Letter from Major J. Crean to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 4 May 1916

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Letter from Major J. Crean to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 4 May 1916

1 Inspector General's Office, 44 PARNELL SQUARE, DUBLIN. Date, 4th. May, 1916. His Excellency, The Lord Lieutenant, Dublin Castle. May it please your Excellency, Several cases have been reported to me of Officers and
other members of the National Volunteers who have been arrested by the
Military authorities and who are still detained. In drawing your Excellency's attention to this matter I fully
recognise the serious difficulties the Military Authorities have , and the
impossibility of avoiding the arrest of perfectly innocent persons, In the
course of my inquiries regarding several persons who are under arrest
I discovered that amongst some senior officers of the Military the opinion
prevailed that the Sinn Feiners and the National Volunteers were branches
of the same body. As there is not the remotest ground for such belief I
hope your Excellency will agree that it would be advisable that the Military
Authorities
should know that such is not the case and that there is no
connection whatever between the National Volunteers (under the leadership
of Mr John Redmond M.P. ) and the Sinn Fein Volunteers. I would ask Your Excellency to make representation to such author-
ity as you may think proper regarding the matter referred to. I might further add that in the case of arrests of suspects and where 2 the person states that he is a member of the National Volunteers
I shall be glad to place at the disposal of authorities
responsible officers who will be in a position to verify or
otherwise the statements made by suspected persons and furnish
information which the Military authorities may require regarding same. I have the honour to be,
Your Excellency's obedient servant J. Crean Major
Acting Inspector General.

Letter from Major James Crean to Lord Wimborne (1873-1939) regarding the arrest of members of the National Volunteers by the military authorities. Crean stresses that the Military Authorities should be made aware of the distinction between the National and Irish Volunteer groups. Ivor Churchill Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne was appointed the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1915. Guest worked closely alongside Sir Matthew Nathan (1862-1939) in the administration of Ireland. Following the suppression of the Rising, Guest, under pressure, was forced to resign as Lord Lieutenant. A later inquiry into the Rising exonerated Guest and held Augustine Birrell (1850-1933) chiefly responsible for the events that occurred. Guest would continue to serve as Lord Lieutenant until 1918.

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__0497.html)