Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Michael Pelly SJ written while serving as a chaplain with 11th York and Lancaster Regiment (218th Infantry Brigade); in Otley, West Yorkshire; The Military Hospital, York; with the British North Africa Force in North Africa; 1st Battalion, The Buffs, C.M.F. in Italy; in 93rd British General Hospital, C.M.F. and in the School of Infantry, Warminster, Wiltshire. Includes Fr Pelly’s first letter to the Provincial written from Bridlington (23 April 1942, 1p.) and letters describing the monastery of Cassino following the battle of Monte Cassino (30 May 1944, 2pp), being in Rome on the day it was taken by the Allies and his ‘semi-private audience with the Pope’ (30 June, 29 July 1944, 2 items).

Letters and airgraphs to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr John Hayes SJ written while serving as chaplain attached to 393 Battery, 99th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery; in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire; with 144 Regiment, R.A.C. in Rufford Abbey, Ollerton, Notts., Aldburn Camp, Herts., Minstead and Malwood, Lyndhurst, Hants., Risborough Barracks, Folkestone, Kent; with the 6th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Rye, Sussex and 36th Indian Division in India and Northern Burma. Fr Hayes was made Senior Chaplain (S.C.F. (R.C.) in his division in January 1944. His last communication is a New Years note for 1945 (28 November 1944, 1p.).

Letters to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr John Burden SJ written while serving as chaplain in Catterick Camp, Yorkshire and with the 6th King’s Own Scottish Borders in Northumberland; in Nottingham (where he was promoted to Senior Chaplain (S.C.F. (R.C.) ); in India, South Africa and Iraq with Paiforce (Persian and Iraq Forces); 114th Rest/Transit Camp; 162nd Transit Camp in Damascus and Palestine. Some letters in the form of airgraphs. Includes his last letter written on 28 March 1946 concerning his release from the Army in May.

Letters to Fr Aubrey Gwynn SJ from Prof. Jack Watt (History Department, University of Hull and University of Newcastle Upon Tyne) with references to Prof. Watt’s family; news of other academics; a proposed paper of his on ‘John Colton, colonial official and archbishop’; the current political situation in Northern Ireland; Fr Aubrey Gwynn SJ’s publication of the Sermon Diary of Archbishop Richard FitzRalph; Prof. Watt’s research work on the fifteenth century and various volumes of the series 'New History of Ireland'.

Letters to Fr Aubrey Gwynn SJ from Prof. Nancy Pollard Brown, (Professor of English, Trinity College, Washington) and Dr Peter Beal, concerning a seventeenth-century transcript of Robert Southwell’s 'Rule of Good Life' in Milltown Park, Dublin.

Letters from Prof. Ross Hoffman of Fordham University, New York, to Fr Aubrey Gwynn SJ and Denis Gwynn on personal matters, mainly his work, health and family and discussions on various American Presidents, the Pope and the Church. Includes:
– letter describing his work on arriving at the Manuscript Room in Sheffield Central Library to unpack and sort ‘three boxes (each about 2' by 2' by 8”) of unsorted (Edmund) Burke papers…they are largely the originals of the published letters, but there is also a rich collection of unpublished letters of Earl Fitzwilliam to Burke in the 1790’s and a few other fairly important letters that never have been printed…I am, it seems the first person to examine them since their delivery here…you can imagine how exciting is the experience of turning up, for example, original letters from George III to Rockingham…It is but one of scores, probably hundreds, of museum pieces that are usually kept under lock, key, and glass…collectors would pay fabulous things for these things…There is no one else in the room and I am in a constant state of exaltation, surely this is an experience that comes once in a life-time to one historian in a thousand.’ Also refers to the bomb damage in Sheffield, following the War (1 May 1949, 2pp);
– letter describing his work transcribing the Burke letters – ‘The whole body of documents runs to about 230 letters between 1759 and 1776…they throw a great deal of new light on Anglo-Irish relations, or rather upon Mr. Burke’s idea of those relations’ and his ‘projected book on Burke and the New York Agency, which really is becoming a large work on Burke and the Origins of the American Revolution’ (30 June 1950, 1p.);
– letter to Denis Gwynn concerning a book on Burke and Barry correspondence and his book on Edmund Burke and Charles O’Hara (28 March 1952, 2pp);
– letters on the publication of his books on Edmund Burke and Charles O’Hara and Burke, New York Agent (1956);
– lengthy commentaries on: the American (both internal and external policy, including the Korean and Vietnam Wars and race relations) and British political situations; the awarding of an honorary degree from the National University on him; his book on Lord Charles Rockingham, The Marquis (1973) and
– references to a portrait of Edmund Burke by James Barry in the National Gallery (24 March – September 1973, 4 items).
Also includes letters written by James White, Director of the National Gallery to Fr Gwynn, concerning the portrait which was presented to Trinity College Dublin and ‘is in the Andrew’s Room in the Provost’s House’ (23 August, 4 September 1973, 2 items);
Includes letter to Fr Gwynn from Prof. Hoffman’s daughter, Mary Ellen Flinn, following her father’s death on 16 December 1979. Encloses a memorial card (3 January 1980, 2pp).

A file of letters from Hilaire Belloc to Fr Matthew Russell SJ. Includes a reference to the French elections. ‘Are you not delighted at the result of the French elections? I am. I do not like Kings...’. (30 October [ ], 3pp). Refers to articles he wishes to contribute to the Irish Monthly. (nd, 4pp). Discusses his future career ‘I have for the last week been visiting various people of importance with a view to choosing a profession, I want to be earning soon; I believe that my mathematics...will help me in Engineering - but I never live except when I am on the water.’ Refers also to his writing and describes it as ‘...the work of a boy, it is like those nasty little plums that come on the young wild plumtrees in the forest of Marly.’ Continues ‘But if you ask me why I write as I do, I will tell you this much: that in the circle of newspapers of criticism of perfectly turned verses, of madly-hunted ideas, I am all at sea. I would have it that no man should write who was not a zealot for something and when I desire, I desire the hills and the sea. I desire the faces of men and women not some unjust imitations. And I desire above all that free and happy forbearance and that perfection of charity which this country is absolutely unable to give.’ (5 February 1889, 4pp). Refers to writing and editing and remarks ‘If I ever become an editor I shall accept everything that touches me - irrespective of merit and shall refuse all well known names. There is a club in Paris called “La Decadence” into which no one cannot (sic) be admitted whose work has not been refused three times!’ (20 April 1889, 4pp). Refers to the Great War and remarks that he is looking forward to it ‘It will sweep Europe like a broom, it will make Kings jump like coffee beans on the roaster...’. Asks Fr. Russell to choose a composition from a ‘batch’. (30 June 1889, 4pp). Enquires why some of his verses have not appeared in the Irish Monthly. Remarks ‘I didn’t love it (The Irish Monthly) half as much as I should have done if my “poor thing but mine own” had been in it.’ (nd, 2pp). Refers to a visit he made to Ireland. Observes that ‘The Country is getting richer and it is high time. The Irish have too much political sense to boast of any success: they insist rather on what they need than on what they have, which is the right way to go about politics; but very soon people over here will wake up to find Ireland transformed.’ (1 January 1910, 2pp). Remarks that suggestions have been made to him to write a Catholic essay on the history of England ‘...but the only thing I can afford to write is a Catholic School history...’ (13 January 1911, 1p).

Letters from Fr Richard Sykes SJ to Irish Fr Provincials.

Letters from Fr Henry Lynch SJ to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V Nolan SJ.

Letters from Fr Bernard Vaughan SJ to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V Nolan SJ.

Letters and telegrams to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Laurence Kearns SJ written during his time as a chaplain serving with various anti-aircraft units: 117 Z.A.A. Battery, 7 (M) Z.A.A. Regiment, Royal Artillery: Stockton-on-Tees; 107 Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Surrey; 32 Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade: France; 52nd Lowland Scottish Infantry Division, 157 Infantry Brigade: Holland, Germany, Belsen and in Garrisson Catholic Church, Bordon, Hants. Includes:

• his first letter to the Provincial from Edinburgh (18 September 1943, 2pp);
  – photographs of Fr Kearns blessing the graves of British falen 1940 and his driver, Liet. Joseph McPatlan (November, December 1944, 6 items: 8½cm x 6cm);
  – copies of extracts from Irish Province News on the chaplains (14 – 28 January 1945, 2 items, 1p. each);
  – letters describing his car accident (24 June 1945, 8pp), operations to rebuild his damaged face and his convalescence (11 July – 21 December 1945, 5 items).

Letters and telegrams to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Gerard Guinane SJ written while serving as chaplain with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Ulster Fusiliers in various locations throughout England, in Hawick, Scotland and in Catterick Camp, Yorkshire.

Letters and telegrams to the Irish Fr Provincial from Fr Daniel Shields SJ written during his time as a chaplain with the Royal Artillery in Larkhill, Wiltshire; in the Imperial Hospital, Natal, South Africa; in Oribi Military Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, Natal; with the 8th Sherwood Foresters in Wrotham, Kent; on the hospital ship Atlantis; in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and in the Army Technical School, Arborfield, Reading, Berks.

Letters and postcards to the Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan SJ from Fr John Elliott SJ, written during his time serving as a military chaplain in Catterick Camp, Yorkshire and at the Officer's Hospital, Burley on the Hill, Oakham, Rutland, England.

Postcard of Burley on the Hill, Oakham, Rutlandshire - ‘This is a gorgeous place inside + outside. It is the finest house I have ever seen. Charles and I stayed here when it belonged to the Duke of Buckingham’, (28 October 1918) where Fr Elliott convalesced from a bout of double pneumonia (‘I am only 8st 7lbs with my clothes on’).

Letters and notes to the Irish Fr Provincial from various Jesuits (former Irish Fr Provincial Kieran) and others, including letters from A. Parisoth (H.Q. Northern Command, York), T.F. Duggan (H.Q. Northern Ireland District, Lisburn) and T.D. Roberts, Archbishop of Bombay. Includes references to chaplains Frs Thomas Martin SJ, Fergus Cronin SJ, Michael O'Meara SJ Michael Pelly SJ and John Hayes SJ, and doctor's bill for examining eight chaplains.

Letter from George Tyrrell, Catholic Church, Richmond, Yorkshire, England to Miss Russell sympathising over the death of her father, Charles Russell. Remarks 'Though there was no necessity whatever for such repetition he insisted on the exhausting task of making a complete review of his life, being quite convinced that the doctors could not save him...'

Letter from Fr Arthur Collingwood SJ to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V Nolan SJ.

Letter from Au Sik Ling, 22 Danby Grove, Thornaby-in-Tees, Yorkshire to Irish Fr Provincial John R. MacMahon SJ concerning a letter he brought from Fr Ryan in Kweiliu, the capital of the southern province of Kwangsi in China.

File relating to Fr Thomas P Kelly SJ, includes correspondence with Irish Fr Provincials.

Material on John Meaney, who departed the Society of Jesus, as a scholastic.
Born: 24 July 1915
Entered: 7 September 1935
Left: 5 August 1942

Correspondence mainly between Irish Fr Provincial, Fr Leonard Sheil SJ and the English Provincial, relating to Fr Sheil’s Mission work in England. Includes:
– incomplete letter from Fr Sheil to the Provincial referring to a Mission he and Fr Robert L. Stevenson SJ are to give in Peterborough, ‘We will run one mission in a hostel, and another in the church at the same time. There are 180 Irish in the hostel; and there are believed to be about 400 in lodgings around the town. We may, or may not, be able to get at them.’ Also describes his recent travels on the Continent (third page of letter is missing) (12 Sep. 19--, 2pp);
– letter from Fr Sheil to the Provincial describing a ‘country mission in Northampton’ where he “was told to take a different village every day, say Mass in some Catholic house, visit every house – Catholic or no, and ‘hold a service’ on the village green in the evening” (2 September 19–, 7pp);
– covering letter and note (January 1953, 2pp) from Fr Sheil to the Provincial enclosing a memorandum entitled ‘Relations between Irish and English Jesuit Missioners’ (n.d., 3pp);
– covering letter from Fr Sheil (13 April 1953, 1p.) to the Provincial, enclosing a letter he received from the Archbishop of Cius and English Apostolic Delegate following Fr Sheil’s report to him of 1952 Mission work. The Archbishop writes ‘I have read with deepest interest the reports sent to me by the Reverend Father L. Sheil, S.J. and I have informed the Holy See of all the splendid work that has been accomplished. For this most necessary apostolate, certainly the Delegate of the Holy Father must send a cordial blessing in the name of His Holiness and he is confident that, with God’s help, more and more will be achieved for those who stand so much in need of the ministry of their own priests’ (9 April 1953, 1p.);
– copy letter from the Irish Fr Provincial Thomas Byrne to the English Fr Provincial Desmond Boyle SJ, regarding Fr Boyle’s ‘wishes concerning the activities of the Irish Mission staff in England’. States ‘I have…instructed Father Leonard Sheil to confine his activities in future to Camp Missions during the autumn months, and, once he has fulfilled his programme in London this autumn, to approach no parish priest about a parish Mission nor to accept any parish Mission without a specific request from Father Farrell.…I think he (Fr Sheil) has done good work for the Irish in England, some of which, such as the Confraternity in Birmingham, may be of permanent worth. But whatever good he has achieved is due in no small measure to the co-operation of the English Province and the support he received from the English parish clergy’ (22 Apr. 1953, 1p.);
– Fr Boyle’s reply thanking Fr Byrne for his co-operation and stating ‘I only hope that we of this Province have not seemed too difficult or dog-in-the-manger-ish. The position was getting rather confused and it seemed desirable to regularize it. Your mission Fathers have done wonderful work in England, and I am quite sure that Fr Sheil will be approached either directly or through Fr Farrell for further missions’ (29 Apr. 1953, 1p.);
– letter to Fr Sheil from Dr James Staunton, Bishop of Ferns in which he remarks ‘I was glad to know that you are going to St. Wilfrid’s York, and I hope your Fathers and yourself will be invited to give many missions in the secondary modern schools, and pioneer in this sphere’ (20 Aug. 1958, 2pp);
– letter to the Provincial from Fr Sheil describing the work of two Irish chaplains in London – Fr Cullen in Warwick Street and the chaplain in Bayswater (Sep. 1967, 2pp).
Also includes list drawn up by Fr Sheil of Jesuits who ‘should give a very good priests’ retreat’ (n.d., 2pp).