Letter from Austin Stack to Mabel FitzGerald, 4 June 1916.

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Austin Stack to Mabel FitzGerald, 4 June 1916.

1 L - 4 Richmond Bks. Dublin 4th June 1916 My dear Mrs.Fitzgerald, I take courage to write
you. I was ashamed not to have done so when
Desmond was imprisoned last December.
It must have been a severe trial on you to have
little Pierce at deaths door in the absence
of his father. But thank God the lad was
spared. I saw Desmond but once after coming
up here, and, unfortunately, was not able to
have a word with him. A salute was all
that passed between us, and next day I
heard he had been tried. Perhaps some
day soon I may meet him and tell
him how Kathleen is going on. I
pray that he may return to you strong
in health. I know his ardour will not
be diminished. I am to be before Court-martial on the
14th and shall face result without fear. Accept my kindest regards for self & children.
Some day I shall meet you again with God's help. Very sincerely yours Austin Stack

This letter is from Austin Stack (1879-1929) to Mabel FitzGerald (née Washington McConnell) (1884-1958), wife of politician and intellectual Desmond FitzGerald (1888-1947). Stack writes from Richmond Barracks, Dublin. He says he saw and saluted Mr FitzGerald once (in prison) but they didn't speak - the next he heard, FitzGerald had been tried. He himself is to face trial but he is prepared to face the outcome without fear.Austin Stack, revolutionary, politician, was commandant of the Kerry Brigade of the Irish Volunteers and made preparations to receive Roger Casement. Stack was sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising, but this later commuted to penal servitude for life and he was released in 1917. 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.

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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__1478.html)