The Journal of Gerald De Courcy Lefroy
edited and annotated by Bruce and Anne Buchanan
ISBN 978-0-85905-468-3, (2010), casebound, 361pp, 1kg
$80.00* + POST
This is probably the most readable of all the extant colonial journals. It covers the 1840s and early 1850s, with an outline of De Courcy’s life to the 1870s.
The Irish Lefroys and their English cousins were important figures in the colony.
In Ireland De Courcey’s uncle, Thomas Lefroy, became the Chief Justice of Ireland, and as an intriguing side note, the character ‘Darcy’ in Jane Austen’s novel, Jane Eyre, is based on him. [google ‘Who was the Real Tom Lefroy.’]
Links to webpages
http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/gaels/stories/lefroy.htm
http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/page.ihtml?pid=489&step=4