Michael Gorman was one a large Catholic family living at a farm in Ballinalug, County Laois (then Queen’s County). Susan Fitzgerald (d. 1980) was one a Church of Ireland family living in Raheenahone House near Stradbally, County Laois, also in the Slieve Bloom mountains. At the time the letter was written they were involved in a courtship but owing to the religious difference the love affair had to be kept secret. Eventually both were in Dublin: he in the Albert Agricultural College in Glasnevin (where he eventually became Professor of Agricultural Botany and Biochemistry) and she as a volunteer nurse in the Royal Hospital in Baggot Street. They eventually went to London to marry. The letter was written after Susan had arrived in Dublin as part of the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a voluntary group established to provide nursing to wounded British army soldiers. She refers to Michael as a 'horrid cod' for not coming to see her and asks that he visit tomorrow.