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16 May 16 MRS SHEEHY SKEFFINGTON 11 GROSVENOR PLACE RATHMINES DUBLIN MASS MEETING OF UNITED
SUFFRAGISTS IN PORTMAN ROOMS LONDON ASSEMBLED TO
DO HONOUR TO THE MEMORY OF FRANCIS SHEEHY SKEFFINGTON DESIRES TO
EXPRESS THEIR PROFOUND SYMPATHY WITH YOU IN YOUR GREAT SORROW THEIR
DEEP SENSE OF THE LOSS THAT HAS BEEN SUSTAINED BY THE GREAT PROGRESSIVE
MOVEMENT OF WHICH THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IS A PART AND THEIR REALISATION
ALSO OF THE TRUTH THAT FREEDOM ALL OVER THE WORLD WILL GAIN IMMEASURABLY
BY HIS COURAGEOUS LIFE AND DEATH
This telegraph to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946) expresses condolences regarding
the death of Francis Sheehy Skeffington, Hanna's husband, from a meeting of United
Suffragists in London. The United Suffragists were a group of suffragists comprised
of both men and women of militant and non-militant beliefs.
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.