Mellows’ last message was delivered to Eamon Martin by a prison officer. It was written at 7.30am and ran:
To my dear comrades in Mountjoy. God bless you, boys, and give you fortitude, courage and wisdom to suffer and endure all for Ireland’s sake.
An poblacht abu!
Liam O Maoiliosa (Liam Mellows)
The above is taken from C Desmond Greaves wonderful biography of Liam Mellows, entitled Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution. Undoubtedly one of the most complex characters of the anti-treaty republican movement, I’ve always been fascinated by Mellows. A great account of what Mellows was like as a man inside Mountjoy can be found in Peadar O’ Donnell’s prison memoirs The Gates Flew Open.
Recently, I saw the letter below. It is the final letter of Liam Mellows, the letter published above in Graves biography. It comes from the personal papers of Paddy Kelly, whose father was a republican prisoner in Mountjoy at the time. Look closely at it however. There are a number of clear edits made to the letter, for example the first line, where “to my very dear comrades…” becomes “to my dear comrades”. “God bless you,” becomes “God bless you boys” and the word “and” is added at various points, replacing the & symbol.
At the end of the letter “Irish first” is added and underlined next to Liam’s name.
Were these edits made by Mellows himself, or are they an early example of spin doctoring? Was the letter edited by republicans for propaganda impact before publication? Several of the letters seem completely different to those in the original letter, yet with others it’s a little less clear.
The edits look very clearly like they’re written in another hand. Look at the difference between the ‘d’s for example. Mellows’ ds slant forwards, like the ds in the traditional Irish script, while the editor’s ds slant slightly backwards.
Clearly edited for publication. The “Irish first” comment is significant in this regard. Pity the editor didn’t correct the gender of “poblacht” while they were at it.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, not even a little right, in this case. 🙂
(Pedant mode on): Poblacht would have had a buailte if it were lower-case, but printed capitals didn’t take accents in the convention of linotype, and many people carried this convention through to handwriting.
I never met Mellows, but I moved to Athenry when I was eleven, he was, along with others, the most revered of men, I could not stand him or them, until one day, maybe about a time I’d been near killed myself and it struck me what they really did for us, so I wrote this, it doesn’t mean anything as such, though much to me, as I think it makes up somewhat, for my poxy attitude as a child. I did meet Peader in 1977, when he lived with Norah Harkin, scary , grumpy old man, I was unable to even be hyperactive. She had a fantastic oil painting of him at a later time, really darkly brooding. I would buy that picture. Norah will be 101 in September.
There is a site
That I’ve seen
Where it is, has been
Doesn’t quite know
If I know what I mean
As the stream at flow
Will not always go to where
The gold can be dug and fashioned
So to give praise to a man, forgotten
That they tried to raise above the stream
Where consciousness should have been
The castle stands there now, in the way
The flow to the side, is there to this day
That eight hundred years of where waters go
Could not divert what we did not want to know
which now is surplus, as my vertigo wont let
Time still stand, shoulder to soldier, rifle in hand
Easters rising, Mellows’ the man
Riddled is the plan, men of might
Fight so to light in me, what will be the man
That will always see in the Rising’s men
A powerful, set in stone, dignity and that
So many would then fall at the hand of
The cowards ball, free for all, firing squad
Against, possibly the same wall where some
(of them) when young, had hit a ball.
This, history’s account of an event that doesn’t amount to fact or fiction but dictions way to clear a space in my head to say something that may matter to some, some day. That these men are still dead, deprived of rights, things never said, children never borne, sleep never, no, no, they got the sleep, the only thing, other than their dignity, that was theirs to always keep.
Daithi de Bhal
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it dosent look like the letter i seen.. and copied from the original
Colin, where’d you see it? This comes out of the prison papers of Paddy Kelly. It’s possible there are numerous copies. All the more intriguing now.
I wonder if anyone can clarify if Mountjoy Prison was a specific destination for “certain” types of prisoners during the Civil War. For instance I understand that there was only about 450 prisoners there but between 8000 – 12000 interned in various prison camps around the country.
Was this just a matter of when they were caught or was there a different motive for sending them to Mountjoy.
Finally can anyone advise if it is possible to access any prisoner records at Mountjoy for the Civil War period?
Many thanks
Phil
there is a letter to his mother just before he was executed found in a house in ranelagh,,,, i have copies of the original,,,,i must post them up
Colin … do you know where the original of that letter to his mother is? In a museum perhaps? Are there many known copies made of the original letter to his mother? Do the copies have any value?
Sean
Colin, I would like to see th copy of that letter to his mother. Can you email me? Thanks
That whole letter is a fake I am afraid. It looks like it was copied from the original by someone else and then they realised they forgot one or two words so tried to change it and made a ‘balls’ of it. I have a copy of the original which was given to Eamon Martin (my great grandfather). I don’t know what Paddy Kelly is doing with a fake. Perhaps he saw the original (was he in Mountjoy in December 1922) when it was shown to the other prisoners by Eamon Martin and then he made a copy of it with his own handwriting. At first glance (and if you hadn’t see the original close up) you would think it was the original and just amended but I can tell you it is not. How did you come by this?
Well that’s fascinating and adds to the story! Cheers Eamon. My father picked up a scanned copy somehow.
Also, never seen a pic of barney mellows until I clicked on your site.
Ha that’s funny, I just registered earlier to post here and it asked me to post a blog or a photo and that was the first one that I came across in my pictures folder. Actually I am writing a short article on the life of Barney at the moment and have a few photos of him. I will post it on my page when it’s finished (probably in a week or so). Barney was an amazing character and just as important and active as Liam was, although he never got the fame or attention that Liam (deservedly) received after his death at such a young age!
Curious as to how many versions of Mellows last letter to his mother there are. All the text copies I have seen have been strangely and subtly changed and with omissions. I believe I have a true copy of his last letter if anybody would like to see it in its entirety.
i have a copy of one of liam mellows last letters copied by a prisoner interned with him and a copy of dick barrett last letter if any one is interested ?