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Journal kept by Harriet Marshall née Swayne during a voyage from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India with her two children to visit her in-laws in England and Ireland. The journal commences on 9 January 1847 with her arrival in Calcutta, where she spends the rest of the month waiting for the commencement of the next leg of her journey on board the vessel Alfred. While in Calcutta, she visits old friends and old scenes, having lived there eight years previously: ‘I had left Calcutta a child and returned a Woman and a Mother, how little had I fancied when I bade it farewell that I should return thus.’

The bulk of the journal is kept on board Alfred and contains descriptions of Harriet's fellow passengers, daily life on the vessel and the grinding monotony of long sea voyages. There are squabbles among children and endless quarrels among passengers, particularly women. Harriet herself becomes embroiled in a hostile exchange of words with the ship's captain, Edward Wall, who makes a derogatory comment about doctors, unaware that Harriet's husband is an army surgeon.

Remarkably, Harriet does not suffer from sea sickness even in the roughest of weathers, and has no patience for those who do. She does, however, regret having allowed herself ‘to be talked into taking a Cabin below [deck]’, where the air is stale as the port holes can only rarely be opened. She also regrets having chosen to travel by sea and concludes that ‘I will undergo any inconvenience & rough travelling rather than come back by sea to India[.] in an Overland trip there is something stirring every day, but here we breathe an impure atmosphere & when we do go upstairs it is only to walk up & down… nothing stirring but the ship’.

Alfred arrives on the island of Saint Helena on 30 March and the passengers get to enjoy a rare break on land. On 31 March they make an excursion around the island, which Harriet describes in great detail, including her disappointment at the shabby state of Napoleon Bonaparte's home. The journal ends with an entry made on 1 April as Alfred weighs anchor and leaves St Helena for England. Harriet's last lines read: ‘now I must go on with my Journal on sheets of Paper till we arrive in England.’ These loose sheets do not appear to have survived, and the fate of any of Harriet's other journals is unknown.

The journal is a useful research source for life in the service of the British Empire and the challenges of ocean travel. More broadly, it provides interesting insights into the lives of women and children in the nineteenth century and the societal mores that defined and separated the sexes.

Mostly photocopies of official letters from Department of President, Pádraig Quinn of Kilkenny Blueshirt Division, and brothers John C. Dunphy, J. J. Dunphy and P. L. Dunphy, also involved in recruitment in the Kilkenny-Carlow area, referring to the establishment of an Irish Brigade, the delay of departure of Irish Brigade for Spain, and articles necessary for each volunteer. Includes copy of a letter from Pádraig Quinn, Kilkenny Blueshirt Division (League of Youth), Gowran House, Gowran, county Kilkenny, to Joe Duffy, regarding the question of an Irish Brigade going to Spain, noting his wish to be a member of such an organisation when the time comes, and stating ‘A number of Blueshirts here and there throughout the counties of Carlow and Kilkenny have volunteered their services for the “Irish Brigade” to Spain, the motive of such service being for the “GLORY OF GOD and the HONOUR OF IRELAND”’ (22 September 1936). Also contains copy of a letter from Padraig Quinn, Gowran House, to Joe Doyle, which reassures him that they should not be upset by men withdrawing their names from membership of Brigade (23 October 1936). In addition, a copy of a letter to Doyle from John C. Dunphy, 52 Tullow Street, Carlow, who states ‘I am instructed by Capt. Quinn, who was himself instructed by General O’Duffy, to request that you… procure a passport immediately, for all European countries. Do not mention Spain. If you choose, say you are going to a job somewhere’ (18 November 1936). Also contains list of articles necessary for each volunteer which includes one small valise, one heavy overcoat, one pair of breeches, one pair of heavy nailed boots (or shoes), three pairs of heavy socks (hand knit if possible), one spare set of heavy underwear, one leather strap strong (over 42” long), one pouch (for ammunition) and one shaving outfit.

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.

Copy of the address to General O’Duffy and the Irish Brigade on their way to fight ‘Bolshevism in Spain’, delivered in the Irish National Church, Lisbon, Portugal.

Photocopy of a handwritten letter from James McCarthy, Enniskeane, county Cork, former Legionnaire in Irish Brigade, to Maurice Fennell, congratulating him on a letter in the Irish Independent: ‘You stated facts, which every member of the brigade can endorse. No group has ever been so misunderstood and their motives more misrepresented over the years’.

Photocopy of two letters from Pádraig Quinn, Uisce Mor, Graig-na-Managh, county Kilkenny, to Captain Maurice Fennell, Church Street, Rathkeale, county Limerick, noting among other things a Radio Telefís Éireann documentary on the Irish Brigade.

Photocopy of a letter from Joseph A. Cunningham, Solicitor, Templeshannon, Enniscorthy, county Wexford to Captain Maurice J. Fennell, Church Street, Rathkeale, county Limerick, regarding his article in the Irish Independent on 2 March 1976 and Cunningham’s own published memoirs, and notes ‘I am wondering is Sergeant Sheehy (Garryowen?) alive or Tom Neaney. Tom saved my life once (I have always felt) when he stopped a runaway mule in Ciempozeulos one afternoon with Paddy Casey (Donegal) and myself helpless in the dray. I can still see it careering furiously for the narrow archway leading from the town to the lines.’ In addition, notes holding an interview with General Franco in 1973. Also gives an update on the whereabouts of some of his former colleagues from the Irish Brigade. Concludes by stating ‘For me the fight in Spain was Christ – v – Anti-Christ and everything really Irish must be radically Christian. A Republic that would not be Christian would not be Irish’.

Photocopy of a letter from Pádraig Quinn, Uisce Mor, Graig-na-Managh, county Kilkenny, to Maurice Fennell, regarding a letter in the Irish Independent and confirming some facts regarding his time in Spain.

Photocopy of a letter from Frank B. Fitzgerald, Apartment Number 1, “Transvaal”, Fauvic Grouville, Jersey C1, former non-commissioned officer in Company of Irish Brigade to Des Ryan, noting why he chose to go to Spain, and stating ‘One of my first achievements was to blow up the armoured train which came from Madrid almost everyday’.

Photocopy of a letter from former Irish Brigadier, Frank B. Fitzgerald, Jersey, to Denis O’Shaughnassy, Corbally, county Limerick, complimenting his article in the Limerick Leader and outlining his life after returning from Spain, which included joining the R.A.F. In relation to Spain, notes the first casualty of the Irish Brigade, ‘It was Tom Hyde from Middletown Co Cork one of the flour milling family’, and also describes an attack on the railway line from Madrid noting ‘We blew the train off the track and all the train crew were killed’. In addition, mentions losses to the company and outlines a rescue operation of one of his men, stating ‘I raced up the left bank hoping I might save him. I grabbed his arm while I held on to a small bush on the bank three of my men pulled me and the man out. We wouldn’t have lasted another 30 secs.’ Also records training in base at Cáceres. Also contains section entitled ‘GENERAL FRANCO’S PART IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS’. Paginated.