| Description | 11548/1/1-40 Diaries of Lily (Lilo) Stephens, née Day, 1912-1979.
Note: some pages in Lily Stephens' diaries were excised by her daughter Ann Porter for reasons of privacy.
11548/1/1 1912 Entries relate to Lily Day's social life, theatre, excursions, tennis parties, travel and family engagements in Dublin, Wicklow and Cork. LD attends lectures and classes in Dublin and refers to her involvement in charity work, interest in Christian Science and the Women's suffrage movement. Mentions current affairs such as the coal strike, sinking of the Titanic, Home Rule.
Diaries:
11548/1/2 1913
11548/1/3 1914
11548/1/4 1915
11548/1/5 1916
11548/1/6 1917
11548/1/7 1918
11548/1/8 1921 Lily Stephens' diary documents the course of the War of Independence: ambushes, shootings, arson attacks, lists casualties, arrests, kidnappings, raids and military law; execution of six IRA volunteers (14 March) 'Died like men'; ceasefire (11 July 1921); negotiations towards Anglo-Irish agreement, signed 6 Dec 1921 (her husband Edward ('Ned) Stephens accompanied Michael Collins as a legal draughtsman during the London negotiations); frequent references to Eamonn De Valera, also Robert Barton, Erskine Childers; family social engagements including visits to Silchester [House, Glenageary, Co Dublin, Edward Stephens' childhood family home] and the family cottage near Laragh, Co Wicklow; mentions her husband Edward ('Ned) Stephens and their sons Denis and Brandon.
11548/1/9 1922 Entries relate to the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State; shootings, bombings and atrocities around the country both leading up to, and including, the Civil War which began in Jume 1922; frequent refernces to violence in Belfast and elsewhere in Ulster; Ned Stephens appointed as one of the secretaries to the committee to draw up the constitution of the Irish Free State; brief references to Eamon de Valera, Erskine Childers, Michael Collins, Cathal Brugha, Kevin [O' Higgins], Arthur Griggith, Bulmer Hobson, Joseph Campbell; family and social engagements.
11548/1/10 1923 Course of Civil War: ambushes, house-burnings, railway attacks, bombs, executions; entry for 9 March 'Raided!! C.I.D'; references to Eamon De Valera, Kevin O' Higgins, Eoin McNeill, James Larkin, Horace Plunket, Stephen Gwynn, Dan Breen, Mary Mc Swiney; Susan Mitchell; hungerstrike by Free State prisoners; family news with particular reference to Ned Stephens and sons Denis and Brandon; birth ofdaughter Ann Welsted (28 September); Ned Stephens' parents Harry ('Gov') Stephens and his wife Annie Isabella (family home is Silchester House, Glenageary, Dublin); break-ins at Stephens' Wicklow cottage; murder of Noel Lemass (September); social life in Dublin and Wicklow; visits to theatre.
11548/1/11 1925 Entries relate to Stephens family; social engagements in Dublin and Wicklow including visits to Glanmore [Castle, seat of the Synge family], Silchester [House, Glenageary, Co Dublin, Edward Stephens' childhood family home] and the family cottage near Laragh, Co Wicklow; mentions social circle including the Gatenbys [James and Molly], the Fitzpatrick's of Roundwood Park, Co Wicklow, Ernest and [Anne] Blythe, Joseph and Nancy Campbell, [Bulmer] Hobson, Maude Gonne, WB Yeats, Paul Henry, [Kevin O' Higgins]; Dublin theatre and Drama League productions; visit to Galway with her husband Ned (July); death of Ned Stephens work on the Boundary Commission culminating in the tripartite agreement between the governments of Irish Free State, UK and Northern Ireland in December 1925; death of Darrell Figgis (October); Eoin MacNeill's resignation from the Boundary Commisssion and from the government (November): 'Let the country down shamefully. Our work & splendid case betrayed'.
11548/1/12 1926 Family life with particular reference to children Denis, Brandon and Ann; day trips in Wicklow; social circle including references to Nancy Campbell, Tom Casement (brother of Roger), Bulmer and Claire Hobson, Ernest Blythe, Kevin O' Higgins, [James and Molly] Gatenby, publisher Jonathan Cape, the Fitzpatrick's of Roundwood Park, Co Wicklow, Nancy Campbell, Sarah Purser, brother-in-law Frank Stephens, [Sybil] Le Brocquy; Dublin theatre and Drama League with particular reference to Sean O' Casey's 'The Plough and the Stars' (Feb); LS co-founder of the Irish Clean Milk Society (May); Women's International League of Peace and Freedom, Dublin (July); including visits to Glanmore [Castle, seat of the Synge family], Silchester [House, Glenageary, Co Dublin, Edward Stephens' childhood family home] and the family cottage near Laragh, Co Wicklow; horse-riding in Wicklow; fatal fire in cinema at Drumcollogher, Co Limerick (Sept); Ned Stephens resigns from Mitchell's rosary bead factory, Dublin (Feb) and references to his legal career.
11548/1/13 1927
11548/1/14 1928
11548/1/15 1929
11548/1/16 1930
11548/1/17 1931
11548/1/18 1932
11548/1/19 1933
11548/1/20 1934
11548/1/21 1935
11548/1/22 1936
11548/1/23 1937
11548/1/24 1938
11548/1/25 1939
11548/1/26 1940
11548/1/27 1941
11548/1/28 1942
11548/1/29 1943
11548/1/30 1944
11548/1/31 1945
11548/1/32 1946
11548/1/33 1947
11548/1/34 1948
11548/1/35 1949
11548/1/36 1950
11548/1/37 1954
11548/1/38 1972
11548/1/39 1976
11548/1/40 1979
11548/1/41 Address book belonging to Lily Stephens
11548/2/1-4 Diaries of Ann Porter-Hawkesworth, née Stephens
11548/2/1 1938
11548/2/2 1941 Entries document AS' student life at TCD where she studied Spanish and English (graduating as BA in 1944); detailed listing of social engagements, dances, cinema, parties and College friendships with particular reference to her relationship with Francis (Frank) [Lewis-Crosby, graduated BA, 1943]); references to her family, particulary to her brother Denis who was hospitalised for much of the year (his leg was eventually amputated); Synge plays at the Abbey Theatre: 'Dad spoke afterwards, v. badly arranged & he rather lost his way' (4 May); progress of World War II and impact of bombs being dropped by the Germans on Ireland, petrol and food rationing; AS taking Irish lessons and also teaching children on a regular basis; frequent visits to Knockrath, Stephens' Wicklow cottage where AS was involved in working on the farm; outbreak of foot and mouth disease; horse-riding (AS went to Iris Kellett's Riding School, Mespil Rd, Dublin); holiday in Errislannan, Connemara with College friends (July). See transcript (attached pdf below).
11548/2/3 1956 Entries relate to family: husband Desmond (Des) Hawkesworth and children Christopher, Rosemary ('Topsy') and Tim; frequent references to her mother Lily (Lilo) Stephens; management of livestock and poultry at Knockrath, Laragh, Co Wicklow; social engagements in Dublin and Wicklow with the Rowe-Duttons, Bartons of Glendalough House, Glenndinnings of Annamoe, Diana Tomkin of [Uplands], Annamoe, Ian and Imogen Stuart, Sweetmans, Collets, Merediths, Synges of Ballinglen, Studdards; construction of Laragh Bridge, Co Wicklow; Wynnes selling mines in Avoca to Canadians (May and Aug); trips to Dublin for theatre and cinema; excursions with family and friends around Wicklow; sailing on Lough Derg on the River Shannon (July).
11548/2/4 1957 Entries relate to family: husband Desmond (Des) Hawkesworth and children Christopher, Rosemary ('Topsy') and Tim; social engagements with the Rowe-Duttons, Wynnes of Avoca, Bartons of Glendalough House, Glenndinnings of Annamoe, Diana Tomkin of Annamoe, John and Margaret Synge, first cousin Una Cantan; trip to Cork (September); comet Orlind Rowland (April); Russian satellite (Oct).
11548/3/1-13 Miscellaneous papers (cards, poems, news-clipping) relating to Ann Porter, 2011-2014: nd |
|---|