John Tierney to Mary Davitt, 16th February 1907. IE TCD MS 9376/1027

IE TCD MS 9376/1027: Letter from John Tierney, 282 Belgrave Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England to Mary Davitt, Dublin dated 16th February 1907 responding to her request for correspondence from her husband Michael: "In response to your request per the medium of "Reynolds's" newspaper I have much pleasure in sending you the enclosed letter received from your late lamented husband. I doubt however whether it will be of much service to you but it is the only one I possess. Some it is of great value and I prize it very much, but it is needless of me, I know, to ask of you the safe return when contents have been copied. You will deduce from contents of the letter that it was an apology with regret at not being able to attend a huge demonstration in B'ham to be held in opposition to the Boer War and the furtherance of Democracy after the writer had sought his presence. As an Irishman myself domiciled in England I take the opportunity of giving my short but sincere tribute to his character & memory. He was one of nature's gentlemen, an Irishman, a cosmopolitan, a lover of humanity the world over, a hater of shams, he was against all class privilege and oppression, while loving Ireland better than he loved his life yet his iron energies were not all concentrated upon his native land for wherever suffering humanity was, there was Michael Davitt's sympathy and help. The world is immensely poorer for his loss..."