"From a Dear and Worthy Land": Michael Keane and the Irish in the Eighteenth-Century Irish West Indies

Abstract

In 1788Michael Keane, formerly of Ballylongford, County Kerry, wrote a brief letter to Francis Martin, an Irish-Antiguan associate, answering an inquiry about a Mr. Stritch who had migrated fromNevis to St.Vincent before migrating to Spanish Trinidad; “I was honored with your letter of the third instant . . . accompanying one from my old honest acquaintance and friend Michael M. O’Brien [about] Mr. Stritch—one from a dear [and] worthy land, who should have had better expectations in the world than he has met with.”1 While it might be plausible to associate Keane, Martin, O’Brien, and Stritch with the indentured servant trade—which has dominated the study of the Irish Atlantic experience—Keane’s letter bears no reference to that trade. Keane, in fact, was at the time the attorney general of St. Vincent; his correspondent was an influential Irish-West Indian merchant, and O’Brien was an influential Limerick businessman. Their connection with Mr. Stritch was of long standing. All four men were influential member of the Irish gentry. Michael Keane was especially prominent, having risen to office through the patronage of William Petty, the great Anglo-Irish lord of Kerry, earl of Shelburne, and future prime minister. The tie between the four associates predated their arrival to the West Indies. Keane’s Antiguan correspondent was most likely the relation of William Francis Martin of Cork to whomKeane was allied throughmarriage. Indeed, Keane’s description of Mr. Stritch—“who should have had better expectation in the world than he was met with”—andMichael O’Brien—“my old honest acquain-