Letter from Jessie Crofton to Lady Clonbrock, 19 April 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Jessie Crofton

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

This is an open access work licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

A letter from Jessie Crofton (1865-1923) to her aunt, Lady Clonbrock (1840-1928). Jessie writes after her husband, Arthur Edward Lowther Crofton (d. 1966), had been recalled for service and comments that it is a 'great blow'. She refers to praise he had received from Field Marshal Douglas Haig (1861-1928) and also refers to another relative on active service, Edward Crofton. The 'mushroom' mentioned on the last page of the letter refers to two large craters near the British first line in Wez-Macquart, near Armentières. The craters were likely caused by underground explosives laid by British engineers earlier in 1915. Augusta Caroline Dillon (née Crofton) was the wife of Luke Gerald Dillon (1834-1917), the 4th Baron of Clonbrock, Co. Galway and the daughter of Lord Crofton of Mote Park (Edward Henry Churchill Crofton, 3rd Baron), Co. Roscommon. Aged 75 at the outbreak of war, Lady Clonbrock, 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. Arthur served as a lieutenant colonel in the Northumberland Fusiliers during the Great War. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig was appointed to command of the British Expeditionary Force in late 1915 following the resignation of Sir John French (1852-1925). Haig's role in planning the costly Somme offensive in July 1916 gave him the moniker 'the Butcher of the Somme.'

 National Library of Ireland Clonbrock Estate Papers, Collection List No. 54, Ms. 35,797 (2) https://letters1916.ie/item/285 English Jessie Crofton 1916-04-19 Augusta Caroline Dillon Female World War I (1914-1918)

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 Note. My dear Aunt Jane Arthur being recalled was a terrible blow & I am afraid it means some very serious fighting. He says they are massing troops & something is going to happen — it is too terrible. He came back in such good spirits but the recall damped us both & he felt miserable for the rest of the time. Sir Douglas Haig when he inspected them, said, 'Lord Crofton I am proud to meet you' & praises him to understand that he had been splendid in having stuck to it, when so many men in his position had so soon obtained billets at the same time, I think it is about time he got something at home. He has done a great deal, he is the oldest C. O. in the Divn & he says he does not feel capable of fatigue he is always tired & is absolutely done if they have any exertion. Arthur has a great admiration for Edward he says he is so cool Jessie Crofton Letter from Jessie Crofton to Lady Clonbrock, 19 April 1916 Augusta Caroline Dillon Letter from Alfred Gerald Crofton to Lady Clonbrock, 13 December 1915Letter from Alfred Gerald Crofton to Lady Clonbrock, 1 October 1916Letter from Private M. Cahill to Lady Clonbrock, 17 April 1916Letter from J. L. Hay to Lady Clonbrock, 7 January 1916Letter from Private Patrick Furey to Lady Clonbrock, 4 January 1916Letter from Jessie Crofton to Lady Clonbrock, 19 April 1916Letter from John J. Thompson to Augusta Caroline Dillon, Lady Clonbrock, 13 November 1915Letter from Josephine Murray to Lady Clonbrock, 22 May 1916Letter from Elizabeth Francis Neill to Lady Clonbrock, 21 February 1916Letter from Maude Chenevix Trench to Lady Clonbrock, 13 June 1916Postcard from Maude Chenevix Trench to Lady Clonbrock, 16 May 1916Letter from Lady Clonbrock to Eliza Chamier, 24 May 1916Letter from George Hugh Chetwood Townsend to Lady Clonbrock, 1 April 1916Letter from Edith Francis Maxwell to Lady Clonbrock, 22 June 1916Letter from Emma Armstrong to Lady Clonbrock, 2 August 1916Letter from Ursula Mahon to Lady Clonbrock, 18 July 1916Letter from Lady Mayo, Royal Dublin Fusiliers Kildare Committee, to Lady Clonbrock, 31 December 1915.Letter from Mrs. Arthur Goff to Lady Clonbrock, 12 August, 1916.Letter from Mrs. Arthur Goff to Lady Clonbrock, 12 August 1916.Letter from Mrs. Arthur Goff to Lady Clonbrock, 29 February 1916.Letter from Mrs. Arthur Goff to Lady Clonbrock, 25 February, 1916.Letter from Lady Mayo to Lady Clonbrock, 28 December, 1915.Letter from N. Maxwell, 23 July 1916.Letter from Emma Armstrong to Lady Clonbrock, 23 February, 1916.Letter from Kathleen Lewis, 19 October 1916.Letter from George C. Townshend to Lady Clonbrock, 18 October 1916.Letter from Emma Armstrong to Lady Clonbrock, 26 June 1916Letter from the Marquess of Sligo to Lady Clonbrock, 23 October, 1916.Letter from Florence to Lady Clonbrock, 28 November 1916.