Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 7 June 1916
for you in the ordeal you have to go through.
And I do hope you will remember that there
are some human hearts in the army.
The whole thing is most terrible, but
I think I never did a better thing than
going to you and telling you the truth
as soon as I could.
I cannot say anymore. I deeply
sympathise with you. Yours sincerely
Francis Vane of Fulton
Major.
Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane (1861-1934) to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946) expressing his deepest sympathy and regrets over the ordeal Hanna is going through following her husband's death. Vane writes that he has no regrets over telling her the truth about the course of events. Major Sir Francis Patrick Fletcher-Vane was a British officer in command of Portobello Barracks. When he learned about the activities of Captain J.C.Bowen-Colthurst during Easter Week he reported the matter to his superiors but, sensing a cover-up, he went to London and reported it directly to Lord Kitchener and Maurice Bonham Carter, Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. Although Bowen-Colthurst was court-martialled and found guilty, Vane was 'retired' from the military for his actions. 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.
How to cite
Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__3820.html)
- Place
- National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London, England
- Mentioned in
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 7 June 1916
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 28 July 1916
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 20 July 1916
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 17 July 1916
- Mentioned in
-
- Postcard from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 25 July 1916
- Note from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 16 May 1916
- Note from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 19 May 1916
- Note from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 21 May 1916
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 7 June 1916
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 28 July 1916
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 20 July 1916
- Letter from Major Francis Fletcher-Vane to Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, 17 July 1916
- Letter from Francis Fletcher-Vane to Joseph Cyrillus Walsh, 23 June 1917