1
Carrig N.S. Birr, King's Co., 29. 2 . 1916 My dear Mrs. Skeffington, I am
truly mortified
at having to disappoint tonights meeting.
I had my speech prepared (copy of which
I enclose to let you see my attempt — at
putting the woman's cause in the forefront).
And at the last moment I got a wire
from Mansfield saying that the
Majority of the Committee voted
against representation at the meeting.
Some neglected to vote otherwise we had
enough to outvote the Unionists but
they neglected the chance of a lifetime.
2
We have an incompetent President, who
while posing as a Larkinite to suit him
with one class, poses among us as an
Imperialist because he has a couple
of brothers in the Army — one of that
class of men whose aim is life is 'job'
hunting but who never succeeds. And when a President refuses to move
between Meetings the Committee is
powerless— especially when to me like ones
Another reason at the back of their
heads I suspect is fear of offending
the MPs the Irish Leaders to whom
they will have to go on future deputations
(God Save us!) I never felt so mortified
to see the Citizen losing the chance
of a lifetime & off I went when they
voted against they would repudiate me yrs V. Sincerely C M Mahon
Letter from Catherine M. Mahon (1869-1948) to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946).
Mahon apologises for missing a meeting at which she was supposed to present a speech.
In this letter she discusses women's representation and the 'Irish Citizen', a suffragist
newspaper edited by Hanna Sheehy Skeffington. Catherine M. Mahon was a teacher and
the president of the Irish National Teachers' Organization, a nationalist, and a supporter
of the Gaelic League. She was a vocal supporter of the Easter Rising and wrote letters
to the Irish Citizen, a suffragist newspaper, in support of the more radical activities
of suffragist organisations like the Irish Women's Franchise League. Hanna Sheehy
Skeffington, suffragette, nationalist, language teacher, was the widow of Francis
Sheehy-Skeffington (who was summarily executed on 26 April 1916). She was active during
the Rising, bringing food to the Volunteers in the G.P.O. and the College of Surgeons.
Four days passed before she found out what had happened to her husband, Francis (1878-1916),
and it wasn't until almost two weeks later that the full details of his execution
emerged.