GPO
Glasnevin Cemetery
Personal Effects
After the death of his daughter and subsequent arrest, Dr. Burke’s wife and young son left their marital home. Who could blame them for leaving the memories the house must have held. Dr. Burke’s wife went to live with her family, the ones she fled to so often when their marital problems became unbearable.
An advert was placed in the local papers announcing the sale of contents of the house. 
For the time the items for sale would be a good bargain for anyone who could afford them. They bore testimony to a lifestyle that was out of range for most, seeming desirable but the grim reality was something else. The auction offered 45 framed photographs, along with ones of his wife and children, perhaps there was one of his half-brothers and sisters, Emily included. It is hard to imagine who would want such items after they knew the circumstances of why they went up for sale, but it was Victorian times, personal effects were lesser and life harder with little room for sentiment.
It appeared from the notice below that many if not all items were sold due to the great turnout for the sale. “There were many spectators”, stated the article, not at all surprising as people had a morbid fascination with such thing particularly in that era.
Sources
17 March 1888 – Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Sheffield Daily Telegraph 20 March 1888
Evidence
Dr Burke cut a sorrowful figure when he appeared in the dock for his trial. As the newspaper article below states he had suffered terribly since the horrific death of his daughter. 
Emily’s brother stood accused of the murder of his daughter, Aileen aged only eight and his own attempted suicide, a crime at the time and remained so until 1961.
“From the middle of the 18th Century to the mid-20th Century there was growing tolerance and a softening of public attitudes towards suicide which was a reflection of, among other things, the secularisation of society and the emergence of the medical profession,” says Dr Wright, co-author of Histories of suicide: International perspectives on self-destruction in the modern world.
The Judge Mr. Williams who precised over the trial took the above more sympathetic attitude. It was bad enough that Dr. Burke delivered the shot that would leave his young daughter dead. From a modern point of view the man was not in his right mind, further evidence would prove so, but at that time it was not fully understood, although it was perceived to a degree.
Sources
Sheffield Evening Telegraph 26 March 1888
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14374296
The Trial of Dr. Burke commences
A view of the town of Barnsley in the time of Dr. Burke
On March 27th 1888 the trial of Emily’s brother William, for the murder of his daughter commences. Dr. Burke who was deemed medically fit for trial is taken to court in Barnsley. Far from fit he really was. Recovered from danger he may have been but mentally he was not really in any state to stand trial, but it was Victorian times and mental health was not considered then. Nonetheless he was brought to the the courthouse where outside a less than supportive crowd had gathered….
Sources
Sheffield Evening Telegraph 26 March 1888
Western Daily Press 27 March 1888
Illustrated London News 07 March 1857
Dr. Burke’s College Days in Galway
William Henry Emeris Burke attended Queen’s College, Galway as a medical student from 1863 to 65. At the time the College was less than 20 years in existence and medical studies had just been introduced.
William excelled academically, was a talented musician and played cricket too. He had one disadvantage his father, Rev. Burke had not the means to finance his education. The Reverend had just married his second wife, Emily’s mother. She was financially independent after inheriting from her late mother and brother, but that was tied up in land in Canada. She was also expecting her first child and in a poor position to help with her stepsons education. Luckily there were scholarships to help students that had a promising future, of which William Burke was one.