Letters from William Partridge to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. giving an outline of his career mostly in the labour and union movement under James Larkin. Partridge was among those rebels who surrendered at St Stephen’s Green in 1916. He was subsequently sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude and sent to Dartmoor and afterwards to Lewes Prison. He was released due to ill-health and returned to Ballaghadreen in County Mayo, but died on 26 July 1917. He refers to his physical condition in some of the correspondence. He writes ‘Please excuse scribbling as my sight got bad in prison and I have not yet got glasses’. With his memorial card and a newspaper cutting of his obituary notice. The file also includes a letter (probably from his brother, Felix Partridge) referring to his last days and thanking Fr. Albert for his words of sympathy.
Letters from Constance Markievicz, Holloway Jail, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., Church St., Dublin, referring to her conditions of imprisonment and conveying her good wishes to Fr. Albert, Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap., and Sister Brigid. She declares that ‘when we free our country I shall start a movement for the reformation of jails and jailors! I am proud of being selected as a candidate. I wonder whether I should have a better chance of election in or out of jail?’ With 2 covers.
Letters from Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. to Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap., referring to journey to the United States, from New York to Santa Barbara, California, his declining health and to the consolation he has found as his death approaches. On 25 Jan. 1925 Fr. Albert wrote: ‘I am gradually getting weaker and am preparing for end. … Fr. Dominic O’Connor OFM Cap. came here last night and will remain with me to the end. Tis a great comfort and joy to have him. He will do for me what he did for Terry McSweeney in Brixton Jail’. With a newspaper cutting from the Santa Barbara Daily News (21 Jan. 1925) containing an article with (photographic prints) of the Old Mission of Santa Ynez and ‘Padre Albert’.
The file includes letters from various American Associations for the Recognition of the Irish Republic to Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, re the Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. Includes: Letter from Mrs John Flanagan, Secretary, Liam Mellows Council of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, Portland, enclosing a resolution protesting against the exiling of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and other Capuchin Priests. With annotated cover: ‘Not Answered, F[ather] P[eter]. Deserves none except mind own business’. 25 Mar. 1925. Letter from Martin Howard, American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, 3 East 42nd Street, New York, enclosing a resolution condemning the ‘victimization’ of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. and other Capuchin priests who merely expressed ‘a deep rooted love of their motherland, Ireland … and were therefore looked on as a menace to the so-called Free State Government in Ireland …’. 21 Apr. 1925. Letter from Loretta A. Ryder, Secretary, Kevin Barry Council of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, enclosing a resolution condemning ‘the unchristian conduct of the Superiors of the Capuchin Order of Priests in Ireland in exiling Father Albert and other Priests of their Order because they had the courage to stand up for Ireland’s rightful independence’. 4 May 1925
Two full-length portrait photographic prints of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., at the door to Rochestown College, Cork, prior to his departure for the United States in 1924. With a photographic print of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. with a friar and another unidentified lay individual at Rochestown.
The file includes a clipping reporting the ordination of Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. in St. Mary’s of the Angels, Church Street, Dublin (Feb. 1902). With clippings re his involvement in ministering to the 1916 rebel leaders (including Seán Heuston), obituaries and tributes, and later the campaign to have his and Father Dominic’s O’Connor’s body repatriated to Ireland. The file includes clippings from the 'Kilkenny Journal', 'Kilkenny People', 'Cork Examiner' and 'Irish Press'.
• Michael O’Hannrachain. With photograph. 2 copies • Ėamonn Ceannt. With photograph. 2 copies • Con Colbert. With photograph. Printed by Gill, Dublin. • Pádraig MacPiarais and William MacPiarais • ‘For the souls of General P. H. Pearse and the Officers and Men of the Irish Republican Army’. • ‘For P.H. Pearse, Thos. J. Clarke and Thos. MacDonagh who died for Ireland, 3rd May, 1916’. • In memory of John Daly, Thomas J. Clarke and John Edward Daly (combined card). 3 copies
Memoriam card for Thomas Ashe who ‘Succumbed to prison treatment and forcible feeding in Mountjoy Prison and died 27 Sept. 1917’. Card with photographic print, coloured tricolour banner on pikes with interlacing legend: ‘Sinn Féin Abu’. With MS annotations. ‘In memoriam Thomas Ashe, 1917’. Cover has photographic print of Ashe and legend ‘He died that Ireland might have greater life’. Handbill containing the text of poem in remembrance of Thomas Ashe signed ‘“Benmore”, Glenar M., Christmas 1917’. 3 pp. Memoriam card for Thomas Ashe who ‘answered the call and laid down his life for Ireland on Sept. 25th [1917]’.
Notebook belonging to Martin Savage, Irish Volunteer. The annotation on the first page reads: ‘This book belongs to Martin Savage. I [Fr. Columbus Murphy OFM Cap.] got it from him at Richmond Barracks. It contained a list of the names and addresses of all the Volunteers of his company. I tore them out and burned them. Fr. Columbus’. A later note reads: ‘He [Savage] was subsequently killed in the attack on Lord French. Fr. C.’. The notebook also contains thirteen black and white portrait photographs of unidentified individuals and groups. Three of these photographs can be positively identified as Martin Savage. The other photographs may be of his relations. Some of the photographs have a printed company stamp on the reverse: ‘The Franco Art Co., Grafton Studios, 111 Grafton St. … Dublin’.
A record by Fr. Columbus Murphy OFM Cap. of events between 30 April and 4 May 1916. Most of the memoir refers to his interaction with British military officers and his efforts to minister to the rebel leaders prior to their executions in Kilmainham Jail. The memoir begins: ‘I have been asked repeatedly to write out a detailed and connected account of my personal experiences, what I actually saw and did during the Rising. At length I have decided to comply with the request. I do so however not with the intention of ever publishing this report. … As I sit then at my desk here in the silence and solitude of my monastic cell in Dublin, fourteen weeks have elapsed since those eventful days. I take up my pen. …’.
