Matilda Tone

Matilda Tone (17 June 1769 – 18 March 1849) was the wife of the executed Irish republican leader Theobald Wolfe Tone and, from exile in the United States, was instrumental in the preservation and publication of his papers.

Early life Matilda Tone was born Martha Witherington in Dublin on 17 June 1769. She was the eldest daughter of merchant William Witherington and his wife Catherine (née Fanning). Her father is listed as a woollen draper on Grafton Street, Dublin from 1768 to 1784, as a wine merchant from 1784 to 1788, and finally as a merchant from 1788 to 1793. It is claimed that Witherington was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and sat on the merchants’ guild on Dublin's common council from 1777 to 1783. Her mother was a housekeeper to her father after he was widowed. Tone received a good education, and maintained an interest in drama and literature throughout her life. Katherine Wilmot visited Tone in Paris in 1802 and commented on the books she had in French, Italian and English authors. When she was 15 years old, she got to know Wolfe Tone through her older brother. He was still a student in Trinity College Dublin, and it was he that renamed her Matilda. They married when she was just 16, on 21 July 1785 in St Ann's Church, Dublin, honeymooning in Maynooth. Upon their return they lived with the Witheringtons, though they were not on good terms, and then with Tone's parents in Bodenstown, County Kildare.

Family life The Tone's first child, Maria, was born before October 1786. She was followed by a son, Richard, who was named for their neighbour Richard Griffith, who died in infancy. Tone stayed with her husband's family while he was studying for the bar in London from 1787 to 1788. When he returned, the couple had two more sons: William Theobald Wolfe Tone born 29 April 1791, and Francis Rawdon Tone, born 23 June 1793. Francis was known as Frank and was named after Francis Rawdon-Hastings. William was born in Dublin, and Frank was probably born in Bodenstown. By this time that family had a cottage in Bodenstown which Wolfe Tone had inherited from his uncle Jonathan Tone that the family jokingly referred to as Château Boue. They lived there until May 1795, when they left for Princeton, New Jersey due to political reasons. She was initially buried near William Tone at Marbury burying-ground, Georgetown. After that cemetery was sold, she was reinterred in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York on 31 October 1891 by her great-grandchildren. A new monument was dedicated to her, which was later restored in 1996.