The History of My Family : W B Yeats' 'Leda', Her Murder and Why He Abandoned His Son

This essay clarifies controversial events in William Butler Yeats's life, such as sudden heart troubles and depression from June 1925, his notorious Divorce Bill speech, the riots over O'Casey's production of `The Plough and the Stars' and Yeats's obsession with Purgatory.

His wife George was his amanuensis; this essay explains her motivation for altering details in his works and hoarding his papers after his death.

She insisted that Yeats's alter egos and `masks' were psychic creations of a genius; this essay shows they were real disguises that George had to suppress in order to hide her own role in the murder of Yeats's extra-marital lover. This essay also connects my own family history to these events.

It explains why my grandmother was murdered, who was responsible, and how the truth was concealed.

It explains why my father had a different name in childhood, and why the Garda Sio chana strongly urged him to not enquire into his mother's life.

It shows why my sisters and I could see from her photograph that she was not a prostitute, and why the jury at the trial of her alleged murderers had such a different point of view.