1
THE LIMIT PRINTINIG AND
PUBLISHING CO., LTD. TELEPHONE
CENTRAL 8991 THE HERALD
(The National Labour Weeekly) EVERY SATURDAY. 21, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C. 19-5-16
My dear Mrs. Sheehy Skewington, I have just received your letter & my heart is
sad for you & your darling boy. May God in His
mercy bless & preserve you. The shocking brutality makes me blush for
very shame. But we English are not all like that . Your
dear husbands sacrifice will bring us together with your
people & somehow a real peace will get established. Will you do us the favour here
of always feeling we
are all your friends & all of us want to help you in any way
possible, as please always write us if you think we can be
of the least service. My wife joins in sending our united love
&so does John Gerald every well
Mr P. , W.H. & in fact all our staff Always George Lansbury
In this letter from George Lansbury (1859-1940) to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946),
George communicates his sadness regarding the death of Hanna's husband, Francis. George
offers her his help and expresses his solidarity.
George Lansbury was a British politician who held socialist views and advocated for
social justice, disarmament, and women's suffrage. He held various elected offices
and was the editor of the Daily Herald, which he helped to establish. 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.