1
15th May 1916 Dear Mrs Skeffington Kindly accept my most
sincere sympathy on the great
loss you have sustained through
the Death of your dear husband. When I put down the question
in Commons demanding a sworn
enquiry into his death I had
no idea of the Compensating
part of it to apply to you &
was aware that any attempt
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to offer you Money would
be an insult and be resented.
I made this perfectly clear in
a supplementary question. If there is anything I
can do to expose further the
whole brutal affair I will
gladly do so. I note your
remarks about Richard O Carroll
TC and have today put
in a question demanding an enquiry
into his death. With sincerest Sympathy
Yours Sincerely Alfred Byrne Mrs Sheehy Skeffington
In this letter from Alfred ('Alfie') Byrne (1882-1956) to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington
(1877-1946), he expressed his sympathies regarding the execution of Hanna's husband,
Francis. He then discusses the inquiry made into Francis' death and the possibility
of compensation.
Alfred Byrne was first elected an MP in the 1915 by-election as a nationalist candidate
for the Irish Parliamentary Party. Although opposed to the Easter Rising, he spent
1916 lobbying on behalf of the interned prisoners. Before the Rising he was also a
vociferous anti-conscription campaigner.
Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, suffragette, nationalist, language teacher, was the founder
of the Irish Women’s Franchise League and a founding member of the Irish Women Workers’
Union. She was the widow of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington who was summarily executed
on 26 April 1916. She was active during the Rising, bringing food to the Volunteers
in the G.P.O. and the College of Surgeons. Four days passed before she found out what
had happened to her husband, Francis (1878-1916), and it wasn't until almost two weeks
later that the full details of his execution emerged.