# May Laffan

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**May Hartley** (née **Laffan**) (3 May 1849 – 23 June 1916) was an Irish realist writer who wrote about Dublin society in the nineteenth century and was considered a pioneer of "slum fiction" in an Irish setting.[2]

## Career

Born on 3 May 1849 to Michael Laffan and Ellen Saran Fitzgibbon in Dublin, Hartley was educated in the [Dominican Convent of Sion Hill](/source/Dominican_College_Sion_Hill) and [Alexandra College](/source/Alexandra_College). She had an older brother, [William](/source/William_M._Laffan), two younger brothers, Michael and James, as well as two younger sisters, Ellen Sarah and Catherine. After school Hartley worked with [Fr. Meehan](/source/Charles_Patrick_Meehan) as a social worker in [the Liberties](/source/The_Liberties,_Dublin). She also began writing with articles such as 'Convent Boarding Schools for Young Ladies' submitted to *[Fraser's Magazine](/source/Fraser's_Magazine)* (June 1874).[2][3][4][5]

She began writing novels but her early work was poorly received and she had a breakdown. However she continued to write and publish novels. She was also active in the [Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children](/source/Royal_Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Cruelty_to_Animals).[2]

In 1880 [Fannie Gallaher](/source/Fannie_Gallaher) published her early novel *Katty the flash: a mould of Dublin mud*. It was published under the pseudonym of Sydney Starr.[6] Katty the Flash was successful and it was republished in the [New York Sun](/source/New_York_Sun) who attributed their heavily amended story to Laffan.[7]

Gallaher's letter of protest about the plagiarism and the unwelcome changes to her story was published in 1883. The New York Sun's editor[7] was criticised by the [Weekly Irish Times](/source/Weekly_Irish_Times). The confusion continued with a modern index still attributing Gallaher's story to Hartley.[8]

In 1882 she married [Walter Noel Hartley](/source/Walter_Noel_Hartley) who was a chemistry professor at [King's College, London](/source/King's_College,_London) and [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society).[9] During her marriage she was no longer writing very much. Her issues with mental health continued and in 1910 Hartley was admitted to [Bloomfield Hospital](/source/Bloomfield_Hospital_(Ireland)). Her husband was knighted in 1911 and died suddenly in 1913.[2] They had one son, Walter John Hartley.[10] Born 25 April 1889, he was killed in [Gallipoli](/source/Gallipoli), a captain in the [Royal Irish Fusiliers](/source/Royal_Irish_Fusiliers), 16 August 1915.[11]

## Death and legacy

Lady Mary Hartley died in hospital in 1916.[3][5] An anthology notes that Laffan (and Gallaher)'s works described Irish urban settings in a way that was continued by [James Joyce](/source/James_Joyce) and [James Stephens](/source/James_Stephens_(author)).[8]

## Bibliography

- *Hogan, M.P.* (London: Macmillan 1876)
- *The Hon. Miss Ferrard* (1877; 2nd edn. London: Macmillan 1881)
- *The Game Hen Flitters, Tatters, and the Counsellor: Three Waifs from the Dublin Streets* (1879; 2nd edn. London: [Simpkin & Marshall](/source/Simpkin_%26_Marshall) 1883)
- *A Singer's Story* (1885)
- *Ismay's Children* (1887)
- *Christy Carew* (1880; London: Macmillan 1882)

## Further reading

- James H. Murphy (1997). [*Catholic Fiction and Social Reality in Ireland, 1873–1922*](https://books.google.com/books?id=BJsGNNHv9CYC&pg=PA36). Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 36–. ISBN 978-0-313-30188-9.
- James H. Murphy (13 January 2011). [*Irish Novelists and the Victorian Age*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1XAVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA163). Oxford University Press. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-0-19-959699-7.
- Helena Kelleher Kahn (1 January 2005). [*Late Nineteenth-century Ireland's Political and Religious Controversies in the Fiction of May Laffan Hartley*](https://books.google.com/books?id=CK5kokl6RQ4C). ELT Press, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. ISBN 978-0-944318-18-8.
- Paddy Lyons; John Miller; Willy Maley (17 October 2013). [*Romantic Ireland: From Tone to Gonne; Fresh Perspectives on Nineteenth-Century Ireland*](https://books.google.com/books?id=91wxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA238). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 238–. ISBN 978-1-4438-5358-3.
- Luke Gibbons (13 November 2015). [*Joyce's Ghosts: Ireland, Modernism, and Memory*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ko7JCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA250). University of Chicago Press. pp. 250–. ISBN 978-0-226-23620-9.
- Brendan Walsh (1 September 2014). [*Knowing Their Place: The Intellectual Life of Women in the 19th Century*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gSibBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT76). History Press. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-0-7524-9871-3.
- David Dickson (17 November 2014). [*Dublin: The Making of a Capital City*](https://books.google.com/books?id=2524BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA613). Harvard University Press. pp. 613–. ISBN 978-0-674-74444-8.
- John Bew (1 September 2012). [*Castlereagh: A Life*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ed5eAJVCl6kC&pg=PT599). Oxford University Press. pp. 599–. ISBN 978-0-19-997724-6.
- Kali Israel (2002). [*Names and Stories: Emilia Dilke and Victorian Culture*](https://books.google.com/books?id=XOizKlLaMTkC&pg=PA308). Oxford University Press. pp. 308–. ISBN 978-0-19-802864-2.
- W.B. Yeats (24 October 1989). [*Letters to the New Island: A New Edition*](https://archive.org/details/letterstonewisla00yeat_0). Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. [193](https://archive.org/details/letterstonewisla00yeat_0/page/193)–. ISBN 978-1-349-09425-7.
- Robert Welch & Bruce Stewart (1996). [*The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature*](https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00welc). Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866158-0.

## References

1. ["Death Certificate"](https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1916/05245/4453534.pdf). *Https*. Retrieved 21 October 2016.

1. ["Mrs May Hartley (1849–1916)"](http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/h/Hartley_M/life.htm). *Ricorso.net*. Retrieved 21 October 2016.

1. Angela Bourke (2002), [*The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing*](https://books.google.com/books?id=qZ6W1LiIyYYC&pg=PA974), NYU Press, pp. 974–, ISBN 978-0-8147-9907-9

1. Ciaran O'Neill (12 June 2014). [*Catholics of Consequence: Transnational Education, Social Mobility, and the Irish Catholic Elite 1850–1900*](https://books.google.com/books?id=q2agAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA162). OUP Oxford. pp. 162–. ISBN 978-0-19-101746-9.

1. John Sutherland (13 October 2014). [*The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9mOuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT348). Taylor & Francis. pp. 348–. ISBN 978-1-317-86332-8.

1. Starr, Sydney (1880). *Katty the flash: a mould of Dublin mud*. M. H. Gill & Son.

1. ["Gallaher, Francesca (Fannie) Mary | Dictionary of Irish Biography"](https://www.dib.ie/index.php/biography/gallaher-francesca-fannie-mary-a10268). *www.dib.ie*. Retrieved 2022-10-11.

1. Deane, Seamus; Carpenter, Andrew; Bourke, Angela; Williams, Jonathan (1991). [*The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing*](https://books.google.com/books?id=qZ6W1LiIyYYC&dq=Fannie+Gallaher&pg=PA927). NYU Press. p. 927. ISBN 978-0-8147-9907-9.

1. ["Former Fellows Of The Royal Society Of Edinburgh. 1783–2002"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf). *The Royal Society of Edinburgh*. p. 423. Archived from [the original](https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2016.

1. ["National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911"](http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Pembroke_West/Waterloo_Road/1289479/). *Census.nationalarchives.ie*. Retrieved 21 October 2016.

1. ["Military will for WJ Hartley"](http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/reels/cwa/005014919/005014919_00160.pdf). *Willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie*. Retrieved 22 October 2016.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [May Laffan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Laffan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Laffan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.