Letter from Maud Gonne MacBride (1866-1953) to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946) expressing sympathy in regards to the death of Hanna's husband, Francis. Gonne writes that while the men's sacrifice will not be in vain it is very bitter for those who remain behind. (Edith) Maud Gonne MacBride was an advanced nationalist and political activist. From 1916 onwards Gonne spent the majority of her time in France after a sensationalist divorce scandal, from her husband John MacBride (1865-1916), overshadowed her political ambitions. During the war Gonne served as a nurse in French military hospitals. However, the events of the Easter Rising altered her position as she wore mourning and called herself Maud Gonne MacBride, a title she had abandoned after the breakdown of her marriage some twelve years before. This change in circumstance allowed her to re-enter the Irish political scene. Aside from her politics Gonne was the subject of most of the love poetry of W. B. Yeats. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946), 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.