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Actions	Cunnane, Frank, Headford, Co. Galway, Copy of letter prior to receiving death penalty Remove from selection Add to selection TitleCunnane, Frank, Headford, Co. Galway, Copy of letter prior to receiving death penalty RepositoryGalway County Council Archives Services ReferenceGS01/17 Date1923-04 Creator Francis Cunnane Production date 1923-04 Scope and Content Photocopy of handwritten letter from Frank, a republican (Captain of the Kilcoona Company, 4th Battalion, North Galway Brigade, 2nd Western Division of the IRA), to his mother, prior to receiving the Death Penalty, during the Civil War, therein he states “I die as I have lived believing that I have done the best for my country, and I trust my sacrifice will suffice for anything that has remained undone by me [and] that I have conscientiously done everything for the best interests of my country”. Transcript: My dear Mother You are aware by now Mother dear, that I have been one of [those] destined by God to swell the role of that martyred band who died for Ireland. As i go to my maker, I die as I lived believing that I have done the best for my mounty, and I trust my sacrifice will suffice any thing that has remainded undone by me. That I have conscientiously done everything for the best interests of my county, according to my [rights]. I do that doubt, therefore, it is with composure i accept my sentce - bearing no malie or hatred against [living] soul . To all my firends, too numerous to mention, give my best and sincerest for their many kindnesses during ad after my enter curse with them. I am more than grateful and I trust that God will in some way repay them as I intended doing , but now that I am leaving them for a "Happier Exchange" I am debarred from fulfilling my desires in this "World of Sorrows". Well Mother dear, I know my death will shock you and all home, but my dying wish is that no grief or sorrow be unnessarily displayed by any of you, for the end must come sometime and is now as welcome as at any other future time, when perhaps I should not be half as well prepared to meet "Him" who sent me, and i know that "He" will accept my scrifice for any forgotten faults which I may have committed during my life-time. The death is a glorious one and one of which I unworthy. There may be some who may look upon our line of action as being a hopeless and foolish one, but the voices of Plunkett and Pearse and those who died for the same cause in 1916, inspired me to follow in their footsteps and I feel confident that vindication of this "Sacred Cause" will come in some generation or another. Cheer up mother dear, I shall meet you in Heaven in the near future, though I hope your life upon this earth will be long and happy, so much so, that you will be recompensed in some small measmure for all trouble in earlier life. Give to all my neighbours and companions of my childhood my dying wishes and (to my comrades a fond farewell) and let no at of vengenance war the Cause for which I die. Let that sanctified flag be borne aloft unstained with the sin of Cain, so that the world can see me are not waging a war of Bolshevism of which the I.R.A. is accused. I am sending you a few souvenors including a pair of beads I got from Cissie during the B&T regime. In them find consolation and do not worry. Now I must finish finally and eternally on this side of the grave, so I send you, father, Bertie, Tessie, Cissi, Gerard, Willie, John, Tommie, Martin, Charlie, Joe, & Vincent my blessing and good wishes. May God less you all & may we all meet in Heaven is the Sincere wish of Your dutiful son Frank Extent4pp LanguageEnglish Archival historyDonation Persons keywordIrish Republican Army SubjectCivil War (1922-1923), Easter Rising 1916 Conditions governing accessAvailable by appointment. Unrestricted access. The material in this collection is available to all bona fide researchers by appointment only, and subject to the conditions of access governing the consultation of archival material at Galway County Council Archives. Conditions governing reproductionNo material may be reproduced from this collection without the written permission of the archivist, and reproductions are subject to the conditions of access. LevelItem

TitleCunnane, Frank, Headford, Co. Galway, Copy of letter prior to receiving death penalty

RepositoryGalway County Council Archives Services

ReferenceGS01/17

Date1923-04

Production date 1923-04

Scope and Content

Photocopy of handwritten letter from Frank, a republican (Captain of the Kilcoona Company, 4th Battalion, North Galway Brigade, 2nd Western Division of the IRA), to his mother, prior to receiving the Death Penalty, during the Civil War, therein he states “I die as I have lived believing that I have done the best for my country, and I trust my sacrifice will suffice for anything that has remained undone by me [and] that I have conscientiously done everything for the best interests of my country”.

Transcript:

My dear Mother

You are aware by now Mother dear, that I have been one of [those] destined by God to swell the role of that martyred band who died for Ireland.

As i go to my maker, I die as I lived believing that I have done the best for my mounty, and I trust my sacrifice will suffice any thing that has remainded undone by me. That I have conscientiously done everything for the best interests of my county, according to my [rights]. I do that doubt, therefore, it is with composure i accept my sentce - bearing no malie or hatred against [living] soul .

To all my firends, too numerous to mention, give my best and sincerest for their many kindnesses during ad after my enter curse with them. I am more than grateful and I trust that God will in some way repay them as I intended doing , but now that I am leaving them for a "Happier Exchange" I am debarred from fulfilling my desires in this "World of Sorrows".

Well Mother dear, I know my death will shock you and all home, but my dying wish is that no grief or sorrow be unnessarily displayed by any of you, for the end must come sometime and is now as welcome as at any other future time, when perhaps I should not be half as well prepared to meet "Him" who sent me, and i know that "He" will accept my scrifice for any forgotten faults which I may have committed during my life-time. The death is a glorious one and one of which I unworthy.

There may be some who may look upon our line of action as being a hopeless and foolish one, but the voices of Plunkett and Pearse and those who died for the same cause in 1916, inspired me to follow in their footsteps and I feel confident that vindication of this "Sacred Cause" will come in some generation or another.

Cheer up mother dear, I shall meet you in Heaven in the near future, though I hope your life upon this earth will be long and happy, so much so, that you will be recompensed in some small measmure for all trouble in earlier life. Give to all my neighbours and companions of my childhood my dying wishes and (to my comrades a fond farewell) and let no at of vengenance war the Cause for which I die. Let that sanctified flag be borne aloft unstained with the sin of Cain, so that the world can see me are not waging a war of Bolshevism of which the I.R.A. is accused.

I am sending you a few souvenors including a pair of beads I got from Cissie during the B&T regime. In them find consolation and do not worry.

Now I must finish finally and eternally on this side of the grave, so I send you, father, Bertie, Tessie, Cissi, Gerard, Willie, John, Tommie, Martin, Charlie, Joe, & Vincent my blessing and good wishes.

May God less you all

& may we all meet in Heaven

is the Sincere wish of

Your dutiful son

Frank

Extent4pp

LanguageEnglish

Archival historyDonation

Persons keywordIrish Republican Army

SubjectCivil War (1922-1923), Easter Rising 1916

Conditions governing accessAvailable by appointment. Unrestricted access. The material in this collection is available to all bona fide researchers by appointment only, and subject to the conditions of access governing the consultation of archival material at Galway County Council Archives.

Conditions governing reproductionNo material may be reproduced from this collection without the written permission of the archivist, and reproductions are subject to the conditions of access.

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