Letter from Tomás MacCurtain to Tadhg (Timothy) Barry, 6 October, 1916.
indeed. I can quite understand your reasons
for not writing to anyone at this side.
I was very glad to hear that some of the
January students are now in town.
I heard a lot about your Ballingeary
doings through another source.
Tis very satisifactory that the Gaelic
League is doing so well. T Everybody
here in good health. O'L Tery and
Arthur send remembrances to you. I covered
your suggestion re Arthurs work to just
the thing. I showed it to him and
backed it up strongly myself. He
doesn't seem to be anxious to have it on
at present; others of course are
already on the job and will only
mess it. As a matter of fact, I know
one who is very near me at present
who is collecting material for the work
and has I believe a great share of it
already done. He has asked me for
particulars which I have definitely
refused to give. The man is not capable 2 of doing justice to the subject and
will only spoil or hinder the work of
a capable man. Arthur is certainly
the man for the job and I think that
until he starts on it we should all be very careful
of giving any details to others who will only
create confusion, by lack of knowledge
and mobility. We have had quite
enough of the 'quack' always in this respect and we
should now discourage it. Let it be done
by a man capable man. We were glad to hear of the election of the New Bishop but we
didn't send him any congratulations
for reasons which I daresay you
understand. Peadar did. Give my best wishes to all the
boys you meet, write again at your
convenience do cara Tomás
Tomás MacCurtain, (1884-1920), led 1000 Irish Volunteers in Cork at the outset of the 1916 Easter Rising but, due to conflicting orders from Dublin, the Cork Volunteers didn't participate in any fighting. MacCurtain was subsequently imprisoned with other 1916 Irish Volunteers at Frongach Prisoner of War Camp in Wales. Tadhg Barry, (1880-1921) was a journalist, trade unionist, and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers in Cork. Arthur Griffith, (1872-1922), Irish politician, writer, founder of Sinn Féin, and signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921.This letter may have been written from Frongoch P.O.W. Camp in Wales, where the writer was detained after the 1916 Easter Rising. The writer has been getting news of home and of Barry's activities (Gaelic League). Apparently Barry had expressed words of encouragement for a mutual acquaintance, Arthur (probably Arthur Griffith) which MacCurtain endorses. The writer has been trying to encourage Arthur (possibly to write) and is afraid that others, one in particular, will take on the job, even though they are not capable of doing it. He advocates non-cooperation with these people.
How to cite
Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__0054.html)