Letter to Art Ó Briain, 12 July 1916 Letters 1916-1923

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

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Letter (unsigned) addressed to 'A Chara', presumably to Art Ó Briain (1872-1949). The writer refers to men he had visited in Wandsworth and to letters from prisoners transferred from Wandsworth prison to Frongoch, and to the 'Ladies Committee'. He transcribes letters from prisoners J E Lyons (see MS 8434 / 23-4) and James Daly (MS 8434 / 23-5) to Miss Coates and refers to other letters, including one from a young timid Dublin man who hadn't had a visit until the previous week. Art Ó Briain (1872-1949) was Honorary Secretary of The Irish National Relief Fund which was set up to provide assistance to the dependents of those executed in 1916, those sentenced to prison and to the prisoners themselves.

National Library of Ireland Art Ó Briain papers, c. 1900-c.1945, Ó Briain’s work for Irish political prisoners (1916-21), MS 8434 /23-4 and 5 https://letters1916.ie/item/3992 English 1916-07-12 Frongoch, North Wales (South Camp), United Kingdom Art Ó Briain London, England, United Kingdon Easter Rising Ireland 1916 Easter Rising Ireland 1916 Politics

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 1 Frongoch Sth Camp 12/7/16. A cara As the Ladies Com. does notappear to be meeting I send thecopy of a letter from Frongoch.I have received several mostly fromthe poor citizen army men whom Ivisited at Wandsworth. The Censor had quite washed out twolines of one letter from a Lewes friend- teacher of Irish at Rockwell Coll: butone sentence was camp practicallyunder our own control. However the letter of one old manwhose son was with him at Wandswthis full of details from the Camp.(which I had asked him to supply.) 5/7/'16 Dear Miss CoalesWe arrived here onthe 26th and I take the opportunityof thanking you for your kindnessto us during our stay in Wandsworthwhich helped to brighten ourlot very much while there. The prisoners here are separatedinto two camps. North and SouthI am in the Sth Camp where there 2.are about 600 men. We are in huts about30 in each which are well lighted,ventilated and clean. We take ourmeals in huts preserved for thepurpose. Our own men managethe camp, keep order, cook cleanetc. The supply of rations is fair, thebread and meat being freshand the tea of good quality. There is very little margarine orbutter, no cheese, or jam. There isa canteen where these things canbe bought, but as there are anumber of men who have no moneythey have to do without them andalso without cigarettes, tobaccoand matches. If you could doanything for us in this matteryou would confer a great benefiton us. Thanking you again. Yours faithfully JE Lyons This letter as all others took aweek to reach me. Another letter of a young Dublin ladwhom my mother found and had never hada visit until the last week. He was very timid 3. and almost in tears as no one had claimedhim in the visiting rooom. Upper Camp 29/6/16. Dear Miss Coales, I am writing to let you know I amgoing on well and I hope you arein the best of health. All the Wandsworth boys here sendyou their best thanks for yourkindness to them and send alsotheto all the ladies. We are well treated and wehave grand scenery and countryair. When you write don't forget toput my number on the letter. Itis 1107. We rise at 6.30 and goto bed at 9.45. We have a canteen here andwe can buy anything we want.We play football all day and smoke.We are having a jolly time. In ourhut we sing and dance. All the boys here are in greatspirit and plenty of fun. I willnot say any more for the presentHoping to hear from you soon. Yours truly James Daly Frongoch, North Wales (South Camp), United Kingdom Letter to Art Ó Briain, 12 July 1916 London, England, United Kingdon Letter to Art Ó Briain, 12 July 1916 Art Ó Briain Letter from Art Ó Briain to The Commandant, Frongoch Internment Camp 8 September 1916Letter from Art Ó Briain to John J Neeson, 4 September 1916Letter to Art Ó Briain, 12 July 1916