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            <title type="main">Letter from Scott Alexander to Augustine Birrell, 3 March 1916</title>
            <title type="sub">Letters 1916-1923</title>
            <author>Scott Alexander</author>
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            <publisher>Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities</publisher>
            <pubPlace>Vienna, AT</pubPlace>
            <date>2026</date>
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               <p>This is a letter from Scott Alexander to Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), the Chief Secretary for Ireland. Alexander is offering his skills to the British Government. He claims to be a powerful speaker and holds the ability to entice people to sign up for the British Army.</p>
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              <date>1916-03-03</date>
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              <persName key="#letters1916_person-0534">Augustine Birrell</persName>
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                24, Buckingham Street,  Strand. W.C.    3rd March 1916.    Mr. Birbell.  Chief Secretary of State for Ireland.  House of Commons. S.W.   Sir,   I wish to place my services at the <lb/>disposal of the Government.   For the last 25 years I have been <lb/>controlling large bodies of people, as <lb/>organiser of Exhibitions, Fetes, Theatrical <lb/>and Variety Companies &amp;c. &amp;c. so am used to <lb/>vast crowds of people, keeping them in order <lb/>addressing them &amp;c.   My business has taken me through nearly <lb/>every town and village in Great Britain and <lb/>Ireland as well as in S.Africa and Australia.   I have been (till last Saturday) running <lb/>some important Theatrical Ventures, but <lb/>owing to the calling up of the young men, <hi rend="underline">both Artistes and Audience</hi> I felt that my brains <lb/>may be better employed in the service of my <lb/>Country, where men with experience such as <lb/>mine are rare, and might put to a more <lb/>useful purpose during the Crisis.   My age is 46: my father was a distinguished <lb/>Commander in the Royal Navy, who won the <lb/>Legion of Honour during the Crimean War.   
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              During the early stages of this war, <lb/>I gave recruiting speeches at various Theatres. <lb/>At the Hippodrome, Stoke-on-Trent, I succeeded <lb/>in getting 13 members of the audience to come <lb/>on to the stage and enlist, whilst many others <lb/>went to the Town Hall the following morning <lb/>and enlisted also.   I was a powerful speaker, a skilled organiser <lb/>and possess a thorough knowledge of the <lb/>British Temperament.   If you can make any use of my services, <lb/>I will be glad of an early reply.  <seg type="closer"> Your truly  Scott Alexander </seg> 
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               <persName>Augustine Birrell</persName>
            <noteGrp><note target="item__0060.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Brother Vincent O'Kelly to the Chief Secretary, 3 April 1916</note><note target="item__0094.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Patrick Joseph Brady to Augustine Birrell, 27 Mar 1916</note><note target="item__0095.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Thomas Gerrard to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916</note><note target="item__0096.xml" type="mentions">Letter from James P. Farrell et al. to Augustine Birrell, 7 April 1916</note><note target="item__0120.xml" type="mentions">A letter from Francis E. Meehan to Augustine Birrell, 3 April 1916</note><note target="item__0137.xml" type="mentions">Letter from James Patrick Farrell to Augustine Birrell, 27 March 1916</note><note target="item__0151.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Edmund Loftus Wickham to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916</note><note target="item__0204.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Margaret May Loughren to Augustine Birrell, 26 March 1916</note><note target="item__0234.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Hugh O'Brien Moran to Augustine Birrell, 4 May 1916</note><note target="item__0259.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Lord Hugh Gough to Augustine Birrell, 28 April 1916</note><note target="item__0265.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Joseph Dowdall to Augustine Birrell, 18 April 1916</note><note target="item__0278.xml" type="mentions">Letter from William Field to Augustine Birrell, 14 April 1916</note><note target="item__0287.xml" type="mentions">Letter from J. G. Swift MacNeill to Augustine Birrell, 17 April 1916</note><note target="item__0617.xml" type="mentions">Letter from William Johnson to the chief secretary, 14 April 1916</note><note target="item__0815.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Miss Helen Augusta Crofton to Augustine Birrell, 3 May 1916</note><note target="item__0816.xml" type="mentions">Letter from A. J. Loughborough Ball to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916</note><note target="item__1138.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Mr MJ Murphy to Mr Augustine Birrell, chief secretary for Ireland, 10 November 1916</note><note target="item__1144.xml" type="mentions">Letter from James Neazor to Augustine Birrell, 6 January 1916</note><note target="item__1373.xml" type="mentions">Letter from William O'Brien to Augustine Birrell, 26 February 1916</note><note target="item__1450.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Scott Alexander to Augustine Birrell, 3 March 1916</note><note target="item__1659.xml" type="mentions">Letter from John Clear to Augustine Birrell, 23 February 1916</note><note target="item__1666.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Thomas O'Donnell to Augustine Birrell, 9 April 1916</note><note target="item__1715.xml" type="mentions">Letter from P. Burrowes Shiel to Augustine Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, 27 March 1916.</note><note target="item__1752.xml" type="mentions">Letter from William Field to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916</note><note target="item__1758.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Alfred Bryne to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916</note><note target="item__1760.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Edward W. Mooney to Augustine Birrell, 4 April 1916</note><note target="item__1761.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Augustine Birrell to Edward W. Mooney, 5 April 1916</note><note target="item__1777.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde to Augustine Birrell, 7 April 1916</note><note target="item__1782.xml" type="mentions">Letter from William Howell Davies to Augustine Birrell, 10 April 1916</note><note target="item__1783.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Jonathan Pim to Augustine Birrell, 29 March 1916</note><note target="item__1786.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Sir Bertram Windle to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916.</note><note target="item__1788.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Cecil Harmsworth to Augustine Birrell, 31 March 1916</note><note target="item__1799.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Jeannie Horner to Augustine Birrell, 4 April 1916</note><note target="item__1806.xml" type="mentions">Letter from William Seddall to Augustine Birrell, 14 April 1916</note><note target="item__1817.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Thomas Francis Smyth to Augustine Birrell, 27 March 1916</note><note target="item__1849.xml" type="mentions">Letter from A. Ross to Augustine Birrell, 30 April 1916</note><note target="item__1977.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Richard Creighton to Augustine Birrell, 25 April 1916</note><note target="item__2017.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Joseph Michael Stanley, 29 March 1916</note><note target="item__2390.xml" type="mentions">Letter from W. A. Tait to the Chief Secretary for Ireland, 13 April 1916</note><note target="item__3185.xml" type="mentions">Letter from A. Stanford to Augustine Birrell, 1 May 1916</note><note target="item__4221.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Edmund Blayney Clarke to Augustine Birrell, 29 May 1916</note><note target="item__4222.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Edmund Blayney Clarke to Augustine Birrell, 23 May 1916</note><note target="item__5641.xml" type="mentions">Letter from William O'Brien to Augustine Birrell, 26 February 1916</note><note target="item__5910.xml" type="mentions">Letter from Henry T. Gallagher to Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, 29 March 1916</note></noteGrp></person>
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