Letter from Henry Lemass, solicitor, to Sir John Maxwell, 20 May 1916.

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Letter from Henry Lemass, solicitor, to Sir John Maxwell, 20 May 1916.

1 Copy May 20th Sir, Referring to previous correspondence with you on the
subject of the Public Investigation which in accordance with
the promise of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons is
to be made into the circumstances under which Mr. F. Sheehy
Skeffington met with his death — I now beg to make formal
application that all letters papers and other documents
whether taken from the person of the Deceased or seized at
his residence should be returned to me forthwith. In the
alternative I would ask that I should be afforded an
opportunity of examining these documents a sufficient time
before the Inquiry to enable me to master their contents and
make copies of such as I may consider necessary and in addition
that they should be produced at the Inquiry. I would also ask you to let me know at your earliest
convenience the time when, the place where and the grounds
upon which Mr. Sheehy Skeffington was arrested; I should also
be furnished with the names and rank of the parties who effected
the arrest, also of the persons who were present at the trial
(if any), at the execution and at the subsequent search of
Mr. Sheehy Skeffington's residence and in addition the name and
rank of the several persons interviewed by Mrs. Kettle and Mrs.
Culhane when they called at Portobello Barracks. I must also seek to be furnished with a copy of every report
by whomsoever made which was reduced to writing dealing
either with the arrest trial or execution of Mr. Sheehy
Skeffington or verifying the cause of death or explaining the
reasons why the search was made at Mr. Sheehy Skeffington's
residence after his arrest, why Mrs. Kettle and Mrs. Culhane were
placed under temporary arrest, why my client has not yet
received any official notification of the death of her husband
and why her request that his remains should be handed over to
her for burial was altogether ignored. 2 I have no doubt that the Authorities will be only
too anxious to facilitate a thorough investigation of all the
circumstances under which Mr. Sheehy Skeffington met with his
death. They will I feel sure recognise that unless the
information asked for above is supplied to me that I will not
be in a position to deleted text properly instruct the Counsel who
will appear at the Inquiry on behalf of my client. Of course all the information asked for should be given
some days before the actual date of the Inquiry that all
documents having any bearing on the matter should be available
for my inspection several days before and should be produced
at the Inquiry. Your obedient servant,
Henry Lemass Sir John G. Maxwell
Commanding-in-chief
the Forces in Ireland
Parkgate
Dublin.

Francis Sheehy Skeffington (1878-1916) was a pacifist, feminist, and suffragist, a freelance journalist and an author. During the Easter Rising he was on the streets trying to muster a civilian force to prevent looting. On 25 April 1916, Skeffington, and two others, pro-British journalists, Thomas Dixon and Patrick McIntyre, were arrested by Captain J.C. Bowen-Colthurst (1880-1966), an Anglo-Irish officer of the Royal Irish Regiment. On 26 April all three were summarily executed by firing squad at Portobello Barracks. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, (1877-1946), suffragette, nationalist, language teacher, 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 and it wasn't until almost two weeks later that the full detail emerged. Sir John Maxwell (1859 - 1929) was primarily responsible for government policy in the immediate aftermath of the Rising. Henry Lemass is acting for Hanna Sheehy-Sheffington in the matter of the murder of her husband and subsequent raids on their home by the military. The solicitor requests all letters, papers, and other documents taken from the person of Mr. Sheehy-Skeffington or from his residence, or an opportunity to view and copy them in good time before an inquiry, and that they be produced at the inquiry. He asks for full details of the circumstances of the arrest and execution of Mr. Sheehy-Skeffington and details in relation to the raids on Mr. Sheehy-Skeffington's residence and those involved in them. Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington's two sisters called to Portobello Barracks enquiring after Mr. Sheehy-Skeffington and were questioned and detained there for some time – reports and explanations of this incident are also requested. This copy was enclosed in a letter, (MS6387/23/1) of 23 May 1916 from the writer to John Dillon MP. This letter also survives.

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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__5872.html)