Letter from Fr F.M. Ryan O.P. to George Gavan Duffy, 12 July 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Fr F.M. Ryan O.P. to George Gavan Duffy, 12 July 1916

1 Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. July 12 th 1916. Dear Mr. Gavan Duffy :- Sir Roger Casement saw me in Tralee on the 21 st of
April and told me he had come to Ireland to stop the
rebellion then impending. He asked me to conceal his
identity as well as his object in coming until he should
have left Tralee, lest any attempt should be made to
rescue him. On the other hand he was very anxious that
I should spread the news broadcast after he had left. Sincerely yours, F. M. Ryan, O. P.

This is one of two surviving copies of a letter written by Fr F.M. Ryan to George Gavan Duffy (1882-1951). The letter was written while Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916) was imprisoned in London after he had been arrested while landing on the coast of Kerry in a submarine on the eve of the Easter Rising. Fr Ryan writes to Gavan Duffy that Casement had come to him after his arrival in Ireland and told him that he was trying to stop the planned rebellion.George Gavan Duffy was an Irish politician, barrister and judge. He unsuccessfully defended Roger Casement at his trial for high treason after the Easter Rising. A campaign was launched featuring many prominent figures such as W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw to secure a reprieve for Casement but he was hanged on 3 August 1916.

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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__1297.html)