(The CJ of 19 Jan 1846 carried a correction:Death: On Sunday evening at Kilrush in the 65th year of his age William Brew Esq.--- He was for many years Postmaster of that town. -- Father of the gifted authoress resident in that locality. ---
Our statement of the age of the late Mr. Wm. Brew of Kilrush was erroneously stated at 65 ,it should have been 62.)
According to Introduction to the Post Offices of County Clare, Ireland (1989), by John Mackey and Tony Cassidy (p.24), William Brew had succeeded Austin Clossey as postmaster only in 1843. He was succeeded by Mrs Michael Brew (1846) and then Michael Brew (1847-1853).
The authoress's name was Margaret W Brew.
She is listed (p.39) in The poets of Ireland; a biographical and bibliographical dictionary of Irish writers of English verse (1912) by David James O'Donoghue at
http://archive.org/details/cu31924029566530 :
This was the second edition of a book published twenty years earlier, leaving some ambiguity as to her year of death.BREW, MISS M. W. — Wrote verse for Irish Monthly during recent years,
and was the author of two Irish novels, "The Burtons of Dunroe,"
London, 1880, and "Chronicles of Castle Cloyne," London, 1885. Died
a few years ago.
She is also listed (p.41) in Ireland in fiction; a guide to Irish novels, tales, romances, and folk-lore (1919) by Stephen James Meredith Brown, at
http://archive.org/details/irelandinfiction00browuoft :
BREW, Margaret W.
A Co. Clare lady, who wrote much for the IRISH MONTHLY
and other Irish periodicals. Brew and Burton are well-known Clare names.
246 THE BURTONS OF DUNROE. Three Vols. Pp. 934. (Tinsley). 1880.
Scene: Munster c. 1810, also Dublin and (in third vol.) Spain, when the hero,
William Burton, takes part in the Peninsula War. Robert marries beneath him,
and is disinherited by disappointed father, who has meant him for his cousin
Isabella. Rose, Robert's wife, dies. Robert goes to the wars, and returns covered
with glory to marry Isabel and settle down in respectable prosperity. Conventional
and a little dull. Much brogue as comic relief to the prevailing appeal to the
tender feelings. Catholic in tone.
247 CHRONICLES OF CASTLE CLOYNE. Three Vols. (Chapman & Hall).
1886.
Highly praised by the TIMES, the STANDARD, ithe MORNING POST, the SCOTSMAN,
&c., &c. The IRISH MONTHLY says: "It is an excellent Irish tale, full of truth
and sympathy, without any harsh caricaturing on the one hand, or any patronising
sentimentality on the other. The heroine, Oonagh M'Dermott, the Dillons, Pat
Flanagan, and Father Rafferty are the principal personages, all excellent portraits
in their way; and some of the minor characters are very happily drawn. The
conversation of the humbler people is full of wit and common sense; and the
changes of the story give room for pathos sometimes as a contrast to the humour
which predominates. Miss Brew understands well the Irish heart and language;
and altogether her "Pictures of Munster Life" (for this is the second title of the
tale) is one of the most satisfactory additions to the store of Irish fiction from
Castle Rackrent to Marcella Grace." Pictures of the Famine, a country wedding,
a wake, etc.
She is not listed at
http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/b/index.htm
Both of Margaret Brew's novels were republished by Garland in 1979.
On 7 Aug 1996, in a talk at the Yeats Summer School, Dr Margaret Kelleher of the Mater Dei Institute mentioned The Chronicles of Castle Cloyne among a number of now-forgotten novels which took the Famine as their subject, and noted that Margaret Brew `was concerned with the sufferings of landlords.' (See Irish Times, 8 Aug 1996.)
There is only one Margaret W Brew in Ireland, Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958:
Name: Margaret W Brew
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1822
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1894
Death Age: 72
Registration district: Mountmellick
Death Country: Ireland
Volume: 3
Page: 419
FHL Film Number: 101598
There are several other possible matches without the middle initial.
Does anyone out there know anything else about her?