1
Manoora
South Australia June 10th 1916 Most Rev
Doctor O' Dwyer My Lord Last week your splendid letter
to Colonel Maxwell came out by 'Cable' and
appeared in all our morning Papers the
following day. I felt so proud to be a
Limerick girl, and of having been prepared
for my first Holy Communion at Adare by
your Lordship that I posted you the
leading Paper in which your letter appeared.
Hoping you are well, and begging your
Lordships blessing. I remain my Lord
Yrs respectfully
Karen O' Donnell
The letter is from Kate O'Donnell, an Irish emigrant in South Australia but originally
from Adare, Co. Limerick, congratulating Bishop Edward Thomas O'Dwyer (1842-1917)
on his 'splendid letter' to General Sir John Maxwell (1859-1929) which had come by
cable and had appeared in all the morning papers. 'I felt so proud to be a Limerick
girl, and of having been prepared for my first Holy Communion at Adare by your lordship.'
In his celebrated letter of 17 May 1916, Bishop O'Dwyer condemned General Maxwell's
misgovernment of the country in the wake of the Easter Rising; copies of the letter
were distributed widely overseas.