Letter from Maude Dawson to her cousin Louisa Spinks, 9 June 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Maude Dawson

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

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Maude Dawson (1881 - 1933) was the daughter of Richard Cuming Dawson (1822 - 1886) and Eleanor Dawson (née Waters) (1835 - 1921). Her brother, Richard Cecil (Dick) Dawson (1865 - 1955), was a noted racehorse trainer. Louisa's father, Dr William Lee Dawson, had emigrated to Australia in 1854. The family corresponded from time to time.

 Sharon Brennan Family Collection NULL, NULL https://letters1916.ie/item/425 English Maude Dawson 1916-06-09T00:00:00 Cloghran, Co. Dublin, Ireland Louisa Spinks Whittlesea, Victoria, Australia Female Country and City Life Culture and the Arts World War I (1914-1918) Personal Relations Easter Rising Ireland 1916

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).

 Cloghran Co. Dublin 9.6.16 My dear Louisa You will be glad to hear we have had one of your nephews, Ernest, here, we all liked him so much & were very sorry indeed when he had to return to duty, as we did not think he was at all fit; the last time we had a letter he seemed to be very busy & in much better health, but oh the severe weather they had this year how they stood it I cant imagine, frost & snow nearly every day for weeks at a time, he was to have come over to see us but have not heard from him for some time, the rebellion here might have prevented him, as people from England were not allowed over & vice versa, was it not a most unlucky thing to have happened Ireland just as this time too, see what German money & influence can do, it should never have been allowed to happen, I am sure you were sorry too when you heard, being in the Co Dublin we were in the thick of it & never knew what might happen next, hearing the big guns going all day & far into the night, then very early morning commencing again, the flare of the fires from the city, we imagined half Dublin was demolished, Sam drove into most days but was never allowed in certain parts of the city, & did not see the ruins of Sackville St till the week after the Sinn Feiners surrendered, it made us feel very very sad when we saw everything, thank God they were squashed so quickly, if they had kept on for another week I dont think many of us would be alive to day; the week after Mother was very ill our Doctor said it was the result of the rebellion as it was a nervous attack, she is wonderful how she manages to pull through & pick up so quickly she is so cheery when well, & always busy— Freddie Sueyd whom I told you about a nephew, had to have an operation for appendicitis, complications ensued so he has been nearly 3 months in hospital poor boy, he is reduced to skin & bone, but is now on the way to recovery, we expect him here soon, he is engaged to a Romanian girl, whom they say is very rich, Ernest met her at Clarcecion Ollie has not come near as yet I hope he is safe & well & that he will surprise us one of these days, we feel very proud indeed of our cousins, I always told Earnest I felt 2 in. taller when he was with me. I hope you & Eileen are very well a change will have done her good, this is your winter now is it not? we have rain here every day when it should be nice & warm. I could not manage the snaps for you as the last I took someone must have opened the kodak so they were all spoiled, but shall send you some later on when the sisters come home for their hols., we have to be very quiet now, everyone wears clothes years old, such a lot of frumps one sees every where!!! I wonder when it this war will be decided, human life seems to be of no account in these days, the losses in this naval engagement & now por Kitchener gone is apalling. I think this is a very dismal letter to send so far but one reads & talks war all the time here — all send their dear love. Yrs ever Maude. Maude Dawson Letter from Maude Dawson to her cousin Louisa Spinks, 9 June 1916 Cloghran, Co. Dublin, Ireland Letter from Maude Dawson to her cousin Louisa Spinks, 9 June 1916 Whittlesea, Victoria, Australia Letter from Maude Dawson to her cousin Louisa Spinks, 9 June 1916