Letter from Alfred Byrne to Helena Molony and Nellie Gifford, 4 January 1916
about the position of Irishmen
in Great Britain and I am
informed the best way to safe guard
them is to oppose the conscription
bill on the whole should we fail
to defeat it. I will then put
down an amendment to exempt
all Irishmen no matter where they 2 reside. This you can rest assured
I will do Yours faithfully Alfred Byrne Miss Molony
Miss Gifford
A letter from politician and Dublin MP Alfred 'Alfie' Byrne (1882-1956) to Helena Molony (1883-1967), republican, feminist and labour activist, and Helen 'Nellie' Gifford (1880-1971), republican activist. This letter refers to fears that Irishmen residing in Britain would be conscripted into the British army (conscription was introduced in Britain but never in Ireland). Byrne outlines plans to oppose this.Byrne was first elected an MP in the 1915 by-election as a nationalist candidate for the Irish Parliamentary Party. Although opposed to the Easter Rising, he spent 1916 lobbying on behalf of the interned prisoners. Before the Rising he was also a vociferous anti-conscription campaigner. Molony was a founder member of Inghinidhe na hÉireann, a member of the Irish Citizen Army and a close colleague of James Connolly and Countess Markievicz. She was part of the garrison of rebels who seized City Hall during the Easter Rising and was imprisoned in Aylesbury prison until December 1916. Nellie Gifford was an active opponent of conscription in Ireland. She was a member of the Irish Citizen Army and part of the St Stephen's Green garrison during the Easter Rising. Two of her sisters were married to executed leaders of the Rising.
How to cite
Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__0037.html)
- Mentioned in
-
- Letter from Alfred Byrne to Helena Molony and Nellie Gifford, 4 January 1916
- Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to Alfred Byrne, 1 April 1916
- Letter from Irish Prisoners, Frongoch to Alfred Byrne, MP, 11 October 1916
- Letter from Irish Prisoners, Frongoch to Alfred Byrne, MP, 13 October 1916
- Telegram from Alfred Byrne to Mrs. Walter Harris Wilson, 23 May 1916
- Telegram from Alfred Byrne to Frank McNally, 12 July 1916
- Letter from Alfred Bryne to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916
- Letter from Alfred Byrne to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 15 May 1916
- Letter from Michael Staines to Alfred Byrne, 11 October 1916
- Place
- House of Commons, Westminster, England
- Mentioned in
- Letter from Alfred Byrne to Helena Molony and Nellie Gifford, 4 January 1916