Emily McArthur became the second Mrs William John Burke on October 2nd 1861. The couple married in St. Peter’s Church, Dublin, by witnessed by Henry Ashe and John Galbraith. The marriage was solemnized by Rev Burke’s old friend Rev Hyacinth D’Arcy.
Emily McArthur was living at an address on Leinster Road, Rathmines, possibly the one that the family lived in before her father’s death in 1829. Her new husband Rev Burke stayed in a rectory on Harrington Street, though it stated on their marriage certificate that his home address was still in his native Galway. It appeared that Rev Burke and his new wife did not return there but stayed on in Dublin, where their first child was born a year later.
Rev Burke’s previous life in the West of Ireland was far from ideal. He had a long and controversial history there, and perhaps did not want to subject his new wife to it. Shortly after their marriage and birth of their child the couple moved on to Edenderry, Co. Offaly, where they had a better chance of living a peaceful existence. Their tranquility was lived, as it did not take long for the Rev Burke’s past to catch up with him…