Irish national museum obtains Patrick Pearse letter

The National Museum of Ireland has obtained the last letter written by the 1916 Commandant Patrick Pearse.
The hand writen letter written by Patrick Pearse just before his execution is dated 2 May 1916 and is addressed to General John Maxwell, the then Commanding Officer of British Forces in Ireland. In the letter Patrick Pearse asks Maxwell that his personal effects, including four poems, a five-pound note and two gold sovereigns, taken from him at the GPO, and a watch and whistle taken at Arbour Hill, be handed to his mother or his sister.
Patrick Henry Pearse was born in Dublin on the 10th November 1879. He became the overall leader of the volunteers of easter week, the rebellion against the imposed British crown occupation of Ireland. It was Pearse that read the Proclamation outside the GPO at the start of the Easter Rising, 1916, declaring the start of the Irish Republic. The leaders knew in advance that they could not win by military means, but hoped that their inevitable self sacrifice would arise the Irish nation to demand freedom. Following the collapse of the Rising, Patrick Pearse was executed by the British on the 3rd May 1916. Pearse's brother Willie and fourteen other Irish leaders were executed for their roles in leading the rebellion.
Dr Pat Wallace the director of the National Museum of Ireland, said the letter had been bought for the museum by a benefactor who does not want to be named. The selling price has not been disclosed but it is thought to have been over the estimated 120,000 euro.

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Irish national museum obtains Patrick Pearse letter