A letter from An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire to Fr. Augustine Hayden OFM Cap. referring to the Munster Feis. Ó Laoghaire wrote ‘I used to be mad when I used to see the citizens of Cork profiting by the Feis and contributing next to nothing to the cost of the Feis’. He adds 'The people of Cork would actually let a few earnest men work themselves to death and then pay the cost of their own funerals'.
A collection of papers relating to Patrick Pearse (1879-1916), a barrister, writer, and educationalist. He was born in Dublin on 10 November 1879, the elder son and the second of four children of James Pearse, a sculptor, and his second wife, Margaret. As a political revolutionary, Pearse rose to prominence as one of the key figures in the Easter Rising of 1916. He was chosen as the president of the republic which the rebels proclaimed during the insurrection. Pearse was executed in Kilmainham Jail on 3 May 1916. The collection comprises mostly personal papers including correspondence, legal records, writings, and some printed works. Much of the material relates to Scoil Éanna, the Gaelic school founded by Pearse in Dublin in 1908. Many of the letters in the collection relate to Pearse’s fundraising trip to the United States from March to June 1914. The purpose of this visit was to raise funds for Scoil Éanna and many of the letters are from potential donors and Irish Americans sympathetic to Pearse’s cultural nationalism. Other papers relate to the routine management of the school and to lesser extent Pearse’s involvement with the Irish Volunteers. From the latter perspective, a record and attendance book of the Irish Volunteers in Dublin covering the months leading up to 1916 Rising, is clearly a significant document in the collection. Other records refer to the precarious financial state of Scoil Éanna and to Pearse’s efforts to keep the school solvent. Some notes by Pearse on mainly education-related subjects are also extant in the collection. Several documents in the collection are either in Pearse’s hand or are endorsed with his signature.
William Pearse was born in Great Brunswick Street in Dublin on 11 November 1881. He was the younger brother of Patrick Pearse, the writer, educationalist, and revolutionary. He joined the family sculpting business and ran it following the death of his father James Pearse in 1900. William attended classes at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art between 1897 and 1910 and he seemed destined to embark upon a career as an artist. He later became a full-time art teacher at Scoil Éanna, the Gaelic school founded by his brother in 1908. Although William was more of an artist than a revolutionary, he shared his brother’s interest in the Irish language and Gaelic culture. Like his elder brother, William was also a founding member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. During the Easter Rising he served as a captain on the headquarters staff and stood alongside his brother as he read the Proclamation of Independence. William Pearse was one of the last, if not the last person, to leave the General Post Office after the evacuation order was given. Following the surrender, he was court-martialled and, contrary to expectations, executed in Kilmainham Jail (4 May 1916). William Pearse was the only one of the executed leaders to plead guilty, though he exercised no real authority during the rebellion and his leadership role was said to be minimal.
Margaret Brady was born in Dublin on 12 February 1857. She worked in a stationer’s shop until she married James Pearse, an English stonemason and sculptor, on 24 October 1877. The couple had four children: Margaret Mary, Patrick, William, and Mary Brigid. Of firmly held nationalist opinions, Margaret imbued her children with similar beliefs. In 1908 she joined her sons at Scoil Éanna, taking charge of domestic arrangements at the school. Margaret supported her sons’ political beliefs. Following their executions in 1916, she expressed her wish to maintain their legacy and became involved in political life. Elected to Dáil Éireann as a Sinn Féin TD in 1921, she strongly opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and left the Dáil following its ratification. She would later join Fianna Fáil as a founding member in 1926. She died on 22 April 1932, at the age of 75, and was honoured with a state funeral. The collection includes mostly personal correspondence, photographs, nationalist ephemera, and material relating to her role in the management of St. Enda’s School.
Copy letter from James Pearse to Charles Bradlaugh. The letter reads ‘I have written a letter to the “Agnostic Journal” upon [the] same subject (agnosticism and atheism) principally because my name was mentioned therein’.
Letters from J. Graham Alexander, solicitor, 47 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin, to James Pearse, relating to rent on Pearse’s premises at 27 Great Brunswick Street in Dublin.
