Hardback notebook labelled ‘The Dangerous Age. The Blind Pension. Acid Drops’ on the front. Some pages removed and others loose. Contains handwritten draft of the short story Thomasheen James and the Blind Pension opening: ‘All that winter Thomasheen James battered on me’ (pages 1-20) and fragment entitled Thomasheen James and the Blind Pension which opens: ‘Thomasheen James, my man of no work, draped his breast with war medals’ (1 page). Also contains draft of the short story Thomasheen James and the Dangerous Age at the front which begins: ‘That year I did not take my annual holiday until September’ and continues on right-hand pages, 1-34, with pages 31-34 inserted; draft of short story Butcher to the Queen (untitled) in pencil which opens: ‘When my work as a Pension Officer took me into the Devil’s Bit territory’, beginning on the back of the first page and continuing on left-hand pages (pages 1-11); followed by draft of the short story Son of a Tinker (finished 5 November 1940) in pencil beginning: ‘Shawn Oge Callahan was his name and he was almost incredibly tough’ (pages 1-27); draft of part of the short story Thomasheen James and the Bird Lover (begun 24 November 1938), beginning upside down at the back and opening: ‘I was mighty glad to get home’ (pages 1-17). Election results at the front (1 page). Alterations. Each text is paginated separately.
Walsh, Maurice (1879-1964), writerHardback notebook labelled ‘Oprobrious (sic) Name’ on the cover. Pages have been removed and others are loose. Contains handwritten draft of the short story Thomasheen James and the Opprobrious Name which begins: ‘As he himself would say, I had seen neither hair nor hide of Thomasheen James’ (pages 1-29). Also contains draft of the short story Thomasheen James and the Bird Lover (finished 20 December 1938), beginning upside down from the back and opening: ‘A recent issue of a provincial Irish paper’ (pages 1-22). Alterations. Each text paginated separately.
Walsh, Maurice (1879-1964), writerHardback notebook similar to P7/2/1/3/1. A section has been removed. Contains handwritten drafts of two parts of Blackcock's Feather as follows: at the front a fragment beginning: ‘This is the story of me, David Gordon’, pages 1-2 and in the middle, one beginning: ‘She said no other word and turned quickly to her mother’ pages 198-221 (page 214 onwards is upside down from the back of the notebook). Also contains part of draft of the novel 'The Road to Nowhere' (begun 3 March 1931), pages 1-7; part of draft of ‘Over the Border’, pages 20-40; and part of draft of the short story ‘The Prudent Man’ beginning: ‘Kemp Murray had been busy’ pages 1-3 upside down at back of notebook. Alterations. Each text is paginated separately.
Walsh, Maurice (1879-1964), writerHandwritten extracts from the poem Midnight Lamentation by Harold Monro. Written on the reverse is a handwritten draft of a poem entitled Boundless Solitude, presumably by Condell.
Condell, Frances née Eades (1916-1986), first female Mayor of LimerickLoose pages containing handwritten fragment of draft of the novel The Man in Brown beginning ‘Chapter IV – Mr. Daniel Glover Takes a Hand’ which opens: ‘Con Madden slanted up over two grass terraces’. Alterations. Pagination.
Walsh, Maurice (1879-1964), writerLoose pages containing handwritten fragment of a draft of the novel The Man in Brown headed ‘5’ and beginning: ‘Peter Falkner put away his corncob pipe’. Alterations. Pagination.
Walsh, Maurice (1879-1964), writerLoose pages containing handwritten fragments of the novel And No Quarter. The first begins: ‘I walked round to the front of the shelter’.
Walsh, Maurice (1879-1964), writerHandwritten index to the contents of P21/3/2.
De Laval family of PortarlingtonHandwritten list entitled ‘Photos’, comprising a brief description of nine photographs, probably relating to P28/2/18/1.
Dalby, Simon, Professor Emeritus
Handwritten letter from historian Des Ryan, Moyross, county Limerick to Robert Stradling, enclosing a photocopy of the handwritten memoirs of Maurice Fennell of Rathkeale county Limerick, former Legionnaire of ‘C’ Company of Irish Brigade. The memoirs, entitled SPAIN 1936-1937 begin with the line ‘The Monarchy in Spain came to an end in 1931’ and record Fennell's view of the history of the Spanish Republic, noting ‘The new Government brought neither peace, or stability to Spain. Revolutionary strikes, and anti-clerical outrages, were common everyday occurances, churches were desecrated, and burned to the ground. Bodies of Priests, and Nuns, were exhumed, and inhumanly degraded’. The years leading to the civil war were marked by ‘twenty-six changes of Government… several local Revolutions, and almost daily civil disturbances’, the formation of The Popular Front, outbreak of Spanish Civil War in 1936, and the Irish response stating ‘Due to our historic ties with Spain, and a strong Anti-Communist emotion, which was now engulfing the entire nation, North and South, General O’Duffy had little difficulty in recruiting an Irish Brigade, to fight for Christianity, and Spain, and in an indirect way, for Ireland’. Also notes the passing of the Non-intervention Bill, members of Irish Brigade including many old Irish Republican Army and ex-army officers, setting off for Spain on board the Dun Aengus during stormy weather, stating ‘The storm was still blowing, and the rain pouring down, no food, no sleep, no water, and very little hope. Despair was clearly visible on every face’, and rescue by a German grain boat, stating ‘They then left down a number of wooden ladders tied together, and eventually they were made fast to the rail of the Dun Aengus. However it was like climbing on to a “bucking bronco”. The difference was, that if you lost your grip, or made one slip, you were catapulted into eternity, via the freezing, turbulent, awesome, waves of the Atlantic Ocean’. Also records experiences of Salamanca, stating ‘The huge square was bedecked with beautiful flowers, buntings, and Irish and Spanish flags. The hundred or so tables were attended by charming Signorettes in Native Costume and the food was sumptuous, or so it seemed… after almost seven days of starvation’, and training at Cáceres where he notes ‘Our individual training was carried out in the big Military Barracks… Just outside the back wall, there was a sand-bag embankment… We later learned that it was a shooting range of a different kind. It was here that Red Troops, who were tried, and found guilty, of certain crimes, were executed. It was not a nice sight, I went to see it once, and that was enough’, the daily routine, mass at Church of San Domingo, journey to the Madrid Front and attack by ‘friendly troops’, stating ‘It is amazing how quickly one adjusts to the circumstances, in a situation such as this, one’s fears, and forebodings, seem to vanish and instead there is a feeling of elation, having beaten the defending backs, and sees the line at his mercy, in the dying moments of a Rugby Match’, the atrocities, attacks by ‘the Reds’, mining a railway used by ‘the Reds’, and the final journey home, stating, ‘Our Crusade was ended. We may not have had any great effect on the outcome of the War, but we played our part, to the Best of our ability… it is no small consideration to know that we were on the winning side, and that in so doing we repaid, in a small way at least, part of our long-standing debt to Spain.’ Paginated.
Stradling, Robert Arthur, scholar