1922 letter: a contemporaneous account of events from the time of the great explosion at the Four Courts.

This letter was written by my mother Eileen McCarthy (née Scott) to her own mother Rose  Scott in Putney, London. She was born in London in 1900 to Irish parents (Angelo Scott and Rose O’Neill), but had a passionate interest in Ireland. I don’t know if this was her first visit to Dublin, but she apparently stayed for some time, as she refers to going to work, and being stopped by soldiers who told her to go back. She was staying at No. 6 Weaver Sq. (still standing), the house of her grandfather O’Neill. I note that she knew the Irish form of the square!

It is a fascinating letter, describing tumultuous times, and encountering both Free State and Republican forces.

She  returned to London at some stage, where she worked as a milliner, and later met her future husband Daniel McCarthy, who came to live in Putney, and  they may have met through the church. After they were married, they returned to Dublin, where they set up home in Cremore, Glasnevin.