Caroline Kearney's husband bequeathed her a heart-breaking dilemma. Writing his will as he lay dying in Melbourne in 1865, Edward Kearney promised his wife GBP100 a year and more to educate their sons, but only if she moved to Ireland with their six children and lived in a house that her brothers-in-law would choose and furnish. Caroline (nee Bax) had never been to Ireland. Edward had left as a young man. Why were these his final wishes? How did this young widow respond to such a draconian exercise of male power from the grave? Could a husband legally force his widow to migrate against her...
Caroline Kearney's husband bequeathed her a heart-breaking dilemma. Writing his will as he lay dying in Melbourne in 1865, Edward Kearney promised his...