Letter from Francis Sheehy Skeffington to John Francis Byrne, 14 January 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Francis Sheehy Skeffington to John Francis Byrne, 14 January 1916

1 14th January, 1916. My Dear Byrne, A. H. called on me again yesterday. James' report of my con —
versation with him was at first considered favourable; then gradually
opinion began to concentrate on a couple of unfavourable items, ig—
noring all others. The family is annoyed because they think, as she
puts it, that one wanting the daughter should approach her owner.
She would prefer you to come home, and in that case would be prepared
to get married im ediately and afterwards defy the home influences.
But if that is for any reason impossible, then she wants to be able
to show them some tangible proof that you want her to go out. She
doesn't doubt this herself, saying that you have been very patient
with her; but wants evidence to strengthen her pleas with them. The
evidence she suggests is that you should send her her ticket, - a
ticket available by a definite boat, and preferably soon. With that
to show, she feels she could overcome opposition to her going out. The two letters which you forwarded to me reached me on Jan. 3rd
They bore New York postmark, Dec. 23rd; how was it you didn't post
then sooner? No enclosures. Hope to hear from you soon, especially as to
time manner of your receipt of my letters, of which this is the third

Letter from Francis Sheehy Skeffington to John Francis Byrne regarding Byrne's courtship of an Irish girl. According to Skeffington the girl is struggling to convince her family of the match and requires Byrne to travel to Ireland and marry her immediately or to send her a ticket to America as proof of his intentions. Six months after this letter is written Byrne returns from Ireland to New York with his new wife, Mary Alice Byrne. John Francis Byrne (1880–1960) was a journalist and university friend of James Joyce and Francis Sheehy Skeffington. He wrote under the pseudonym J.F. Renby. Though Byrne emigrated to America in 1910, he spent most of 1916 in Ireland observing and reporting on the political climate. Francis Sheehy Skeffington (1878-1916), journalist, was a prominent feminist, activist and co-founder of the Irish Women's Franchise league in 1908. In 1912, he and his wife, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946), founded the suffragist newspaper The Irish Citizen. A staunch pacifist and nationalist, Sheehy Skeffington opposed Irish involvement in the Great War. During the Easter Rising, he attempted to organise a civilian defence force to prevent looting and saved the life of a British officer under fire. Arrested on the evening of Tuesday 25 April 1916, Sheehy Skeffington and two other civilians were shot by firing squad on the morning of Wednesday 26 April.

Open image in new tab

How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__3957.html)