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Cherry Croft,
Kings Langley,
Herts. May 21st Dear Mrs Sheehy Skeffington, May a woman who
is horrified at the
crime, and all you
must have gone through,
send one word of sincere
& reverant sympathy
to you in your trouble.
It is something to belong
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to the small army of
Martyrs to whom is
given the chance throrugh
their blood, for an end
to be achieved, & how
many of them died
with they know not
what they do on their
lips! But for you any
ray of comfort must be
as yet very dim. But
Blessed are the Peacemakers
in one ray. Yours with much
sympathy Mary Morel
Letter from Mary Morel (1896 - 1933) to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946) in which
Mary sends her sympathies in regards to the death of Hanna's husband, Francis. She
writes about martyrdom and the honorable nature of his death.
Mary Morel was the wife of Edmund Dene Morel (1873–1924). Edmund Morel was a British
journalist, pacifist, and politician who led a campaign against slavery in the Congo
with Roger Casement and was prominent in the pacifist movement during the First World
War.
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.