PR81/1/1 Early Period, Cork and New York (1905-1918)
Reference: PR81/1/1
Date: 1905 - 1918
Title: Level:
Early Period, Cork and New York
Extent: 51 items
series
Scope and Content: This series includes those records of Diarmaid Fawsitt’s public life up to the period of the 1916 Easter Rising. These include personal correspondence and typescript published and unpublished papers from the period. The earliest record is a single item, the First Annual Report (1904) of the Cork National Theatre Society, presented by Diarmaid Fawsitt, Honorary Secretary, in 1905 (ref. PR81/1/1/A). Regrettably no original records are present for Fawsitt’s key involvement in the formation of the Cork Volunteers. The surviving records do however include Fawsitt’s recollections of the events written in later life (ref. PR81/1/1/B). Substantial records begin with Fawsitt’s visit (deportation) to the United States in 1915, following growing British concern at Fawsitt’s republican sympathies. This part of the collection is critical in demonstrating the early importance placed on the United States by Irish republicans in the period preceding the Easter Rising as it shows a co-ordinated structured approach to promoting Ireland’s interests in America (ref. PR81/1/1/C). A small volume of material is also present indicating Diarmaid Fawsitt’s role as secretary of the Cork Industrial Development Association (ref. PR81/1/1/D). The most significant items from this period include letters of introduction for Fawsitt from Eamon de Valera to key American players in the Irish-American movement including John Devoy. There is also evidence of U.S support from the U.S. consulate in Cobh (Queenstown). Amongst these early papers are copies of articles, lectures, or speeches delivered by Fawsitt at the time of his visit to New York in 1915 (ref. PR81/1/1/C/06). These provide much in the way of evidence of pro-German and anti-British (or anti imperial) sentiments amongst republicans. These provide a useful context and understanding of Fawsitt’s views on Ireland, Great Britain, and Empire in the period of the First World War, and they shed light on Ireland’s struggle for American support of Irish self-determination at that time. This visit would be critical in laying the foundations for Fawsitt’s later diplomatic mission to New York as Irish consul in 1919. There are also present amongst these papers some clues as to Fawsitt’s relations with the British, incuding an official letter issued by the British authorities on his return to Cork in 1915 warning him to be a ‘live quietly’ or face imprisonment (ref. PR81/1/1/C/07).
PR81/1/1 Early Period, Cork and New York (1905-1918)
PR81/1/1/A Cork National Theatre Society, Honorary Secretary (1904-5)
2
PR81/1/1/B Recollections of the founding of the Cork Corps, Irish Volunteers 1913-1916 (1931, 1962-1966)
2
PR81/1/1/C Deportation from Cork and Activities in the United States of America (1915)
9
PR81/1/1/D Secretary, Cork Industrial Development Association (1915 – 1918) 13 PR81/1/1/E Newspaper reports of the Easter Rising and copy of Sinn Fein constitution (1916) 16
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