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.
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.
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
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:
- leave a comment below this post
- email us
- tweet us @Letters1916 and include the #DalyLetters hashtag
- send us a message on Facebook
Thanks to:
- Fiona Hughes for information about Charlie’s sisters (Susan, Nora, Nancy, Ellen) and Susan Healy (via tweet 1 & tweet 2), as well as follow-up information about Lizzie Kelliher and May Daly.