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An incident of sexual assault led to a number of riots at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin in 1747. 

On 19 January, a man named Kelly made his way backstage where he sexually assaulted the actress Harriet Dyer and the theatre dresser, Ann Banford. Kelly was ejected from the premises by the theatre manager Thomas Sheridan, but Kelly and his friends disrupted several subsequent performances in the theatre.

The Gentlemen’s Apology was a defence of the actions of Kelly’s gang in disrupting a charity performance of a play in Smock Alley on 11 February. The Ladies Answer to the Gentlemen’s Apology, on display here, is ostensibly a response penned by one of the well-to-do women who had witnessed the violence at the cancelled event. It is likely, though, to have been written by a man feigning a female viewpoint.

Citation:
The Ladies Answer to the Gentlemen’s Apology (Dublin, 1747).,
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
accessed December 6, 2025,
https://www.marshlibrary.ie/digi/items/show/487