A poem written by William Woodlock (1801-1803) for his grand-daughter Frances Woodlock 'on receiving from her a lock of her hair'. The poem is dated 12 June 1877 at Bruges, Belgium. This William Woodlock was the father of William Woodlock (1832-1890), the barrister and Dublin Police Court Magistrate.
A copybook with a manuscript annotation on the front cover which reads ‘Tadhg Mac Firbishigh’. The copybook contains poem extracts and some notes inserted into the volume in both Irish (primarily) and in English. Some of the copy poem extracts date to 1918 and 1922.
A poem by William Allingham titled ‘The Frightful Child of Ballyshannon’ and dated 1 October 1849. As noted in Allingham’s introduction, the poem refers to a story that a ghostly apparition (taking the form of a child) haunted Robert Stewart, better known as Lord Castlereagh (1769-1822), a leading Anglo-Irish statesman and politician, probably best remembered for his role in suppressing the 1798 Rebellion and in securing the passage of the Act of Union in 1800.
The verse recounts a local tradition that Stewart was visited by the spectre while inspecting a military barracks in Ballyshannon in County Donegal. Allingham suggests that Stewart was subject to an ‘unusual gloom and melancholy for a period after the spectral visit’. Stewart was known to be susceptible to paranoia and later severe mental health problems. It is likely that Allingham’s poem was also influenced by the fact that Stewart was a widely reviled figure in Ireland.
The last stanza of Allingham’s poem reads:
Then, through the Holy Island still
Were nests of goblins left, to fill
Each mouldy nook & corner close,
Like spiders in an ancient house:
And this one read within the face
Intruding on it’s dwelling-place,
Lines of woe, despair, & blood;
By Spirits only understood;
As mortals now can read the same
In the letters of his name
Who in that haunted chamber lay,
When we call him — Castlereagh.
A leaflet with the text of a poem written by Thoams Ashe while in Lewes Prison. Printed by Curtis, 12 Temple Lane, Dublin.
An Irish poem by Louise Imogen Guiney titled ‘Na Righthe’. The script is possibly a copy manuscript.
poem written about Nano Nagle and her life's triumphs (Brian O'Higgins).
Máire Ní Shuibhne, ‘Poblacht na h-Éireann / The Republic of Ireland’ (Cork: Printed by Lee Print, [c.1932]).
'Poblacht na hEireann (War News)', No. 6, 2 July 1922.
'Poblacht na hEireann (War News)', No. 121, 22 Dec. 1922.
'Poblacht na hEireann (War News)', No. 47, 24 August 1922. This edition was published two days after the death of Michael Collins, the National Army's Commander-in-Chief, at Béal na Bláth in County Cork. Its editorial on Collins commences: 'Yesterday the Nation was shocked by the news of Michael Collins death … now his boundless energy and inexhaustible resource are no more ...' This is one of the last issues of 'War News' produced by Erskine Childers in West Cork before THE encircling National Army made anti-Treaty positions untenable, and he had to move the printing press into a vacant cottage at Ballyvourney. Helping him to print his news sheets were Sean O'Faolain, Frank O'Connor, Sean Hendrick (all famous writers), and R. Longford who later established the Lee Press in Cork city.