Letter from James Finn to May Fay, 9 February 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from James Finn to May Fay, 9 February 1916

1 National Health Insurance Commission (Ireland),
Pembroke House,
Upper Mount Street,
Dublin. 9th Feby, 1916. My dearest girl, This is going to be a
divine of a scribble if I'm going to
catch the post. I was overwhelmed with
work yesterday and couldn't get a moment
to write to you so that if you are
looking out for a letter to-day I'm afraid
you will be disappointed. Well my dearest
I was glad to have your letter this morning
and to see by it (selfish beast) that you
were a bit lonely at leaving Dublin: for
myself I must say I felt rotten on Monday 2 night with the result that I went to
bed before eleven in order to escape from
my loneliness. Today I feel a bit
more cheerful but I need hardly say
I shall be looking forward anxiously to
a visit to the country in the next few
weeks. I must say that you are a
silly girl to be worrying your head over
me or whether I was lonely (not lonely) or not
However I hope there is a good time
coming when we can sit round the fire
at night and nobody to say boo to us In regards fixing the day I have
been worrying over it since a good deal.
My only objection to May (the month not the girl) is that its a bad time for
holidays and as we shall never have a
holiday again quite like the one, I'd like
for your sake to have good weather.
However I supposee we can leave further
discussion of this over until I see you
when we can settle the matter one way
or another without trouble. Glad to hear
everyone liked your ring. I'm sure poor
Jenny will be anxious to have Jim down
I am sympathetic with her in that
any how but I expect he'll be a bit
lonely for a while. It's a good job for
him to get a start so nicely I think everyone at home was 3 a bit lonesome for the visitors as well
as myself. My mother didn't seem to be
quite herself since. Moll is coming home
this evening for a few days preparatory
to going out to Kingstown to her new
job. I haven't seen her yet but I
expect she will be quite out of her skin
with joy over the prospect of a change
from Newbridge. Don't know when I can
get down to you. Don't care to go unless
I can get a day or two off but you may
expect me anyhow not later than
Saturday fortnight (26th Feby). Hope you'll give
me a kiss when I go anyway. Give my regards
to your mother and all and also to Mrs
Seery. Words fail me to say what love I
send yourself. Your ever loving and devoted
James

This is from a series of letters written between James Finn and his fiancée Mary (May) Fay. They became engaged in January 1916 and married in June. He lived in Dublin, she in Westmeath; he was 20 years older than her at 39 and had become acquainted with her during his regular visits to his relative Mrs Mary Seery, her neighbour. Throughout the series their relationship develops from the first somewhat tentative letters. They were not to be married long: in 1919 he fell ill with the great flu epidemic, it led to heart damage and he died in 1922 as she was expecting their fourth child. She held on to his letters as her reminder of him. Despite many offers and her difficult finances she never married again. She took in lodgers and trained (and practised) as a midwife, chiropodist, and public health nurse while raising her children. She proved to be an excellent entrepreneur, charmed bank managers into giving her loans (against the norm of the time) and bought properties one after another, many of which were broken up into flats. James Finn was a civil servant, working in the National Health Service Commission on Mount Street. Family history says that he was advising on the restructuring of the civil service as part of setting up the new government in 1922 and that eminent figures in that project were visiting him in his sick bed so that they could consult with him. Neither May nor James were politically active, although like many in the Civil Service, learned Irish. One can sense their shifting sympathies in the letters. James misses May after she's gone home. He discusses their wedding plans. His sister is starting work in Kingstown after leaving Newbridge (she was apparently difficult to work with and got passed from one post office to another).

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__5541.html)