

The first entry above at King's might be Michael Kelly DNB 1762-1826 singer and composer, but there's no particular reason to think so. I would suggest John Francis Kelly an army officer noted in the Reminiscences of Rees Howell Gronow DNB 1794-1865 for the shiniest boots in London, who died 23.2.1814 from injuries sustained in a fire at the Custom House where his sister was housekeeper. His brother Montague Henry Kelly 1773-1833 abducted or eloped with Eliza Smith 1785-1857, daughter of John Raphael Smith DNB 1751-1812 and later Mrs Aders, friend of Coleridge and Wordsworth, and they were forced to marry at St Saviour Dartmouth on 24.10.1801. She was certainly the Mrs Kelly and E Kelly of the entries at Nicholson's in 1803 and 1805, as the Smiths can be shown by a series of mutual dinner invitations to have been John Raphael Smith's family. She was probably living in her father's house at the time, as her husband was either serving as a lieutenant in the Navy or behaving fecklessly when on leave. The Kelly in brackets in 1801 may well have referred to Michael Kelly DNB 1762-1826, the other two in the brackets were probably Margaret Martyr DNB 1761/2-1807 singer and actress, and James Hook DNB 1746-1827 organist and composer who was Mrs Martyr's music teacher. It's not clear what the connection between those three was, they might have featured in some gossip told by mrs Inchbald, or they might have been in the audience that night. None of them were mentioned in the adverts for Prince Hoare's Chains of the Heart which was on at Covent Garden theatre that night. The Kelly at Wallace's trial in Carlow, Ireland was in fact Thomas Kelly (1724-1809 Hist of Irish Parl) admitted Middle Temple 1747, judge of the Irish home circuit in the summer of 1800, retired in 1801(Judges in Ireland 1221-1921, F Elrington Ball). Godwin not only noted him as M Kelly in his 1796 list but also referred to him as Michael Kelly and says he was 80 years old (in fact 76) in his letter to James Marshall (Bodleian Abinger c6 f36-7).