Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his aunt and uncle, 5 June 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Seamus Fitzgerald

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In this letter from an interned Seamus Fitzgerald to his family, he thanks them for their welcome letter and describes Wakefield Prison as 'a rather dirty sleepy little manufacturing town, corresponding to practically what Carlow is in Ireland'. He also describes the prison layout; four large halls each containing four wards with 40 to 60 cells, he is in C Hall, No. 1 ward, Cell No. 27. Main meals consist of black coffee 'very objectionable stuff', horseflesh with one potato, two tablespoons of beans and some soup, breakfast and supper dry bread but he comments 'still mind you it is better then what we got in Cork'. He adds they were kept in Solitary Confinement for 23 1/4 hours each day for two weeks. He closes with remembrances to friends and a request for Miss Carroll to write.Seamus Fitzgerald (1896-1972) was a Cork politician who channelled his patriotism into day-to-day efforts to establish Ireland as a modern nation, especially in the economic sphere. He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914. Following the Easter Rising, Fitzgerald was interned in Wakefield Prison in England.

 Cork City and County Archives Papers of Seamus Fitzgerald (1876-1972) PR/6/13, Papers of Seamus Fitzgerald (1876-1972) PR/6/13 https://letters1916.ie/item/701 English Seamus Fitzgerald 1916-06-05 Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire, England Cork, Ireland Male Easter Rising Ireland 1916

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 Address to reply to :- C1036 James Fitzgerald, Irish Prisoner, (Wakefield). c/o Chief Postal Censor,, London Mon. night 5th June 1916 My Dearest Aunt and 'Uncle', Your welcome letter reached me today, — with stamps enclosed.l Before you begin to read further just get my letter to Patrick first and read on after his, for I find that to write to all I must divide my news — or would you rather call it experiences — amongst you all, and you can get all by reading the ones I sent to Mother, Patk, Bob , andyourselves then the one I am just writing to yourselves. Wakefield is a rather dirty, sleepy little manufacturing town, corresponding to practically what Carlow is in Ireland — at least this is what the nurse, or rather one of the nurses who so kindly visited me, told me. Of course I don't know, having seen nothing excepting perhaps the station we alighted and of course the edifice, which at present holds me. This noble pile consists of four large halls as per figure with a large block and tower in the centre. Each of these halls consists of four wards numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. No. 1 ward is on the ground floor, no. 2 on the next ,and so on. Each ward contains from 40 to 60 cells. Thus I am in C Hall, no. 1 ward, and in no 27 cell;— which incidentally was also the number of my cell in Cork, — thus you can understand the 'Insignia' C1/27 on the corner of the first page. This is also the number on the badge which we wear for distinguishing purposes. Thus you can see it is in reality a convict prison like Kilmainham and others. We dont get black tea to drink as mother stated — it is black coffee and very objectionable stuff it is, too. She guessed right, partly, when she stated dry bread, for they manage to give us margarine with it for our supper. The meat for dinner has been easily discerned to be horseflesh which may be nice at times. One potato, two tablespoonfuls of beans and some soup make up the dinner proper. The other course is dry bread again. Still mind you it is better than what we got in Cork, but of that it will be sufficient to tell you later on. For 12 days we suffered what Dillon described in Parliament recently. He erred slightly in his numbers '22' or '23'. To be strictly exact we were 231/4 hours out of every 24 in solitary confinement without distraction of any kind. However, the conditions are better now as you can see by letter to Mother. To return to a nicer sphere; you mention a Miss Carroll enquiring about me. Why not ask her to write to me. I sure she wouldn't refuse. Show her this. With remembrances to all other kind friends, I conclude, Dear mom & Lily, with love from your loving nephew, Jim P.S.Remees to Mother's P.S. Convey thanks to Mr. Campbell and Mr. Grogan for what they've done Cork, Ireland Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his aunt and uncle, 5 June 1916Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to Sir Bertram Coghill Alan Windle, 1 April 1916.Letter from Sir Bertram Windle to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916.Letter from Dr. Daniel Colohan, Assistant Bishop of Cork, printed in ‘Free Press', 20 May 1916Letter from Amy to May Daly, 15 March 1923 Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire, England Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his mother Alice Fitzgerald, 26 May 1916Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his mother Alice Fitzgerald, 10 June 1916Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his aunt and uncle, 5 June 1916 Seamus Fitzgerald Letter from M. Cotter to Seamus Fitzgerald, 13 June 1916Letter from Alice Fitzgerald to her son Seamus Fitzgerald, 19 June 1916Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his mother Alice Fitzgerald, 26 May 1916Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his mother Alice Fitzgerald, 10 June 1916Letter from Seamus Fitzgerald to his aunt and uncle, 5 June 1916