Patrick Pearse surrender letter goes on public display

A letter of surrender from Patrick Pearse, written four days before his execution in 1916, has gone on public display for the first time.

The letter, dated April 30th, is addressed to the North King Street garrison which would not have received the order before Pearse surrendered to Gen William Lowe a day earlier.

It is to go on public display until the end of November at the GPO Witness History museum in Dublin, which said it was a “privilege and an honour” that the letter would form part of its exhibition.

There are only a few handwritten surrender notes in existence; the rest were typed. Another such note is in the Imperial War Museum in London.

Valuable document

The letter reads: “In order to prevent further slaughter of the civil population and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, the members of the Provisional Government present at headquarters have decided on an unconditional surrender, and commandants or officers commanding districts will order their commands to lay down arms. P.H. Pearse, Dublin, 30th April 1916. ”

It was originally owned by a relative of the Capuchin priest, Fr Columbus, who conveyed its contents to the North King Street garrison.

Pearse’s surrender letter is one of the most valuable documents in private hands and will be sold at auction on December 7th for between €1 million-€1.5 million. The auction will be handled by James Adam and Sons, who sold it in 2005 for €700,000, 10 times its guide price.

"The fact that value is attached to these items has actually meant that way more of these items have actually been conserved. If these items had no value in the first place, a lot of them would be discarded," said auctioneer Stuart Cole.

Important letter

Mr Cole said the vendor of the surrender letter was anxious it should go on public display. He said he was an Irish man who did not want such an important letter to leave the State when it came up for sale in 2005.

“If at some time the State decides it should be part of the National Archives as the last letter of the first provisional government, the price is only a reflection of the importance of the document,” Mr Cole said.