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Wednesday. 3rd May 1916 Dear Mrs. Sheehy Skeffington. I have been out to Grosvenor
Place
to hear if rumour was true and regret to
find that it is. He is not the first good
man the British have shot and I suppose
won't be the last. I could not get over sooner
as I had not a pass. Callahanspent Monday
night with me and Mr. & Mrs. Connery have
also called. We were all so anxious &
news so unavailable. I found a note here addressto F. which
I have destroyed. With love & sympathy
as ever
Mary Bourke Dowling
Letter from Mary Bourke Dowling to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946) expressing
her sadness to hear that the rumours surrounding Francis' murder were true. Bourke
shares a few details of her life and writes that a note she had addressed to 'F' has
been destroyed.
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.