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).
A series of republican cartoons by Constance Markievicz published during the Civil War attacking various prominent Free State figures including Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. Two of the cartoons are titled ‘Midnight Assassins’ and refer to supposed threats to the lives of Ėamon de Valera and Erskine Childers. Another affirms that Griffith and Collins are ‘marching heads up into the Empire over the bodies of their murdered Comrades’ whilst another suggests a comparison between James Craig and Michael Collins in terms of their treatment of Republicans. The cartoons may have been published in the Anti-Treaty publication 'The Fenian' (See IE CA IR-1-8-3-5).
Copy letter from Roger Casement, Pentonville Prison, to his chaplain, Fr. E.F. Murnane, regarding the progress of his appeal against the indictment of high treason. With a letter (2 Aug. 1916) from E.F. Murnane, The Presbytery, Dockhead, [Bermondsey, London, S.E.], in the same hand, to George Gavan Duffy regarding Casement’s last hours. Includes a copy extract from a letter from the Prison Chaplain giving a brief account of Casement’s piety before his execution. The file also includes an original letter from Roger Casement, Wellington Club, Grosvenor Place, S.W., to Francis H. Cowper (16 Dec. 1903) declaring that all is well him ‘but fearful Congo row is brewing and I shall be the storm centre I fear’. He adds 'Give the brindled John my love and a kiss on his black nose. I wish I were in Lisbon now …’. The ‘brindled John’ was presumably a domestic cat or dog owned by Cowper; brindled referring to a specific type of patchy colouring most commonly associated with the patterned fur of cats. It is unknown how this letter was acquired by the Capuchin friars but it is likely that it was given to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. for safekeeping by an nationalist acquaintance.
Letters from Kathleen Clarke (wife of Tom Clarke), 15 Barrington Street, Limerick, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., mostly concerning family news. She also wrote: ‘Limerick does not agree with me. I am tired all the time here. I have an unsettled feel here too … . I find it hard to realise that my home and everything is gone, the only thing left is hope, and if our hopes for Ireland’s future are fulfilled the sacrifices will have been worth the making’. She also refers to Ernest Blythe: ‘We had hoped for better for him. I suppose he is left Arbour Hill by this and there would be no use in writing to him
An Anti-Treaty handbill. The text reads: ‘It has been said that the Irish people are guilty of the blood shed by the firing squads, because the executions were carried out in their name ... This is not true ... when the time comes, they will repudiate the responsibility for the blood. Guiltiness and The shame, by turning down the men who falsely used their name as a cover for these horrible deeds. Printed in Manchester by Whiteley & Wright. Titled ‘No. 1’ in a series.
Uniform handbills in the Republican interest, starting with: The Murder Members. The following are the names of the members of the partition parliament who voted for the murder bill. Note: 2 copies; 1 leaf. 31 cm Seven Steps towards the Republic; 1 p. 19 cm. On the proper shoulders. At head of text: extracts from the Official Report of proceedings in the English House of Commons (Hansard, June 26th, 1922, Vol. 155, no. 84). 5 copies; [6] pp.; 22 cm. The new terror ... homes raided in the dead of night; women and children terrorised ... These are some fruits of the Treaty. We will break this new terror as we broke the old. Make no doubt about it. Note: 1 p. 21 cm. Conspiracy to murder. The Provisional Government has sent an agent to the south to assassinate Eamonn de Valera. The name of the agent is known. Is this done by the will of the Irish people? Note: 1 p. 17 cm. Violation of Padraig Pearse's Home. Mrs. Pearse's words to the Free State soldiers; Note: 1 p. 26 cm. To the Free State Soldiers. Anti-Treaty handbill (black typescript on buff coloured paper), urging Free State soldiers to lay down their arms. Urging the soldiers of the Provisional Government, which includes Arthur Griffith, not to take up arms and/or demean soldiers of the Irish Republic during the Irish Civil War. 1 p. 26 cm. Murdered. On the murder of Harry Boland. Note: 2 pp; 26 cm. Provisional Government Offer Valuable Prizes for the Best Answers to the following eighteen questions. Note: 2 copies; 1 leaf; 33 cm. The Mountjoy “Hotel”. Note. 1 p. 27 cm. Appeal to the People and Volunteers of Tirconaill. Note: 1 p.; 33 cm. Resolutions adopted by Padraic Pearse Council A.A.R.I.R., Chicago, Illinois, published by the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic. 14 Oct. 1922. Note: Printed, 4 pp. Do you know Joe Clark? A leaflet, including the statement of Joseph Clark, on the crimes committed against him by the Free State authorities, dated 13 Nov. 1922. Note: 1 p.; 33 cm.
Annual reports and statements of accounts of Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The booklets provide reports on annual general meetings, activities, speeches and events held in the Hall and provide annual accounts of receipts and expenditure. The 1901 report (pp 20-3) gives an account of a speech by Pádraig Pearse in the Hall on 2 March 1902 commending the giving of classes ‘for the study of our native language, and forms of self-culture amongst our members.’ He added ‘There is a certain bad old tradition that one cannot be a good Irishman unless he “takes a dhrop”. Now, I think you will all allow if there is one body in Ireland which is concerned more than another for the maintenance of genuine Irish traditions, that body is the Gaelic League … [and] in the ranks of no body in Ireland will you find proportionally so many total abstainers as in those of the Gaelic League’. Pearse suggested that there should be more cooperation between the Gaelic League and the temperance movement. In 1906, it was reported (p. 20) that ‘owing to several exceptional expenses, rendered necessary by the increase of membership and the extension of temperance work, we have not been able to reduce our indebtedness to the Bank’. The statement of accounts noted that £1,405 6s 5d was owed to the National Bank by December 1906. The front covers of the booklets have ink drawings of the Hall fronting onto Church Street.
The volume contains information in respect of ticket sales and cash derived from various lectures and concert performances at Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The Hall was regularly frequented by those interested in promoting cultural revivalist activities such as storytelling and festivals of native song and dance. The volume records that Pádraig Pearse gave a lecture in the Hall entitled ‘Education in Ancient Ireland’ on 20 Nov. 1905. On 29 Jan. 1906, the Chevalier Sheeran gave a talk on subject of the ‘alleged atrocities in the Congo Free State’. Each entry is signed by a secretary or officer of the Hall Committee. The signatories include J.W. Whitmore and J. Scanlan.
Programmes for concert performances at Father Mathew Hall. The file includes fliers for concerts by the Father Mathew Choral Society, in aid of the Brian Boru Fete (1914), by the Colmcille Branch of the Gaelic League (1918), for the Annual Colmcille Concert (1920), 'The Colleen Bawn' by The Mathew Choral Union (Easter 1920), and for a pageant titled 'Scenes from the Life of St. Patrick' (1921).
Newspaper cuttings book compiled and annotated by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh OFM Cap. Printed stamp on inside front cover reads: ‘Franciscan Capuchin Library, Church Street, Dublin’. The volume includes: A public meeting in Father Mathew Hall of the Dublin Vigilance Committee in furtherance of the movement for the suppression of evil literature ('Freeman’s Journal', 2 May 1910). Letters to the 'Freeman’s Journal' re the influence of elements of the Gaelic League on the Father Mathew Feis in Dublin. Includes a letter from Eoin MacNeill (14 Mar. 1912). Report of the annual retreat of Father Mathew Hall Total Abstinence League of the Cross (c.1914). ‘The Church in America’, an illustrated lecture in Father Mathew Hall by Fr. Leonard Brophy OSFC ('Evening Telegraph', 10 Jan. 1914). Father Mathew Feis. Statement by Fr. Alphonsus at prize distribution ('Evening Telegraph', 3 July 1919). Father Mathew Feis Concert ('Irish Independent', 30 Apr. 1919). Photographic print of the Graignamanagh Temperance Band, County Kilkenny, winners of the first prize at the annual Father Mathew Feis in Dublin in 1913 and in 1914. (See digital image above). The opening of the Father Mathew Feis in Dublin with a report of the speech given by Fr. Canice Bourke OFM Cap., Vice-President of the Feis (5 April 1920). Results at the Father Mathew Feis in Dublin, 1920.
