Letter from William Henry Caunt to Herbert Henry Asquith, 4 May 1916 Letters 1916-1923 William Henry Caunt

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This is a letter from a William Henry Caunt (b. 1879) of Cheshire to Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928), then Liberal Prime Minister of Great Britain. Caunt writes to complain about the low level of security on the Irish borders, which he sees as a threat to national security. Caunt claims he is writing as someone who was trapped in Dublin during the Rising during which stray shots posed a constant risk to one's life and that he feared the rebels. As a solution Caunt recommends that a house to house search should be carried out and conscription introduced in Ireland.

 National Archives of Ireland Chief Secretary's Office Registered Papers, CSO RP/1916/7554/1 https://letters1916.ie/item/150 English William Henry Caunt 1916-05-04 33 Nelson Street, Crewe, Cheshire, England Herbert Henry Asquith Downing Street, Westminister, England Male Easter Rising Ireland 1916 Industry and Public Administration

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 33, NELSON STREET, C R E W E CHESHIRE. May 4th. 1916 Sir, I feel it my public duty to bring to your notice the comparatively lax scrutiny which is being exercised in the case of persons passing from as well as to Ireland, and which, from the point of view of national safety, I am convinced is nothing like as thorough as the present state of affairs in Ireland demand. I speak as one of those luckless subjects of His Majesty who, until Monday evening last, was prevented from leaving Dublin during Easter week owing to the ill-gotten purposes of republican Irishmen, suffering much inconvenience, fright, and constant risk of one's life from stray shots which flitted about from one side, then the other, and all the unexpected outcome of an innocent visit for Easter Sunday and Monday. I do not complain so much of the scrutiny on the other side, xx xxxx as of the fact that at Holyhead no person's landing from the Dublin S.S. Coy's Steamer 'Munster' was challenged wither by a representative from the Army, Navy, or Civic Police Authorities. Personally I expected the Kingstown examination was but a preliminary, and not a final one. I can assure you, in the face of political assertions to the contrary from Irish M.P.s in Parliament, that the rebels have so large a body of open and secret sympathisers as to demand the strict- -est scrutiny by the authorities at each port to and from Ireland. A house to house search here is imperative where arms and treason abound, and it would be interesting to know how many Alien or Sein Fein Clergy are presently enjoying liberty and immunity from suspicion. Why not after this, compel every Irishmen to do his bit who can be spared? Yours faithfully, William Henry Caunt To the Right Hon: H.H. ASQUITH, M.P. , P.C., DOWNING STREET, WESTMINSTER. S.W. 33 Nelson Street, Crewe, Cheshire, England Letter from William Henry Caunt to Herbert Henry Asquith, 4 May 1916 Downing Street, Westminister, England Letter from William Henry Caunt to Herbert Henry Asquith, 4 May 1916 Herbert Henry Asquith Letter from Alice Stopford Green to Herbert Henry Asquith, 17 May 1916.Letter from William Henry Caunt to Herbert Henry Asquith, 4 May 1916Letter from Richard Canson to Herbert Henry Asquith, May 1916Letter from Jane Barklie to Herbert Asquith, 6 May 1916Letter from P. C. McCarthy to Herbert Henry Asquith, 13 May 1916Letter from Maeve Cavanagh to Herbert Henry Asquith, 1916Letter from Agnes Halton to Herbert Henry Asquith, 28 April 1916.Letter from the Casement Relief Petition Committee to Herbert Henry Asquith, 31 July 1916Letter from Patrick J. Mallon to Herbet Henry Asquith, 29 June 1916Letter from Colonel Maurice Moore to Herbert Henry Asquith, 29 July 1916Letter from Sir John Maxwell to Herbert Henry Asquith, 12 May 1916.Printed copy of letter from Henry Lemass, solicitor, to Herbert Henry Asquith, 13 June 1916.Letter from James J. Judge to Herbert Henry Asquith, 19 May 1916Letter from John Joseph Sutherland to Herbert Henry Asquith, 27 May 1916Letter from Robert Carson to Herbert Henry Asquith, 14 February 1916Letter from Herbert Henry Asquith, 2 August 1916Letter from Jane Cobden Unwin to Herbert Henry Asquith, 2 August 1916 William Henry Caunt Letter from William Henry Caunt to Herbert Henry Asquith, 4 May 1916