Great War Welfare of
ex-soldiers, May 1919.
May 24: Letter from Tom Rathdonnell
published in the Carlow Sentinel, seeking to raise money for those
wounded in the Great War.
To the Editor Carlow Sentinel.
Lisnavagh, Rathvilly, Co. Carlow, May, 1919.
Dear Sir--
I have received, as His Majesty's Lieutenant
of the County, an urgent appeal from the Minister of Pensions,
Chairman of the Trustees of the King's Fund for the re-establishing
of disabled officers and men in civil life.
Having regard to the strong claims which the
disabled have on the support of every one of us, I have decided to
open a County Subscription.
The amount asked for is £3,000,000, and His
Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to head the list of
subscribers with the magnificent sum of £78,000.
The fund will in no way interfere with State
Grants, but will touch those cases which cannot be dealt with by any
hard and fast rule which of necessity must be laid down when dealing
with public money.
No particular part of the Fund is being
allocated to a particular County or District. Every disabled man, in
whatever part of the Kingdom he resides, has a right to a grant from
the Fund on proving his case.
I would specially ask that intended
subscriptions be sent to me, and not direct to the Fund, as I
understand that there will be considerable rivalry among the
Counties, and we shall naturally desire to stand high in the list of
county subscriptions.
The Committee of the County Red Cross Branch
has agreed to allocate the sum of £180 out of their surplus funds to
the above object, and I propose myself to contribute £25.
I hope all subscriptions may be sent to me
before the 15th of June. ----
Yours faithfully, Rathdonnell, H.M.L., Co.
Carlow.
P.S.---Already a considerable
sum from the King's Fund has been expended in this County through
the War Pensions Committee.
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The above is a true and
accurate transcript of the original document.
- Transcribed by M. Purcell c2010.
- Old newspapers in the PPP.