This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in
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This is a letter from Jeannie Horner to Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), the chief secretary for Ireland. Birrell had support from many leading nationalist and unionist leaders as chief secretary, however the day after the 1916 Easter Rising Birrell resigned due to his in ability to anticipate or squash the rebellion. The letter is a recommendation by Horner for William Horner (1878-1947), a Londonderry solicitor and unionist, to fill the position as chief crown solicitor upon the death of the former solicitor Sir Malachy Kelly (1850-1916). The letter acknowledges Birrell's powerful position noting that he weighs 'lesser mortals' in the balance. It goes on to greatly recommend Horner, stating he is an able solicitor, noting that his brother Andrew L. Horner (1886-1916), an MP for South Tyrone, did not worry Birrell too much, except on education. It also notes that Andrew died, stating he was a kindly fellow. The letter ends stating that William Horner has brains and that Ireland can have the benefit if Birrell allows it. A card from Jennie Horner is enclosed.
The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).