The Family Life of Tom and Kathleen ClarkeA very important f...

Estimate

€4,000 - €6,000

The Family Life of Tom and Kathleen Clarke
A very important file of manuscript letters, photos etc., from family source, including:
- Tom Clarke, ALS to 'Dear Minnie', from 1305 Brook Ave., Bronx [New York], 1 pp, Jan. 2 1902, with a good signature, 'Thomas J. Clarke', a friendly letter enclosing a gift, and reminding the recipient of her promise 'about coming up & spending an evening with us', with 'Compliments of the Season'. Fold marks, very minor loss.
- A very good studio photograph of Tom and Kathleen Clarke, New York, 3 ¾ ins x 5 ¼ ins, inscribed rear in Tom's hand, 'To our sincere friend Maggie Conway, with New Year's greetings from T.J. & K. Clarke, 1902'. A rare and attractive image, which we have not previously seen, showing Clarke and his wife in the prime of life.
- A Victorian studio photograph of a lady in mourning clothes, 5 ¼ x 3 ¼ ins, inscribed rear 'Daly, Limerick. Mrs. T. Clarke's Mother'. Again, an unfamiliar image.
- Two copies of Kathleen Clarke's memorial card, d. 29th Sept. 1972, aged 94 years.
- Kathleen Clarke, ALS to 'Dear Gracie', evidently a close friend or relative, a very good informative letter, on Mansion House notepaper but readdressed from her home in Clontarf, 4 pp, 5.1.[19]42, wishing recipient and her father a very happy and prosperous New Year. 'Tom and his wife were up from Limerick for Christmas & we had a very enjoyable one, we just forgot for the time that there was a war on, so far we've not felt the want of anything but white bread, I have to pay 10/- per stone for white flour and make the bread myself, as the Doctor won't let me eat the war bread, it has a most disastrous effect on my digestion .. I've been reading the Le Roux book on Tom [Clarke] for the first time .. I find him inaccurate here & there, for instance he puts Tom as being made Hon. Sec. or some official position in Dungannon in the year 1882. Tom according to all I ever heard was in New York then .. Emmet [her son] is getting on well in his profession, but Daly is out of work since the Sweep or Hospitals Trust broke down. They only keep a skeleton staff on now. It seems strange that Tom Clarke's son should be without a job, especially when he's gifted with brains & has a good education, & when one sees Britishers walking into soft jobs day after day ..' With a good signature.
- Kathleen Clarke, a further five ALS, 1950-69, evidently to close friends, the first, Jan. 3rd 1950, to 'My dear Friend', mentioning her son Daly's illness. 'Daly is improving, but it will be two years at best before he will be well enough to resume work, he is now six months lying & I do all the nursing', with other family news; the second, Jan. 3rd 1951, to 'Dear Mr. Leonard', with thanks for a Christmas card, saying it looks as though it will be a very difficult year, 'rising prices, shortage of almost everything is causing such unrest, resulting in strikes & strife of every kind, the outlook all over the world is appalling. If war could only be averted it would give countries a chance to pull themselves together ..'; the third, 21.4.'51, to 'Dear Mr. Kelly', expressing her condolences on his father's death. 'I was shocked at the outrage perpetrated at the funeral, of removing the flag. Our enemies are surely playing it very low down when descending to such small petty acts ..' The fourth, August 1st 1957, to 'My dear Gracie (or mother)', discusses Kathleen's health problems; and the fifth, to 'My dear Nancy', with envelope addressed to Mrs N. Flanagan, acknowledges her sympathy on the death of Kathleen's sister Madge [Daly].
- Kathleen Clarke. A finely embroidered Limerick lace stole, approx. 18 ins x 6 ft, with a card marked 'Made by Mrs. Tom Clarke', and on reverse, 'Holloway Gaol ?', in excellent condition.
- Emmet Clarke [son of Kathleen and Tom,]. A collection of six TLS, mostly to 'Nancy and Brendan', evidently relatives, 1972-99, with much family news, his brother Tom becoming a [medical] consultant, etc., and also with extended comments on the political situation which make it clear that he was a true son of his parents.
- Tom Clarke. A recent colour photograph of a memorial stone raised by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, presumably in New York.
Kathleen Clarke was a niece of the old Limerick Fenian John Daly, who served many years in a British jail with Tom Clarke. When Clarke was finally released in 1898, he went to Limerick for a holiday and met Kathleen, then a successful dressmaker; they fell in love and were married. In 1901 they went to the United States, where Clarke became a naturalised citizen. In 1907, on John Devoy's advice, he returned to Dublin to reorganise the IRB, bring in younger men, and to prepare for a Rising. He was a founder member of the Irish Volunteers, was first signatory of the 1916 Proclamation, and was executed by firing squad on 3 May 1916.
His wife Kathleen wished to join him in the GPO, but was told that her job was to stay out of the fighting and to make arrangements to support the dependants of those killed and imprisoned afterwards - a task which she carried out with exemplary efficiency. In 1918 she was arrested in connection with the supposed 'German Plot', and spent nine months in Holloway Jail with Countess Markiewicz, Maud Gonne and other Republican women. She later became a TD and Lord Mayor of Dublin, and was for a time a member of Fianna Fail, which she left in protest at the treatment of Republican prisoners in the 1940s. She never remarried, and raised her three children on her own.
A superb and important collection, which shows how Kathleen Clarke maintained her courage and her high ideals through a long and lonely life as a widow, and passed them on to her children whom she raised alone in spite of all difficulties.
Kathleen Clarke wrote her memoirs late in life, but they include little of the personal detail given in these letters.
As a collection, w.a.f. (1)