Month: March 2018

Happy St. Patrick’s Day | Letters 1916-1923

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What were people saying when they put pen to paper to write letters on St Patrick’s day in 1916?

Thanks to the Letters of 1916-1923 database, we can get a snapshot of the words written on this day a century ago.

Letter from Denis Hurley to his brotherA quick look at the letters written on this day, shows us a letter written by Denis Hurley to his brother John. Originally from Tawnies, near Clonakilty in Co. Cork, Denis emigrated to Carson City in Nevada in 1873. In the letter, Denis thanks John for “the bunch of shamrocks”. Isn’t it amazing that the shamrock survived the journey!?

Alexander McDowell from the Ministry of Munitions wrote to E. A. Aston, inspector for the Local Government Board (LGB) in Dublin regarding female workers in the local linen industry. From his letter, we learn that only one Belfast firm at that time employed women on munitions work.

In a third letter, Alexander G. Crawford writes to Matthew Nathan discussing a local school principal from Coleraine. The principal in question has had a very positive effect in his forty five years of service, even going so far as to pay for the up keep of the school from his own purse.

To read any of the letters, click on the images above or click here to browse the EXPLORE database yourself.

If you find any more St Patrick’s Day letters in the collection, let us know!

 

Thanks for the bunch of shamrocks

Letters written by Patrick or Patricia in the Letters of 1916 collection

As it’s St Patrick’s Day, we had a look through the Letters of 1916 collection in search of letters written by people named Patrick or Patricia.

Letter from Patricia Lynch to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington | © NLI
Letter from Patricia Lynch to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington | © NLI

We found only one Patricia in the whole collection:

Patricia Lynch (1894-1972) was an Irish nationalist and supporter of the suffragette movement. While living in London she befriended Sylvia Pankhurst who reportedly sent her to Dublin in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising to gain an eyewitness account for the Worker’s Dreadnought. Her piece in the Worker’s Dreadnought was later reprinted as part of a pamphlet entitled Rebel Ireland published by the Workers’ Socialist Federation.

Here is a selection of letters written by Patrick from the collection:

A letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to his son Piaras Béaslaí wishing him a happy St. Patrick’s day. This letter discusses the number of men who’ve ‘gone to the colours’ or enlisted with the British Army. Patrick also writes of the ‘terrible’ death of W. McCarthy, who perished in a car accident.

A letter from Patrick Alphonsus Carroll to the Army Veterinary Service with a completed application for a commission as an officer of the Army Veterinary Corps.

A letter written by Patrick Pearse, one of the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising, in December 1915. The letter was probably written to the printer Joseph Michael Stanley, and refers to the printing of Christmas cards.

St Patrick's Day Postcard
detail from a St Patrick’s Day Postcard © National Library of Ireland

A letter from Patrick J. Little, editor of the New Ireland newspaper. This letter was written a week before the Easter Rising and encloses copies of ‘Secret Orders issued to Military Officers’.

This letter was written by Patrick Sheehan, a labourer in County Cork, who was injured while carrying a bundle of empty sacks down a stairs.

Letter from Patrick Blair Carphin to his sister Jo Carphin, 28 April 1916 (Private Collection)

A letter from Patrick Carphin, a native of Rathgar in Dublin, to his sister. Carphin gives a detailed description of the Easter Rising as he saw it and tells how he and his daughter were wounded by crossfire.

Carphin letter quote

In this letter, Patrick Clarke writes regarding his fourteen year old son, Patrick James Clarke (b. 1902), who has a ‘horror for school.’ Patrick hopes to get his son on a naval training ship, as his job takes him out of the home and the boy’s mother is unable to keep him out of trouble.

A letter from Patrick Foran, an Irish prisoner of war in Germany. Foran thanks Lady Clonbrock for a parcel of socks she had sent him. Augusta Caroline Dillon (née Crofton) was 75 years old at the outbreak of the First World War. She worked closely with the Irish Women’s Association to send basic necessities to Irish POWs. Many of her care packages went to members of the Connaught Rangers imprisoned in Limburg near Cologne.

To find more letters in the Letters of 1916 collection, search our database by keyword.

International Women’s Day 2018

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8th March is International Women’s Day and people around the world are celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. To mark the day, we would like to highlight some of the women from the Letters of 1916 collection. You can use the search engine on the top of this page or the “author” filter on our browse page to read their correspondence.

In addition, we have launched an appeal for information about the women in the Charlie Daly collection – click to read more!

Daly women | Letters 1916-1923

Women in the Daly collection

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Reply

We need your detective skills to help us find out more information about the women in the Daly collection which we recently acquired  from the Kerry Library Archives. We have already processed some of the Daly letters which are available to read and transcribe. We are working to get the rest of this expansive collection online.

Greeting card from the Daly collection
Greeting card from the Daly collection

The letters concern Irish republican Charlie Daly, who rejected the peace treaty with Britain and was subsequently captured and imprisoned at Drumboe Castle in County Donegal, where he was executed on 14 March 1923.

As explored the collection, we discovered that women comprise approximately 70% of the correspondence. Although extensive research has been conducted in Charlie Daly’s background and life story, many of the women within the network remain unknown.

What we know so far 

Throughout his life, Charlie Daly regularly corresponded with his mother, Ellen Daly, but his sisters and female friends of the family also exchanged letters with him and with each other.

The women in Daly’s network pursued different careers. For example:

  • Katie Maria O’Sullivan, a distant cousin of the Dalys, was a teacher at a local school
  • Katherine (Kattie) Allman entered a religious order and became known as Sr. Gertrude.
May Daly
May Daly

One thing which they all had in common was that they actively responded to the events of their time, for instance Mary Daly (May), Charlie’s oldest sister, was active in the Irish Republican movement and ran as an election candidate in North Kerry for Sinn Féin in the 1957 general election.

We have added what we know so far to the table below. If you can help us fill in any of the gaps, please get in touch.

 

 

The women

Name Also known as Date of birth Date of death Information to date
Ellen Daly Ellen Healy 1869 1964 mother of Charlie Daly
Susan Healy Gran c. 1846 1932 mother of Ellen Daly
Mary Daly May Daly 1900 1982 sister of Charlie Daly
Susan Daly Susan Casey; Susie Daly; Susie Casey 1902 1983 sister of Charlie Daly
Nora Daly Hanoria; Norah 1907 1928 sister of Charlie Daly
Ellen Daly Nellie Daly; Ellen Mary 1910 1930 sister of Charlie Daly
Nancy Daly Anne 1912 1993 sister of Charlie Daly
Katie Maria O’Sullivan K.M; Katie c. 1892 unknown teacher at local school and distant cousin of the Daly family
Josie O’Sullivan c. 1901 unknown sister of Katie Maria
Judy Daly unknown unknown
Lizzie Kelliher Elizabeth Daly; Lizzie Daly 1881 1938 neighbour of the Daly family
Katherine Allman Kattie Allman; Sr Gertrude; Cáit c. 1908 unknown friend of the Daly family / Catholic nun
Mollie O’Connor unknown unknown friend of the Daly family
Sheila Doogan unknown unknown friend of Charlie Daly / possibly from Kingstown/Dún Laoghaire
Mrs MacFeely unknown unknown friend of the family / possibly from Daisyhill
Mrs Mary Kelly unknown unknown friend of Charlie Daly
Kathleen Durcan unknown unknown

Share your information with us

Greeting card from the Daly collection
Greeting card from the Daly collection

You can see that there are lots of gaps in the table above & we hope you can help us to fill in these gaps!

There are a number of different ways to get in touch with us to share any leads you might have. You can:

 

a note to the O'Dálaigh family | Letters 1916-1923
a note to the O’Dálaigh family

Thanks to:

Transcription Progress: February 2018

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In February 2018 you transcribed 112524 characters in total.

In February 2018 the total number of registered users in the system is 2009.

Currently 4378 letters have been uploaded to the system, of which 3836 are available to view and transcribe online. You can explore the completed and fully transcribed letters in more detail here.

THANK YOU All for contributing to the Letters 1916-1923 Project!

LETTERS:

  • 4378 letters uploaded to the system, of which 3836 have been made public to date (28 February 2018)
  • 0 new letters uploaded to the system since 31 January 2018

STATUS of the letters:

  • Transcriptions not started: 22 letters
  • Transcriptions in progress: 12 letters
  • Transcriptions that need proofing and reviewing: 1052 letters
  • Transcriptions proofed and completed: 2784 letters

TOP 5 TRANSCRIBERS IN FEBRUARY 2018

# username characters
1 Willow 44926
2 Msmyrtle 15442
3 Regina 11147
4 MeganMay7 7712
5 TracyH91 7166