The subseries comprises a small collection of papers of Frank Fahy, a revolutionary, Irish language activist, teacher, and politician. Born in County Galway in 1879, Fahy was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers and an active member of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League). He married Anna Barton (1885-1974), a Kerry-born Cumann na mBan activist, in 1908. He worked as a teacher in St. Vincent’s College, Castleknock, Dublin (1906-21). As a captain in the 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Volunteers, he commanded the contingent that occupied the Four Courts during the 1916 Rising. He was subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison and spent terms in several British jails. He was released in the general amnesty of June 1917, and was later involved in the reorganisation of the Volunteer movement. He went on to have a long career in politics, serving as a Teachta Dála for thirty-five years, first for Sinn Féin and later as a member of Fianna Fáil. He was elected Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in 1932. He resigned as Ceann Comhairle on health grounds in 1951. He died in Dublin on 12 July 1953.
A letter from Patrick James Smyth (1823-1885), Auburn Villa, Rathgar, Dublin, introducing James Joseph O’Kelly to Monsieur de Taillon in Caen, France. The letter is endorsed ‘7211’.
A single ticket of James Joseph O’Kelly for a journey from Le Havre to Dublin (via Southampton and London). 20 February 1871. With a cover addressed to ‘Monsieur O’Kelly, Hotel de Londres, Le Havre, France’. The one-page account note is endorsed ‘7205’.
Draft transcription (with commentary and notes) of ‘Sgéal “Sheandúin”’ (Tadhg Ó Murchadha). The volume was probably used by Br. Senan Moyinhan OFM Cap. for his serial publication of the text in ‘The Father Mathew Record’ (July 1924-August 1925). Several loose (dated) enclosures and notes are extant in the volume. The first portion of the transcription is dated 10 February 1918. The final dated entry in the volume is 22 January 1922. Some possibly earlier notes and translations of religious texts are present on the opening pages of the volume.
Notes on the progress of the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge) and the Irish language revival movement in Cork. The author of the text is not stated. A portion of the text reads ‘It was the opinion of several sincere workers including O[sborn] Bergin … that a second branch should be open to the gen[eral] pub[lic] including ladies and therefore they started a branch called the Lee Branch in Pope’s Quay. The leading members of the Central Branch in Dublin did not take very kindly to this as they thought that it would only weaken the movement in Cork. They began to teach Irish in the Lee Branch by means of subject lessons and were successful for a time …’.
Letters from Douglas Hyde (‘An Craoibhín’), 1 Earlsfort Place, Dublin, to Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. giving his recollections of Tadhg Ó Murchadha (‘Seandún’) and his commentary on the publication of ‘Scéal “Sheandúin”’.
Telegram from Fr. Laurence Dowling OFM Cap., to Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap. asking him to send the vocabulary for publication in ‘The Father Mathew Record’.
Letter from Mary MacSwiney (Máire Nic Shuibhne), 23 Suffolk Street, Dublin, to ‘Brother Shannon’ (Br. Senan Moynihan OFM Cap.), St. Bonaventure’s Capuchin Hostel, Cork, expressing her disquiet that he published the second part of ‘Scéal “Sheandúin” without her permission. She asks for the return of the original manuscript.
Copy letter from Mary MacSwiney (Máire Nic Shuibhne), 23 Suffolk Street, Dublin, to Diarmuid Ó Murchadha, Seminary Villas, Cork, regarding her wish to have ‘Scéal “Sheandúin” published elsewhere. She asserts that its publication in ‘The Father Mathew Record’ should not prevent this.
