Letter from Francis Sheehy Skeffington to Margaret McCoubrey, 10 January 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Francis Sheehy Skeffington to Margaret McCoubrey, 10 January 1916

1 Private. 11 Grosvenor Place, Rathmines, Dublin 10â€”I.â€”16. Dear Mrs. McCoubrey, In September, 1914, I raised a bank loan of Ã‚Â£100 to meet part of
the debt on the IRISH CITIZEN. This loan was guaranteed by three
good signatures in addition to my own. I have since met the inter-
est, but have been unable to reduce the principal. Now one of the
guarantors wishes to withdraw her name, because she supperss conscrip-
tion and objects to our opposition to it. The other two guarantors
are both perfectly good securities for the amount; but in these days
of financial stringenenyy the bank will require a third name to replace
the one which is withdrawn. â€”My chief anxiety at the moment is to find someone to undertake
this responsibility. As I know you are intimate with Miss Lindsay
I write to ask you if there would be any chance of her agreeing to
do so? I am not asking you to appraoch her yourself on the matter;
but simply asking your opinion as to whether you think it would be
advisable to approach her, and, if so, as to the best means of doing
so. I know I can re l py on your freindship and discretion in the mat-
ter. With best wishes for the New Year, andcongratulations on keep-
ing the flag flying in the North in the face of so many difficulties F.S.Skeffington

Francis Sheehy Skeffington (1878-1916), journalist, was a prominent feminist, activist and co-founder of the Irish Women's Franchise league in 1908. In 1912, he and his wife, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946), founded the suffragist newspaper The Irish Citizen. A staunch pacifist and nationalist, Sheehy Skeffington opposed Irish involvement in the Great War. During the Easter Rising, he attempted to organise a civilian defence force to prevent looting and saved the life of a British officer under fire. Arrested on the evening of Tuesday 25 April 1916, Sheehy Skeffington and two other civilians were shot by firing squad on the morning of Wednesday 26 April.'Margaret McCoubrey (1880-1956) was a suffragette, pacifist and Labour activist. She was committed to helping women, children and the working class with local, national and international causes.'

Francis Sheehy Skeffington
Margaret McCoubrey
1916-01-10
Politics Country and City Life Culture and the Arts

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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__1106.html)