Letter from James Neazor to Augustine Birrell, 6 January 1916 Letters 1916-1923 James Neazor

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The letter is a complaint from James Neazor, a retired excise officer in Limerick, to Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), Chief Secretary for Ireland. Neazor writes that he had been improperly held in the local lunatic asylum for over six years. He writes that a 'conspiracy' by the priests and a local doctor led to him being declared 'insane' and committed. The doctor continued to write reports that Neazor was insane as, Neazor claims, he was happy to keep receiving payment for keeping him. Neazor criticises the doctor and the asylum system in detail for allowing this to happen and asks Birrell to conduct an enquiry.Augustine Birrell served as the Chief Secretary of Ireland from 1907 to 1916. Birrell was a liberal politician praised for his reforms of the Irish educational system. The Easter Rising caught him unawares, occupied in London, there was little he could do. A later inquiry into the Rising held Birrell chiefly responsible for the events that occurred. Birrell offered his resignation on May 1.

 National Archives of Ireland , CSO RP/5596/1916/742/2-4 https://letters1916.ie/item/1144 English James Neazor 1916-01-06 Ballycahane, Palliskenny, County Limerick Augustine Birrell Male Country and City Life Industry and Public Administration

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 Ask the Inspectors of Lunatics what they know of this man Ballycahane, Pallaskenry, Co.Limerick, District 15 Honourable Sir, As the Chief Secretary for Ireland, I beg to direct your attention to the following circumstances: I was detained in the Limerick Dt. Asylumn for over 6 years under the lying pretext that I was insane. I am a superannuated Officer of Excise. When I was in the Excise Service, the RC Priests slandered me at all the places in Ireland and England at which I resided, as numerous persons can testify, and amongst others W. Waller Esq. J.P.,D.L., Castle- town, Pallaskenry, Co.Limerick; Dr.Ling, Medical Missionary, Thomas St., Limerick; Rev Wm Langley, Rector of Narborough, Near Leicester; Rev Wm Croome, Vicar of Syston, near Leicester; the Collector of Excise, Lei- cester; Mr John Tierney, Officer of Excise. I had no knowledge when I was in the Excise Service that the R.C. Priests had slandered me behind my back. The R.C. Priests said I had committed Secret Sin before entering the Excise Service; but it was only after I was superannuated in 1892, and after I had come home here, where the slanders were repeated, that I learned what the Priests had been doing. I wrote letters to several people at the different places at which I resided, complaining of the misconduct of the R.C. Priests slandering me while while I was in the Excise Service. At last the R.C. Priests of Pallaskenry pretended to believe that I meant to inflict corporal chastisement on them and they express- ed their apprehensions to the police. A conspiracy was got up against me, headed by the R.C. Priests, and the local Doctor said I was suf- fering from Delusions, meaning of course insane Delusions. For I assure you I was never insane in my life, nor had I ever at any time insane Delusions. Dr Hoey, an asst. Doctor in the Limerick District Asylum, said to me in the presence of Several persons,' I always told Dr O'Neill, Resident Medical Supt., that I thought there was nothing the matter with your mind'. Nevertheless O'Neill filled up certificates every 3 months, and sent them to Somerset House, stating I was insane, in consequence of which the Excise Authorities gave £28 per annum out of my Pension, who did not claim me out because he was getting this money. I charge O'Neill with filling up false and lying certificates about me every 3 months for 6 years and sending them to the Excise Auth- orities in London. There seems to be no check on the arbitrary and dishonest conduct of O'Neill, who kept me for 6 years in the place, although not one in the place believed there was anything the matter with my mind. In England, as you know there are visiting Magistrates who visit the Asylumns every 6 months , in order to see that sane persons are not kept in them against their will, but there is no similar magisterial Inspection in Ireland, not do the Asylumn Committee trouble themselves to see whether sane persons are unjustly detained in the As- ylumn or not. The Government if the Limerick Dist.. Asylumn appears to me most scandalous in that no check is imposed on the arbitrary conduct of O'Neill. I am profoundly convinced that Asylumn Doctors will keep all the people they can in As- ylumns , in order to keep up the numbers, so that they may have an excuse for asking for an increase of Salary, and that if they are not properly supervised,either by magisterial visitation, or by the Governing Board, gross abuses are certain to arise, and sane persons will be unjustly detained in Asylumns. Some months since I wrote to Dr Dawson, one of the Inspectors of Lunacy, in which I informed him of the slanders of the R.C. Priests, and of the illegal and dishonest conduct of O'Neill in filling up lying certificates, and keeping a sane person in the Asylumn for over 6 years, but I received no reply from him. As President of the Irish Local Govt. Board, I request you will order an inquiry into my case, as it is one of gross injustice and illegality, and a public Scandal. It is most scandalous that a public official should be allowed to break the Law, and to detain a sane person in an Asylumn for several years, because his friends were benefii- ing by having him there, and because the R.M. Superintendent wanted to keep up the numbers. Unless Asylumns in Ireland are to fall into general and deserved disrepute, it is desirable that some persons should not be detained in them against their will. I am profoundly convinced that unless Asylumn Doctors are properly Supervised they will want to run those Institutions for their own benefit, and not for the benefit of the public which pays them. I mentioned my case to Inspectors Sir Ed O'Farrell and Considine, who both failed to see that justice was done to me. As this is a bona fide case of fraud, injustice and illegality and a scandal to the Government under which such things take place I request you will have an inquiry instituted into it. I am Honourable Sir, Your Obedient Servant James Neazor Rt.Hon Augustine Birrell Esq. K.C M.P., Chief Secretary for Ireland P.S. I prefer to bring this matter before yourself in the first instance to having a question asked about it in the House of Commons.J.N. Ballycahane, Palliskenny, County Limerick Letter from James Neazor to Augustine Birrell, 6 January 1916 Augustine Birrell Letter from Brother Vincent O'Kelly to the Chief Secretary, 3 April 1916Letter from Patrick Joseph Brady to Augustine Birrell, 27 Mar 1916Letter from Thomas Gerrard to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916Letter from James P. Farrell et al. to Augustine Birrell, 7 April 1916A letter from Francis E. Meehan to Augustine Birrell, 3 April 1916Letter from James Patrick Farrell to Augustine Birrell, 27 March 1916Letter from Edmund Loftus Wickham to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916Letter from Margaret May Loughren to Augustine Birrell, 26 March 1916Letter from Hugh O'Brien Moran to Augustine Birrell, 4 May 1916Letter from Lord Hugh Gough to Augustine Birrell, 28 April 1916Letter from Joseph Dowdall to Augustine Birrell, 18 April 1916Letter from William Field to Augustine Birrell, 14 April 1916Letter from J. G. Swift MacNeill to Augustine Birrell, 17 April 1916Letter from William Johnson to the chief secretary, 14 April 1916Letter from Miss Helen Augusta Crofton to Augustine Birrell, 3 May 1916Letter from A. J. Loughborough Ball to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916Letter from Mr MJ Murphy to Mr Augustine Birrell, chief secretary for Ireland, 10 November 1916Letter from James Neazor to Augustine Birrell, 6 January 1916Letter from William O'Brien to Augustine Birrell, 26 February 1916Letter from Scott Alexander to Augustine Birrell, 3 March 1916Letter from John Clear to Augustine Birrell, 23 February 1916Letter from Thomas O'Donnell to Augustine Birrell, 9 April 1916Letter from P. Burrowes Shiel to Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, 27 March 1916.Letter from William Field to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916Letter from Alfred Bryne to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916Letter from Edward W. Mooney to Augustine Birrell, 4 April 1916Letter from Augustine Birrell to Edward W. Mooney, 5 April 1916Letter from Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde to Augustine Birrell, 7 April 1916Letter from William Howell Davies to Augustine Birrell, 10 April 1916Letter from Jonathan Pim to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916Letter from Sir Bertram Windle to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916.Letter from Cecil Harmsworth to Augustine Birrell, 31 March 1916Letter from Jeannie Horner to Augustine Birrell, 4 April 1916Letter from William Seddall to Augustine Birrell, 14 April 1916Letter from Thomas Francis Smyth to Augustine Birrell, 27 March 1916Letter from A. Ross to Augustine Birrell, 30 April 1916Letter from Richard Creighton to Augustine Birrell, 25 April 1916Letter from Joseph Michael Stanley, 29 March 1916Letter from W. A. Tait to the Chief Secretary for Ireland, 13 April 1916Letter from A. Stanford to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916Letter from Edmund Blayney Clarke to Augustine Birrell, 29 May 1916Letter from Edmund Blayney Clarke to Augustine Birrell, 23 May 1916Letter from William O'Brien to Augustine Birrell, 26 February 1916Letter from Henry T. Gallagher to Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, 29 March 1916 James Neazor Letter from James Neazor to Augustine Birrell, 6 January 1916