Letter from Sir Bertram Windle to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916.

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Sir Bertram Windle to Augustine Birrell, 30 March 1916.

1 Private LISTARKIN,
UNION HALL,
Co. Cork.

March 30. 1916. Dear Mr Birrell, I have fled to my cottage here,
my place refuge & a little one from the
ravages of influenza which has just had
my wife & myself in its clutches. It is
lovely spring, like weather in this para.
dise & one reads with astonishment of
the blizzards in England. But even
here the rumours of the world pene-
trate & hear that my friend & bene-
factor Sir J.R. O'Connell is a candi-
date for the position of Chief Crown
Solicitor. You will let me, I hope, take
the liberty of urging his claims seeing
how much I have seen of him on all
sides & especially perhaps the legal. He 2 is the hardest worker & the most dogged
devil I ever met & nothing can turn him
from his end nor is the money coined I
am sure which could buy him. I was
with him in the troublesome legal compli—
cations over the purchase of the Hostel, nor
(thanks to him) a triumphant success & no—
thing but his skill & determination
could have pulled the thing through as
it was pulled. I need as well repeat
that he has done more than any man
to push on the Cork College & has got for it
somewhere between £50000 &£60000 tho'
I think that will appeal to you but I
urge his claims on the lines they should
these of being a good
lawyer & an absolutely honest & fear.
less man. Don't reply & don't forward Yours sincerely Bertram Windle

This letter was written by Sir Bertram Coghill Alan Windle (1858–1929) to Augustine Birrell (1850-1933). Windle was a scholar and university president in Cork. . He came up against Sinn Féin resistance on numerous occasions as he was accused of trying to consolidate pro-British, pro-unionist control of University College Cork. Alfred O'Rahilly (1884–1969) was one of the men involved in mobilizing anti-Windle opinion for personal and political reasons. Birrell was the chief secretary for Ireland. He was appointed chief secretary in January 1907. In 1916 Birrell resigned as he willingly accepted the political responsibility for the outbreak of the Rising in 1916. The letter contains Windle's endorsement of John Robert O'Connell for the position of chief crown solicitor, stating that he is a good lawyer and the hardest worker.

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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__1786.html)