Love Story of Thomas Davis Told in the Letter of Annie Hutton

Not long ago a great-grandniece of Thomas Davis, a descendant of his brother James, while looking through a bundle of newspaper cuttings of the Young Ireland period, came upon a packet of seven letters written by Annie Hutton, the young girl to whom Davis was betrothed. Six of these letters are addressed to Davis himself, and belong to the short period of the engagement which ended with Davis' death at the age of 31. The seventh was written six months after Davis' death to his sister Charlotte. The publication of the little packet is opportune in this centenary year when few will recall the patriot poet without giving some thought to the touching episode of his courtship and asking themselves what manner of girl the "Annie Aroon" of his poems may have been.