The file comprises the following editions: An t-Óglác the official organ of the Irish Volunteers: 15 Mar. 1921 (vol. III, no. 1)-15 Apr. 1921 (Vol. III, no. 4); 1 May 1921 (Vol. III, no. 6)-10 June 1921 (Vol. III, no. 12); 24 June 1921 (Vol. III, no. 14); 2 Dec. 1921 (vol. III, no. 37) – 9 Dec. 1921 (vol. III, no. 38); An t-Óglác, the official organ of the army 20 Jan. 1923 (vol. iv, no. 32, new series) – 27 Jan. 1923 (vol., iv, no. 33 new series) An t-Óglác, the army journal 29 May 1926 (vol. iv, no. 20). The concluding edition in the file contains an article titled ‘Four courts and North King St. Area in 1916’ by John J. Reynolds, referring to the activities of Capuchin priests from Church Street during the 1916 Rising. (pp 3-4).
Cartoons attributed to Constance de Markievicz (1868-1927). • A figure of Hibernia with arms behind her back and chained. Michael Collins (1890-1922), holds a gun to her head. Behind Michael Collins are a bishop and William Thomas Cosgrave, (1880-1965). In front of Hibernia and carrying a piece of paper with the words ‘Propaganda D.F.’, is Desmond Fitzgerald, (1889-1947). The caption reads: Carey Collins - Go down on your b------ knees without any more d-----d fuss swear allegiance to King George and his heirs. : Faker Fitzgerald - Don't listen to Devalera [sic]. I could tell you a lot about great great grandmother and Spanish gold. : The Bishop - Take any other oath that will get you out of your difficulties. : Comic Cosgrave - It was an awful joke talking about freedom, you know. • The branded arm of James O’Reilly Sketched from life by C de M. View of an arm with the sleeve rolled up to expose branded marks. According to the printed statement on the accompanying page, Stephen Gorman aka James O’Reilly of Ballyblia, Ardee, County Louth, was arrested on 11 September 1922 while travelling on a weekend visit to Drogheda. He was arrested on suspicion that he had taken part in a republican demonstration in Ardee. He was then branded. Notes: Title printed. Watermarks visible. Physical description: 1 stencil print: roneo; 32.6 x 19.3 cm. (2 copies).
The note reads: ‘The General Officer Commander in Chief directs that every facility be given to his Revered Father Albert [Bibby] OSFC to visit rebel prisoners at any of the places of detention or internment, to hear confessions and administer the rights of his Church, at all times’. With typescript copy.
A leather bandolier reputed to have been used by an Irish Volunteer during the 1916 Rising. Retrieved from the gallery of St. Mary of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin. The bandolier has five pouches for the storage of ammunition.
A soft-bound volume containing the the following pamphlets referring to the Irish Question: • Report of the Labour commission to Ireland. A pamphlet publishing the findings of British Labour Party-sponsored commission on the Irish troubles. The chairman of the commission was Arthur Henderson, MP (1863-1935). Physical description: iv, 119, [1] pp : illus. (incl. plan, facsims.) ; 25 cm. • The American Commission on conditions in Ireland: interim report. A pamphlet reporting the findings of an American Commission investigating the Irish troubles. The commission held public hearings in Washington, D.C., on 19-20 November, 9-23 December 1920 and on 13,14,19 and 21 January 1921. The chairman was noted as L. Hollingsworth. Published in London by Harding and Moore in 1921. Physical description: 72 pp. • Who burnt Cork City? a tale of arson, loot, and murder; the evidence of over seventy witnesses. 1921. A pamphlet published by the Irish Labour Party and Trades Union Congress in January 1921. The work drew upon eye-witness evidence assembled by Seamus Fitzgerald which argued that the fires which had devastated Cork city on the night of 11 December 1920 had been deliberately set by British forces. Members of the fire service testified that their attempts to contain the blaze were hampered by soldiers who fired on them and cut their hoses with bayonets. Physical description: 68 p. illus.
A pamphlet in the republican interest by Frank Gallagher who worked alongside Erskine Childers on the republican publicity staff. During this period Gallagher and Robert Brennan were significant contributors to the 'Irish Bulletin'. Gallagher served long stints in prison due to his IRA involvement and went on many hunger strikes (the shortest lasting three days, the longest 41 days).
Circular letter from Seosamh Mac Donnchadha (Joseph MacDonagh), Minister for Labour, Dáil Ėireann, to the Superiors of all Religious Houses in Ireland, enclosing a copy statement, written by a Belfast priest, detailing ‘the Orange atrocities committed on Catholic workers and others last July and August’. MacDonagh asks the Religious Superiors to use ‘their wide influence to assist in the rigid enforcement and maintenance of the Belfast Trade Boycott’. MacDonagh was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin MP for the Tipperary North constituency at the 1918 general election. He was Director of the ‘Belfast Boycott’, an attempt in 1920–21 to boycott goods from Ulster that were being imported into the south of Ireland. With a printed flier titled ‘Black list, Belfast Economic Boycott’ listing the principal firms acting as distributors for ‘Belfast goods’ in Dublin and in other parts of Ireland.
An autograph book signed by Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners detained in Limerick Jail in early 1923. The text includes patriotic and republican poems and statements composed by the detainees. The volume was compiled by James O’Mahony (Séamus Ó Mathúna) from Mitchelstown in County Cork. O’Mahony joined the Irish Volunteers in September 1917 and was active in the anti-conscription campaign. As an engineering student in University College Cork, he continued his republican activities and by July 1921 held the rank of adjutant of the 6th Battalion of the Cork No. 2 Brigade of the IRA. He participated in several engagements with British forces in Cork during the War of Independence and was appointed the brigade’s principal training officer. He took the Anti-Treaty side during the Civil War and was a member of the republican forces which fought in a large-scale engagement in Kilmallock in County Limerick in August 1922. He was captured by the National Army in December 1922 and was initially confined in Mitchelstown. In early January 1923, he was moved to Limerick Jail and was held there until he escaped on 31 March.
Photocopies of letters from Capt. Rev. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap., 21 Stationary Hospital, Salonika Forces, M[acedonian] E[xpeditionary] F[orce], and the Capuchin Friary, Fr. Mathew Quay, Cork, to his sister, [Sister Constantine O’Connor?], explaining his reasons for becoming an army chaplain. He wrote: ‘Well someone had to do the work and when those who had done all the recruiting were too cowardly to go there was nothing left except to have us who were anti-recruiters go and help the souls of the soldiers the others had sent out’. He later referred to conditions for the troops he is ministering to: ‘We have had more than half the troops down with malaria, dysentery, sandfly fever etc. and it is fortunate that there was no fighting here’. [c. 1915]. In reference to the political situation he later wrote: ‘There is no use in saying anything about the political situation. England seems set upon forcing conscription on us. And the Irish Nation is equally or rather more determined to oppose it. God protect us!’.
Typescript copy of Michael Mallin’s last letter to his wife. Copy signed: ‘Michael Mallin, Commandant, Stephen’s Green Command’; copy of Pearse’s last letter to his mother in which he refers to papers he has left with Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap.
