Stories from Old Newspapers

 Cork Examiner 1 December 1870

Aid for the Sick and Wounded French

Dungarvan, 25 November 1870

Dear Sir,

It becomes my pleasing duty to forward you the enclosed bank order for £162-7-7 collected in this town and surrounding district, in aid of the sick and wounded of the French army, and which you will please have placed to the credit of the Irish Ambulance funds. I may truly say the sum is the spontaneous offering of a people anxious to express their zeal and enthusiasm in this matter, not forgetful of the old historic relations between Ireland and France.

And although the present is a day of bitter trial and bleeding anguish to the heart of France, in which Ireland sympathises to her utmost heart’s core, it may be the springtime in which seed shall have been cast that in a future day will develop into a harvest of glory to France and of benefit to Ireland. ‘May God save both nations’

I have the honour to be

Yours Very obediently, Michael J Anthony.

The donation was acknowledged by James F Lombard (businessman, property developer, and organizer of the ambulance group), South Hill, Upper Rathmines:

‘I am very glad to see by your letter that the people of Dungarvan well understand that the Irish Ambulance Committee are doing more, much more, than merely giving relief to the poor suffering French wounded at the present moment’.

The French Third Republic was adopted on 4 September 1879 after the Second French Empire collapsed as a result of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).

This letter refers to the ‘Ambulance Irlandais’, Irish Ambulance Brigade, which was established by a voluntary committee in Dublin to send a corps consisting of 31 surgeons, 250 men, five wagons, tents, bedding etc. They arrived in France on 11 October 1870 and remained until February 1871.


 

Franco Irish Ambulance Brigade