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Crescent View
Limerick May 15th
1916 Dear Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington Please accept my
sympathy is all the trouble
that has fallen upon you.
I am utterly incapable
of expressing it with any
fluency but I am truly
grieved for you. It seems
as if everyone were in trouble
almost the world over and
as for you this new tragedy
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in our own unhappy
land, I can hardly bear
to talk about it. Please don't think of
troubling to answer this
you will have much to
think of & be overwhelmed
with writing I am sure.
Yours truly
Helen Morony
In this letter from Helen Morony to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946), Helen expresses
her grief over the death of Hanna's husband, Francis, and her sadness over the hardships
everyone is experiencing. She assures Hanna that she shouldn't worry about answering
the note, as Helen is sure she is overwhelmed by writing already.
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.