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  • Posts Tagged ‘French invasion of 1796’

    EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF FAILED FRENCH INVASION OF IRELAND AT WHYTE’S

    Sunday, January 8th, 2017

    An eyewitness account of the failed French invasion at Bantry dated December 31, 1796 comes up at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on January 21.  A three page letter written by Colonel Thomas Balfour of the North Lowland Fencibles to his wife in Orkey reads:  “We have been marched here in consequence of an alarm spread by a French fleet appearing off Bantry Bay … one officer and four seamen … landed and have been made prisoners”.

    “Expedition d’Irlande” was a 15,000 strong invasion force gathered by the French Directory for landing in Ireland in December 1796. The fleet left France on December 15 and the operation was abandoned in Bantry on December 29.  The letter is estimated at 200-300.  The auction will include maps, historical manuscripts, medals, militaria, sports memorabilia, advertising, travel, coins and banknotes.

    UPDATE: THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT SOLD FOR 380 AT HAMMER.