This is a cheque for £99 written by Dan Fraher, Dungarvan to Cathal Brugha and dated 4 January 1920. It is singed on the reverse by Cathal Brugha and Michael Collins (in Irish) and also has the bank manager’s signature. ‘Portlaw ‘is also inscribed on the cheque.
Dan Fraher had been a noted sportsman in his younger
days and his son Maurice was the first pupil at Pádraig Pearse’s school. Dan developed a playing field in
Dungarvan known as The Gaelic Field and it is still in use, renamed Fraher
Field in his honour. As an elderly man Dan was imprisoned at Ballykinlar Camp
in Co Down, an experience from which he never fully recovered. His daughter Cáit married well-known republican Pax Whelan.
The Dáil
Loans were bonds issued between 1919 and 1921 by The Dáil of the self- proclaimed Irish Republic to raise
funds to run the new state in opposition to the British administration based in
Dublin Castle. Michael Collins was appointed Minister for Finance in April
1919. The money raised was retained in bank accounts in Ireland and in the US.
The Dáil approved the
First Dáil Loan on 19 June
1919. £171,177 was raised
in Munster.
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| Signatures on Cheque |