handwritten note

[deeerdre]

Hello,
Can anybody help to figure out what's written in this little message?

Thank you.

Deirdre

[mckha489]

Luke sent word lost
The Belle Ben..........

An initial - Rickard

Is the Belle ....  a ship?

[deeerdre]

I have no idea.  Thank you.

[Ruskie]

I can’t offer much more than Mckha, except that the letter after t looks like it might be a u. Possibly last letters “ury”?

First letter looks like B but may be P? 

N or M Rickard.

Are there any other clues you can provide in case it helps?

Where did the note come from?
Is there anything written on the other side of the piece of paper?
Was anything else with the paper?
In which country in the world was the note found?

[deeerdre]

Actually, if it's the Luke I think he is, he had nothing to do with ships.  He was a famine relief officer in Ireland and later a post office master in Kildalkey-Athboy area in County Meath, Ireland.

Deirdre

[deeerdre]

I'd say his brother, Mathias, wrote the note.

[Ruskie]

The plot thickens. 

Any idea of dates?

So M Rickard is Mathias?

[deeerdre]

Sorry, found in Ireland, County Meath.  The brothers lived in the 19th century.  Nothing on back of note.

Deirdre

[deeerdre]

Yes - he was an attendant and later head attendant in many lunatic asylums in Ireland between the 1840s til the early 1880s (Carlow, Wexford, Dublin and ended up in Killarney).