Letter from Diarmid Coffey to Jane Coffey, 8 October 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Diarmid Coffey to Jane Coffey, 8 October 1916

1 Caseys Hotel
Glengarriff Oct 8th 1916 Dear Mother I got your last short note forwarded
from March. Mrs Connor was not a
bit well & I think wanted a few days
to pack before going to Dublin. They
are going up on Tuesday & when I
asked her what day would suit her
for me to leave suggested Saturday. I am awfully glad you got your
luggage. V has only 5 officers
in the hotel & there are I believe 13
nurses, maids etc! She seems
quite nice. Anna is here &
is very disgusted with the behaviour
of the English in Ireland. We could not 2 speak more strongly ourselves! Redmond did not say very much
at Waterford did he? Anna thinks
him very weak. I am surprised at
that as I thought he was looked on as
a great man in England. There is a good deal of
Irish spoken here though the
place is anglicised. I go to Woodside,
Tivoli,
Cork
on Thursday. Love to the Laurences Yours Diarmid I see the "Super-Hero" is prominently in Punch!

The letter is from Diarmid Coffey to his mother. Diarmid Coffey (1888-1964) joined the Irish Volunteers in 1914 and became secretary of the Irish National Volunteers after the organisation split in 1915 (it was the other group who participated in the Rising). He later served as assistant clerk of the Seanad. Jane Coffey (née l'Estrange) (1857-1921) was born into a Protestant family but married Catholic George Coffey and became a member of the National Literary Society. The letter is written from Cork and refers to his stay there. He mentions another guest in the hotel where is staying who is 'disgusted with the behaviour of the English in Ireland' and who commented that John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, was 'weak' after a speech he made in Waterford.

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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__2572.html)