Letter from Jane Cobden Unwin to Herbert Henry Asquith, 2 August 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Jane Codben Unwin

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Copy of a letter written from Jane Cobden Unwin (1851-1947), suffragist and wife of publisher Thomas Fisher Unwin, to Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928), then Liberal Prime Minister of Great Britain. The letter is a response to an appeal for clemency for Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916) who was under a sentence of death having been arrested in Kerry on the eve of the Easter Rising. It is an appeal for clemency for Casement and points out that no progress will be made in the Irish question by executing Casement and argues against coercion of Ireland. A campaign had been launched featuring many prominent figures such as W.B. Yeats and George Bernard Shaw to secure a reprieve for Casement but he was hanged on 3 August 1916, the day after this letter was written.

 National Library of Ireland Roger Casement Papers, Collection List No A15; Ms. 13,078 /7 https://letters1916.ie/item/5482 English Jane Codben Unwin 1916-08-02 3 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, London, UK Herbert Henry Asquith Female 1947 Politics Easter Rising Ireland 1916 Politics

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 Copy 3, ADELPHI TERRACE, STRAND. August 2nd 1916. Dear Mr.Asquith, You probably may not remember me, but in days gone by, in your first wife's life time, we used to meet. Now, after these many years, I bring myself to your remembrance to entreat you to use your great influence to obtain at this eleventh hour the reprieve of Roger Casement - will it not be an evil beginning for the new regime in Ireland if it should start under the shadow of his scaffold? His death will in no way help forward the Irish Cause, , an act of clemency in sparing his life may — Surely his work for the natives both in the Congo, & in Peru, should not be forgotten at this time. I cannot but believe that at the eleventh hour both America and England will hear with relief of such an act of clemency - Yours sincerely, Jane Cobden Unwin. Are we not drifting into what Mr. John Bright described as the ever recurring ever failing remedy of Coercion in Ireland? — Jane Codben Unwin Letter from Jane Cobden Unwin to Herbert Henry Asquith, 2 August 1916 Herbert Henry Asquith Letter from Alice Stopford Green to Herbert Henry Asquith, 17 May 1916.Letter from William Henry Caunt to Herbert Henry Asquith, 4 May 1916Letter from Richard Canson to Herbert Henry Asquith, May 1916Letter from Jane Barklie to Herbert Asquith, 6 May 1916Letter from P. C. McCarthy to Herbert Henry Asquith, 13 May 1916Letter from Maeve Cavanagh to Herbert Henry Asquith, 1916Letter from Agnes Halton to Herbert Henry Asquith, 28 April 1916.Letter from the Casement Relief Petition Committee to Herbert Henry Asquith, 31 July 1916Letter from Patrick J. Mallon to Herbet Henry Asquith, 29 June 1916Letter from Colonel Maurice Moore to Herbert Henry Asquith, 29 July 1916Letter from Sir John Maxwell to Herbert Henry Asquith, 12 May 1916.Printed copy of letter from Henry Lemass, solicitor, to Herbert Henry Asquith, 13 June 1916.Letter from James J. Judge to Herbert Henry Asquith, 19 May 1916Letter from John Joseph Sutherland to Herbert Henry Asquith, 27 May 1916Letter from Robert Carson to Herbert Henry Asquith, 14 February 1916Letter from Herbert Henry Asquith, 2 August 1916Letter from Jane Cobden Unwin to Herbert Henry Asquith, 2 August 1916 3 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, London, UK Letter from Jane Cobden Unwin to Herbert Henry Asquith, 2 August 1916