Recollections by Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. of the fighting of Easter Week, the surrender of the rebel forces and subsequent execution of their leaders. He provides an eye-witness account of the executions in Kilmainham Jail most notably that of James Connolly. The typescript copies are incomplete: 17 pp + 11 pp. With an undated typescript copy of ‘Connolly’s death speech’ taken from the 'Gaelic American'.
Authorisation from Colonel H.V. Cowan, Assistant Adjutant General, Headquarters, Irish Command, Parkgate, Dublin, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. The note reads: ‘The General Officer Commander in Chief directs that every facility be given to his Revered Father Aloysius 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’.
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.
Copy letter from Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. to the editor of the 'Irish Catholic' protesting against the ‘obvious and unkind suggestion’ made in relation to Thomas MacDonagh in a recent edition of the paper. Fr Aloysius declared: ‘I feel bound to emphatically assert that his preparation for his last moment manifested a depth of Catholic Faith and a tenderness of piety most edifying and impressive and that he received the rites of his Church with a devotion which not easily be forgotten by The Priest who assisted him’
Copy note from Major W.S. Lennon, Commandant, Kilmainham Detention Barracks, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. The note reads: ‘The Prisoner H.T. Pearse [sic] desires to see you and you have permission to visit him. Failing you he would be glad to see any of the Capucines [sic]’.
Correspondence between Thomas W. Bewley, secretary, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., and Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. regarding a cheque for £25 given by the directors of Jacobs to the Capuchins as a mark of appreciation ‘for the deep sense of thankfulness that our Factory was spared from serious injury during the time of the recent rebellion’. Includes a copy reply from Fr. Aloysius returning the said cheque. He writes ‘Any services that I may have rendered during the recent sad crisis were such as … any other priest in the same circumstances would render’. Fr. Aloysius suggests that the cheque should more fittingly be sent to the Lord Mayor’s Fund for the Relief of Distress.
Letter from Brian O’Higgins, Detention Barracks, Stafford, c/o Chief Postal Censor, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap., regarding the conditions of his detention. He writes: ‘We are all in good health and in the best of spirits; we are treated very kindly and have little to complain of. We have the Rosary in public – the whole lot of us together …’. He also asks Fr. Aloysius ‘to call at 117 Capel St. and see if Mrs Doyle and her children are being looked after? Her husband asked me to give this favour of you …’.
Letter from Major Gerald Henry Pomeroy Colley, Headquarters, Irish Command, Parkgate, Dublin, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap., declaring that he is ‘glad to say your kind offices will not be required to night’. Colley was referring to Fr. Aloysius’ attendance to imprisoned rebel leaders.
Letter from Patrick J. MacNally, Commandant, Collins’ Barracks, Cork, to Fr. Aloysius Travers OFM Cap. enclosing a typescript copy of his unfinished account of the Easter Week Rising. Comdt. MacNally also encloses a rough sketch of the Church Street area upon which he asks Fr. Aloysius to ‘mark roughly the positions of any barricades you saw … [and] houses that were occupied’. He also attaches ‘a sketch of the Bride Street area … to enable you to fix the corner where you stood at the surrender of Eamonn Ceannt’.
