Origins

It is easy to think of Valentine’s Day as a uniquely modern phenomenon. But it has been around for centuries, with origins that can be traced back to the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia. In the 5th century, the Christian church claimed the festival, and 14 February became St Valentine's Day.

The feast became associated with romantic love in 15th century France, and the first known Valentine note was written by the Duc d’Orléans to his wife from his prison cell in the Tower of London. It took until the 1790s for a commercial market and pre-printed Valentine cards to emerge, and by the mid-1800s, Valentine cards were hugely popular. They became even more so with the introduction of the Penny Black stamp and more affordable postage rates. In 1841, some 400,000 valentines were posted throughout England.*

What may be more surprising is that they were also popular in Ireland.

Valentine’s Day in Leitrim, 1858

The mid-1800s in Ireland were of course dominated by the Great Famine. Counties like Leitrim were decimated through disease, death and emigration. After 1850, when the worst of the Famine had abated, thousands continued to emigrate from Leitrim, and the majority of those who remained eked out a living as labourers and servants, with low wages, little security and few prospects.

Despite this, County Leitrim was transformed and a new middle class of tenant farmers, landholders, professionals and merchants emerged. Confidence was growing and Mohill town was lined with shops and traders. Local newspapers carried advertisements for goods like coffee, whiskey, dentistry, coats, perfumes, clocks and watches.

In January and February each year, ads would appear for Valentine cards.

A beautiful assortment of VALENTINES

An ad in the Leitrim Gazette, published in Mohill through January and early February 1858 offers a 'beautiful assortment' of Valentines for sale in Robert Turner's shop, or by post. They range in price from one penny to five shillings.

So who bought them? We may never know. The very notion of ordinary men and women exchanging Valentine cards is contrary to our common understanding of living standards in the aftermath of the Famine. We know that men labouring at work like spreading manure or planting potatoes might earn 8 or 10d a day, so would have to work an hour to buy the cheapest card; they would have had to hand over a week’s wages to buy a 5 shilling card. The cards would certainly have been more affordable for a schoolmaster or schoolmistress, or a carpenter or clerk earning £20 to £50 a year. Or maybe they were bought by the few doctors, attorneys, and gentry who lived in the area.

Perhaps Valentine’s Day offered some light relief from the ever-present disturbances and tensions over land. Turner’s ad on 30 January appears on the front page of the newspaper alongside articles about tenant rights and a ‘great meeting at Milford’ between Lord Leitrim and his tenants. The same front page includes a report from the recent Petty Sessions in Mohill, where a number of people were convicted for ‘tippling in a shebeen-house'. The offenders were fined 5s each. Their illicit whiskey cost them the price of a high-end Valentine card.

The cards

What did these cards look like? We cannot tell. We can only assume that they were similar to the cards that were on sale in Britain. The simple ones, and presumably the cheaper ones, were printed cards with messages that would not be unfamiliar today. Some were humorous, some were rude. The more expensive ones might have been handmade lace confections with appliqué flowers, or hand-painted images.