UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
This 1775 document from Whyte’s eclectic collector timed online auction which runs until April 6 relates to Elvis Presley’s Irish ancestor. The charge sheet details how William Presley was attacked in a dispute over land as follows:
County Carlow Jury charge sheet of William Presley of Stradnakelly in the County of Wicklow, farmer. ‘The Jurors for our Lord the King, upon their Oath, that Andrew Morris of Mullannashea, Co. Wicklow, Francis Morris of Whiterock, Wicklow Samuel Morris of Cross, Thomas Morris late of Hacketstown, Co Carlow, William Wilson, Thomas Matthers, yeomen, with many other evil disposed Persons and Disturbers of the Peace whose names are ignorant of,
On seventeenth day of August in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, with Force and Arms that is to say with Swords, Sticks at Hacketstown in the said Co Carlow did riotously, routously and unlawfully assemble and associate themselves together, and the said Persons being then and there so riotously, routously and unlawfully assembled and associated upon one William Presley, a True and faithfully subject of the King the peace of God and of the said Lord the King ..they did beat wound and ill-treat where his life was greatly despaired of.. Contrary to the peace of our said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity’ .
This is a rare piece of evidence about Elvis Presley’s claim to Irish ancestry. William Presley left Hacketstown and emigrated to the United States. Lot 459 is estimated at €1,000-€1,500.
The catalogue with nearly 500 lots is online. Viewing gets underway today at Whyte’s at Molesworth St. in Dublin. The auction will draw to a close from 2 pm on April 6.