THE IRISH NEWS Documents donated to city library By Rebecca Black 12/01/08 A remarkable collection of documents relating to the Belfast brigade of the National Volunteers was donated to the Linen Hall Library this week – including a letter dated 1919 from The Irish News to the group. The National Volunteers were part of the Irish Volunteers that had sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the group split in the wake of the question of whether or not the volunteers’ should fight for Britain in the First World War. The collection comprises six pieces including a regimental order book, a letter head, cash book, register of members and even a decommissioning receipt from the Royal Irish Rifles all dating from 1914 to 1919. A letter from The Irish News, dated March 11 1919 – when the group disarmed and probably disbanded – thanked the organisation for the advertising placed in the paper. The documents were donated by Belfast man Joseph McCann whose father had been a member of the National Volunteers. John Killen from the Linen Hall Library said the collection would be invaluable for research, particularly coming up to the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. “This is an interesting collection referring to a little known period of Belfast history,” he said. “We are fortunate in that we are in receipt of quite important donations. “A year or two ago, we received a fascinating donation from the relative of a young Belfast man who had gone down to Dublin to enlist in the British army to fight in France but been caught up in the Easter Rising. “He kept a daily diary of what had happened which was absolutely fascinating,” he said.

Hi Nan, Is there a website for the Library? Wendy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nan Brennan" <nan.brennan@mindspring.com> To: <nir-down@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 6:02 PM Subject: [NIR-DOWN] New collection at Linen Hall Library THE IRISH NEWS Documents donated to city library By Rebecca Black 12/01/08 A remarkable collection of documents relating to the Belfast brigade of the National Volunteers was donated to the Linen Hall Library this week – including a letter dated 1919 from The Irish News to the group. The National Volunteers were part of the Irish Volunteers that had sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the group split in the wake of the question of whether or not the volunteers’ should fight for Britain in the First World War. The collection comprises six pieces including a regimental order book, a letter head, cash book, register of members and even a decommissioning receipt from the Royal Irish Rifles all dating from 1914 to 1919. A letter from The Irish News, dated March 11 1919 – when the group disarmed and probably disbanded – thanked the organisation for the advertising placed in the paper. The documents were donated by Belfast man Joseph McCann whose father had been a member of the National Volunteers. John Killen from the Linen Hall Library said the collection would be invaluable for research, particularly coming up to the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. “This is an interesting collection referring to a little known period of Belfast history,” he said. “We are fortunate in that we are in receipt of quite important donations. “A year or two ago, we received a fascinating donation from the relative of a young Belfast man who had gone down to Dublin to enlist in the British army to fight in France but been caught up in the Easter Rising. “He kept a daily diary of what had happened which was absolutely fascinating,” he said. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message