In the circular Plunkett promoted Sinn Féin’s strategy and declared that ‘the position of the Irish Party during Easter Week was deplorable. The Leader of the Irish Party [John Redmond] accepted the points of view of the government. He speaks like an Englishman intent on maintaining English supremacy, not as an Irishman who believes that his Nation has the rights common to all nations, and the duty to wrest her liberties from foreign control by every means in her power’.
A handbill in favour of Sinn Féin’s W.T. Cosgrave’s campaign for the Kilkenny by-election in 1917. The handbill concludes ‘Cosgrave stands for the same principles which the Bishop of Limerick professed 20 years ago …’. The handbill was printed for the candidate, William T. Cosgrave, by the Kilkenny People Printing Works, James’s St., Kilkenny.
An election handbill quoting a letter from the Most Rev. William J. Archbishop of Dublin criticising the stance of the Irish Parliamentary Party. It reads: ‘For years past I have never had a moment’s doubt that the Irish Home Rule cause in Parliament was being led along a line that could only bring it to disaster. …’. The handbill concludes with a call to vote for W.T. Cosgrave in the Kilkenny by-election.
Letters from D. O’Callaghan, Lewes Prison, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. concerning his prison conditions and to kindness shown to him by a Sister Bridget. He adds: ‘Duggan and Beasely were glad to hear from her and sends best wishes’. He later refers to his actions during Easter Week: ‘ … I done my best to conduct things to the best advantage for all, and if done a great deal of damage to property, it had to be done to insure the safety of the men that were in my charge. But I certainly say no unnecessary damage was done by us’. Reference is also made to his fellow prisoners G. Grofts and Jimmy Brennan. With an undated letter [c. Apr. 1917] from O’Callaghan referring to the deteriorating conditions endured by republican prisoners: ‘On Wednesday, the 9th some of the young fellows started kicking a rag ball at exercise and warder Birch picked it up most abruptly on the fooling day he had Boland charged with using insolent language. Boland got severely punished and on the following day we struck work. … Our experience is that the warders are incapable of making a correct statement about us. McEntee and I were charged with insubordination simply because we spoke on behalf of our comrades’.
Letter from D. O’Callaghan, prisoner no. q 128, Lewes Prison, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., offering his thanks to all the ‘patriotic priests who offered up the Masses for the souls of our dear brothers, comrades and relatives …’. He assures that Fr. Albert that ‘all the men you mentioned De Velera [sic], J and G. Plunkett, J.J. Walsh, Desmond Fitzgerald and O’Hanrahan asked me to than you on their behalf, for kindly visiting their people … E. Duggan and P. Beasley were glad to hear from you’. O’Callaghan declares that he does not see much hope of any conciliation as ‘there has been so much blood and frightful suffering for the past seven hundred years, and foreign law is as hateful today as it was in the beginning’. He also gives news of the Jimmy Brennan and the ‘Church St. Boys’. The letter is written on an official form with regulations governing prisoner regulations printed on first page.
Letter from James O’Sullivan prisoner no. q 100, Lewes Prison, declaring that ‘all the men here, look to the Capuchin Fathers, as their especial friends – they found the comrades in times of peril, true friends of the people, the ideal priests’. O’Sullivan adds that ‘Edmund Duggan (my dearest friend), Pierce Beasley, D. O’Callaghan, G. Crofts and Jimmy Brennan, wish to be remembered to you’. James O’Sullivan fought at the General Post Office during the Rising.
Letter from Muriel MacDonough, 50 Marlbourough Rd., Donnybrook, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., apologising for not seeing him when he called to her house. ‘My bell was out of order and it is practically impossible to hear knocks, especially with [her son] Don babbling making an uproar’.
Letters from Brigid E. Whelan, Staplestown Rd., Carlow, to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap., regarding a subscription from local people ‘to have a Mass said in the Cathedral, Carlow, for the repose of the soul of the I[rish] V[olunteers] who died in connection with the 1916 Rising which proposal was refused by the administrator ’. (2 May 1916). She later reprobates the ‘clergy [who] had abandoned the cause of their motherland’. She added ‘Thank God that there are such men as you and your “Beloved Brethren”’. (4 May 1917).
First anniversary cards for the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising including one card for Joseph Mary Plunkett, William Pearse, Michael O’Hanrahan, Edward Daly, another for Major John MacBride, and one for ‘for the repose of the souls of the following Irishmen who were executed by English Law’. (Hand coloured, tricolour and green flag over crossed pikes. Interlacing ribbon reads: ‘Our Prayers Daily’.
