Letter from Harry Boland to his mother, Kate Boland [1917] Letters 1916-1923 Harry Boland

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

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This is a letter from Harry Boland to his mother Catherine 'Kate' Boland (née Woods, c. 1861-1932). Boland was a keen member of the GAA, the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers. During the Easter Rising he was a member of the rebel garrison in the GPO and, despite having no officer rank, was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. He was imprisoned in Dartmoor, Lewes and Maidstone. The letter was written on toilet paper and smuggled out by Boland when he was being transferred from Lewes to Maidstone. He writes that he is being trasnferred and described the civil disobedience carried out by the prisoners in Lewes. They had sent in a petition demanding to be treated as prisoners of war. Enclosed is a note from one of the investigators for the Bureau of Military History, who collected the collection of which this letter is a part, describing how the letter was written and found its way to Kate Boland. Also enclosed is a typed copy of the note added to the letter by the lady who forwarded it to Dublin.

 Military Archives of Ireland Bureau of Military History Contemporary Documents, Mrs Sean O'Donovan Collection; BMH CD/196/2/3 https://letters1916.ie/item/1611 English Harry Boland 1916 Lewes, England Catherine Boland 15 Marino Cresent, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland Male 1922 Easter Rising Ireland 1916 Easter Rising Ireland 1916

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 Friend. Send on this note to Mrs Boland. 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland and earn the prayers of her son who ask this favour of you. My Dear Mother. I cast this note in the lap of the Gods in the hope that some good angel will send it to you. I am on my way to some other Prison in Irons, Just left Lewes after a terrible time since last Whit Monday at 8.0' am when our leaders presented our demand to the prison authorities asking that we be treated as 'Prisoners of War' refusing to do any work or obey any orders as we were treated as criminals. We then marched to our cells in a quiet soldierly manner. We got no answer to our request and we were not allowed from our cells not even to Mass on Sunday nor did we take any exercise except what we could take in our narrow stuffy cells. We waited patiently and quietly for exactly one week. And so on Monday night each man broke 3 panes of glass in his window. As a result of the 'broken' windows our leaders were 'removed' on Tuesday mid-day. We then we were left behind wrecked our cells and broke all the glass which we left. The noise was terrific and we are all being sent to other prisons. We have sworn to do no work or to obey any orders whatever until the Government treat us as soldiers. We fought a clean fair fight and should be treated as honourable men not as criminals. Dear Mother, do not worry too much. With God's help I will keep my health, my spirits are high, Good wish. Give my love to my Dear Sister, Brothers and Aunt. Pray for the good soul who directs this to you. You won't hear from me again until my time comes. Your loving son Harry . leatan mionuairisce BUREAU OF MILITARY HISTORY 1913 - 1921 The attached is a photostat copy of a letter written by Harry Boland to his mother on the two sides of a piece of lavatory paper with a fountain pen which he managed somehow to obtain before being transferred from Lewes Gaol to Maidstone Prison. He was brought in chains from Lewes Gaol in a cab accompanied by four warders and while travelling through the streets of Lewes, he succeeded in throwing the letter through the window of the cab. The letter was picked up on the street by a girl whose mother forwarded it to the address indicated in the letter with an unsigned covering note of her own, a typed copy of which is also attached. Both documents are in the possession of Mrs. Sean O'Donovan, a sister of Harry Boland. SonCiosain 30.7.51 Investigation employed by the Bureau of Military History This letter was picked up in the street by my daughter and as I have two sons doing their bit it is with pleasure I forward it to you as the writer wished. Harry Boland Letter from Harry Boland to his mother, Kate, 19 May 1916Letter from Harry Boland to his mother, Kate Boland [1917]Letter from Harry Boland to William Bourke Cockran, 20 November 1919 15 Marino Cresent, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland Letter from Harry Boland to his mother, Kate Boland [1917] Lewes, England Letter from Harry Boland to his mother, Kate Boland [1917]