Letter from Angela "Witchie" to her uncle, Tomás Mac Curtain, 1 October 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Angela "Witchie" to her uncle, Tomás Mac Curtain, 1 October 1916

1 Brigidine Convent,
Goresbriidge,
Co. Kilkenny,
1st Octobber 1916 [Questinable reading.]
Oct 5/1916 My dearest uncle Tom,

Many thanks for your lovely
letter. It was a real joy for me. I haven’t
heard from home since I came back. Siobhan is very well. You may be sure
this is the best place for her, as she is so
wild. She encloses a letter and a tooth
which she pulled out a few days ago. Mother General will be here on Tuesday
night and on Wednesday will be cele-
brated the Diamond jubilee of Mother
Agnes, we expect to have a delightful day. You didn’t tell me how you were.
I trust you are keeping quite well. I
think of you very often and I pray
for you every morning at Holy Mass
and after Holy Communion. You will
have a special share today. The nuns
all pray for you every day. 2 You shall be glad to know I have
been promoted to a higher class this
year. I am in sub junior grade. The
programme is very stiff, but I hope to
(hope) be able for it by June exams. I have
not room for the box, but shall enclose
the tooth in paper. I shall write to you soon again. Best love from all the nuns, and also
from myself. I remain dear uncle,
your loving niece,
Angela. 3 Dear Mr Curtin
There will
bring joy to
your heart
questionable reading is getting
ever so good
Very sincerely your
M. Kevin

Angela writes to her uncle from the Brigidine Convent in Kilkenny where she was a student. She writes with general news and informs him that both she and the nuns pray for him on a daily basis. Tomás MacCurtain (1884–1920), republican, was born Thomas Curtin in Ballyknockane, Co. Cork, on 20 March 1884. MacCurtain was a founder member of the Cork executive of the Irish Volunteers, and in the time leading up to the 1916 Rising, he travelled the county organising new Volunteer units. MacCurtain was arrested in Cork in May 1916, and sent to Dublin before being deported to Wakefield prison on 30 May. On 10 June he was moved to Frongoch in north Wales and on 11 July to Reading gaol, where he remained until his release in December 1916. He continued to lead the Cork Volunteers despite being imprisoned on other occasions in 1917. On 30 January 1920 he became the first Sinn Féin lord mayor of Cork. On 20 March 1920, MacCurtain was shot dead in his bedroom a major escalation in the spiral of violence that marked the last year of the war of independence.

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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__3483.html)