Letters from William Partridge to Fr. Albert Bibby OFM Cap. giving an outline of his career mostly in the labour and union movement under James Larkin. Partridge was among those rebels who surrendered at St Stephen’s Green in 1916. He was subsequently sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude and sent to Dartmoor and afterwards to Lewes Prison. He was released due to ill-health and returned to Ballaghadreen in County Mayo, but died on 26 July 1917. He refers to his physical condition in some of the correspondence. He writes ‘Please excuse scribbling as my sight got bad in prison and I have not yet got glasses’. With his memorial card and a newspaper cutting of his obituary notice. The file also includes a letter (probably from his brother, Felix Partridge) referring to his last days and thanking Fr. Albert for his words of sympathy.
Letters from William Mooney & Sons, solicitors, 16 Fleet Street, Dublin, to Fr. Mark McDonnell OSFC regarding the possession of properties held by John Butterly in May Lane and their transfer to the lay trustees of the Catholic Boys’ Brigade, Dublin.
Letters from William P McEvoy, Commissioner for Affidavits, 12 Dame Street, to Father Thomas Morrissey CM, Saint Joseph’s, Blackrock, regarding Burrowes property in Blackrock.
A file of letters from William Frederick Paul Stockley and his wife Germaine Stockley to Fr. Richard Henebry. Includes two letters to Henebry from Germaine Stockley. A letter (12 December 1915) from William Stockley reads ‘My wife has a trouble upon her. Her good father is dead. He was old in age, 87, but I used to see him out early at Mass last year. … After Bavaria, I think he loved France, where he lived … and where he married. I never heard him speak against a foe. His daughter never heard him say a gross-ish word. Are they all Celts in Bavaria?’
Letters from William Frederick Paul Stockley (Woodside, Tivoli, Cork, and Dún Meadon, Cork), to Fr. Henry Rope. The letters include references to Catholic literature and spirituality, the Gaelic League, academia, and the writings of various authors. Some of the letters refer to the contemporary political situation in Ireland (including discussion of the treatment of Irish political prisoners) and to events in Europe. One of the letters (17 Mar. 1921) refers to the case of Alice Cashel imprisoned in Galway Jail. Stockley writes ‘She is in prison for six months. He sister says she loves to hear poetry. She is a distinguished graduate, and teacher, and a fine type. She knows Irish well’. Stockley suggests that Father Rope could send her a copy of his poetry. The file also includes letters to William Frederick Paul Stockley from Patrick O’Byrne, (Corville, Roscrea, County Tipperary), Mary Corkery, Mary MacSwiney (Máire Nic Shuibhne), Richardson Evans (11 Holland Villas Road, Kensington, London), Monica Rafferty, and Dr. Bernard O’Connor (Old Square, Lincoln’s Inn, London) and Conn Mac Murchadha, Director, Sinn Féin Re-organising Committee, 15 College Green, Dublin, re an invitation to attend a public meeting. It is noted that that the ‘object of the meeting is to launch publicly the Republican civilian movement by reorganising Sinn Féin, the only Republican political organisation which is definitely pledged to the support of the Irish Republic’ (11 July 1923).
It appears that Fr. Henry Rope later annotated most of the letters with date ascriptions.
Letters from Thomas Ryan & Sons, ecclesiastical sculptors, 30 & 32 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, to Fr. Jarlath Hynes OSFC, guardian, regarding the installation of statues and additions to the marble altar and pulpit at the Church of St. Francis, Kilkenny.
A file of six original letters from Thomas Moore, the Irish writer, lyricist, and composer. Includes a clipping of a short biography of Moore taken from an auction catalogue and a portrait sketch taken from an untitled printed work.
Letters from Thomas J. Loughlin, Killarney, Warrenheip, Australia, to Fr. Mark MacDonnell OSFC, regarding negotiations with local banks in Kilkenny over a loan and the reduction of a debt on the Friary. Loughlin also refers to ‘the loss I sustained in the failure of the "contract" of the new church not being carried out’. He also refers to his life and conditions in Australia.
Letters from Fr. James O’Mahony OFM Cap., Provincial Minister, and Fr. Felix Guihen OFM Cap., Provincial Secretary, to Fr. Andrew Carew OFM Cap. and other guardians of the Kilkenny community, mainly re notices of the deaths of friars (or their relations), the professions of novices, the appointment of confessors in the Diocese of Ossory, and requests for contributions from the Kilkenny community to the Provincial Accounts.
O’Mahony, James, 1897-1962, Capuchin priestLetters from Most Rev. Peter Birch, Bishop of Ossory, to Fr. Fidelis O’Connell OFM Cap., guardian. The letters refer to the appointment of confessors to convents in the diocese, notices of clerical conferences, arrangements for ecclesiastical celebrations (masses, benedictions, expositions) and faculties for various Capuchin priests.