1
Páirc herbert a 40 Ãt Cliat Feab 19 1916 A cára, I am enclosing 4/=
for the tickets and hope
your concert will be
a success. Would it be possible
to make the Irish Suffragist
movement rather more closely
associated with Gaelicism
than it is? Music were features of
Gaelic civilization that were
quite in harmony with the
modern movement & which
might with advantage be emphasized
now. The names of married
2
women for instance In the Gaeltacht still and
in when Ellen Stack marries
John Sullivan she does not become
Mrs Sullivan. She becomes Ellen
Stack, the wife of John Sullivan,
and in conversation she is
universally described as Ellen Stack. It seems a pity that
the Suffrage Party should not
press this distinct feminist
etc custom. Mise de cára Ua Raigaille
Letter from Michael Joseph O'Rahilly (1875-1916) to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946)
thanking Hanna for the tickets and wishes her well for the upcoming concert. O'Rahilly
also writes about the commonalities between the Irish suffragist movement and themes
in Gaelic civilization. Michael Joseph O'Rahilly ('The O'Rahilly') was a prominent
member of the Irish Volunteers. Initially opposed to the Easter Rising he was active
in trying to prevent it but once it went ahead he joined the garrison in the GPO.
He was shot in Parnell Street/Moore Street on 28 April 1916 while leading a charge
from the burning GPO and died some time later. Sean T. O'Kelly was a politician and
later president of Ireland.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.