Letter from Mabel FitzGerald to John Redmond, 27 May 1916.

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Mabel FitzGerald to John Redmond, 27 May 1916.

1 2 Loretto Villas, Bray, 27 th May 1916 Dear Sir, I must thank you for your reply, per Mr.J.J. Hanna,
to my letter of 23 rd inst., re my husband's case. My husband,
Mr Desmond Fitzgerald, was a non-combatant and was sentenced to
20 years penal servitude, ten of which were remitted. I quite realise that it is not a case of getting release
but amnesty ; I do not desire that Mr Fitzgerald's case should be
pressed with a view to release, but I hope that a remittance of
the sentenced amy be obtained so that if the Amnesty be a graded
one only freeing those persons whose sentences are comparatively
short, he may be able to profit by it as he would have been able
to, had his sentence been in accordance with the evidence. His case is a peculiar one, and I do not think I am asking
for special favour to be shown him when I suggest that a portion
of his sentence ought to be remitted till it uis one based on the
evidence against him and not on extraneous matters use d to prejudice
his case, matters for which he has already paid the penalty in
deportation and imprisonment. Cases of such obvious injustice would, I think, do a
great deal if exposed, to strengthen the demand for Amnesty. I am glad to know that I can rely on your doing every-
thing in your power for my husband when you feel theproper time
has come to obtain a reconsideration of sentences. I am,
Yours faithfully Mabel W Fitzgerald John Redmond, Esq, M.P. House of Commons, London.

This letter is from Mabel FitzGerald (née Washington McConnell) (1884-1958), wife of politician and intellectual Desmond FitzGerald (1888-1947, to John Redmond (1856-1918), leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918. In this, and in other letters, Mrs. FitzGerald is seeking help in relation to her husband's incarceration and insists that her husband was non-combatant. She asks that, in the event of an amnesty for people who received comparatively short sentences, the severity and injustice of her husband's sentence be taken into account, particularly as she feels he is being punished for previous transgressions, for which he has already paid. Mabel Fitzgerald was the wife of Irish Volunteer Desmond Fitzgerald. Mabel was a former governess in London. She later vigorously canvassed her former acquaintances in London's liberal circles for support for Francis Sheehy Skeffington during his hunger strike in 1915. Both Mabel and Desmond would serve in the GPO garrison during Easter Week. John Redmond was an MP and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He was instrumental in securing the promise of Home Rule from Asquith's liberal government. Upon the outbreak of war, Redmond addressed a group of Irish Volunteers at Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow, encouraging them to fight with the British Army to ensure the implementation of Home Rule. Redmond's words split the Irish Volunteers across the country. The Easter Rising shocked Redmond, who condemned it bitterly. Nonetheless he appealed for leniency towards those who had not been involved in planning the Rising.

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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__1461.html)