The Easter Rising announcement by coded message Original telegram, in code, sent to America on 22 April 1916, two days before the Rising in Dublin took place, apparently announcing the successful plan for the rebellion. Volunteer companies around Ireland had been informed on the 21st that they would be parading on Easter Sunday, the 23rd, but only a few people knew that this meant the uprising was about to begin. In the event, disagreement among the leaders caused a delay, and an effort was made to call off the insurrection altogether, so that it was not until the morning of Easter Monday, 24 April, that the Volunteers and Citizens' Army took possession of several key buildings in Dublin. The telegram was sent via the international telegraph office at Valencia Island, County Kerry, and bears 17 British postage stamps, all cancelled with a hand-stamp timed at 3:45pm on 22 April. It is addressed to Mrs T. McGowan in Kosiusko Street, Brooklyn, New York, and reads ' Tom operated on today successfully'. The signature appears to have been transmitted as 'O[']Sullivan' ('Margaret' deleted). The message is written on separate piece attached to the official telegram form by the postage stamps. On the reverse of this piece is written 'T. Ring'. Accompanying the telegram is a note in an unidentified hand to Major Hall on Home Office paper, dated 20.11.16: "'Gaelic American" of 29.4.16 & original Cable form in the case of Timothy Ring herewith as per your request of 16.11.16 and 113034/M.I.5G3 of 22.8.16. with Mr Waller's compliments.' It may not be coincidental that Roger Casement was said to have been attended at his execution by two Irish Catholic priests, 'Dean [sic] Timothy Ring and Father James Carey' (Wikipedia, and A History of St Mary & St Michael's Parish, by Jean Maynard and others, London 2007, p. 213) . Canon Timothy Ring (1858-1941), born in County Kerry, was a popular and influential Catholic priest, Rector of an East London church and, not surprisingly, a firm advocate of Irish Home Rule. His possible involvement in the events of April 1916 is unclear. Together with the copy of The Gaelic American of 29 April 1916 announcing the Rising and describing how it was only through receipt of a coded telegram that the truth had been known, all messages and despatches from England having been censored. With related material in a folder ('of special interest') annotated by Colonel Frank Hall (the list including other material that Hall apparently deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in 1962). Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Hall (1876-1964) was from an old Irish landowning family. He had joined the army in 1895, and after only a short career retired for the first time in 1911. He soon became involved in the paramilitary politics of Northern Ireland and became Military Secretary of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). He was member of the committee responsible for organising the landing and distribution of arms for the UVF, although perhaps not aware that they had come from Germany. When arms were run into Larne and Bangor, Hall's contribution to the exercise was in an intelligence role, aiming to confuse the constabulary and army around Belfast and disrupting telephone communications. In 1913 he imported Maxim guns from London, and in 1914 he was offered a job there, joining MI5, becoming the first 'Q' of Military Intelligence. (For Hall's involvement with Roger Casement see the following lot.) Three further envelopes of Hall's papers: ('A') Hall's typewritten account of the Gun Running, the 'Ulster Coup' of 24 April 1914, as recollected in 1934, with typescript note 'This throws rather a lurid light on JAMES CRAIG. It should be treated as CONFIDENTIAL'; letter of 25 September 1914 from FH suggesting questions to be put to the Ulster Unionist Council at their meeting; copy letter from a Belgian diplomat about the offer by Colonel [Maurice] Moore to sell German arms to Belgium, 3 February 1914; notes on armaments from Germany, signed W.M.; copy telegram to [?Joseph] Devlin in Dublin from Moore offering 'implements' and cartridges, 4 January 1915, and of a censored telegram from [Alice] Green expressing dissatisfaction with the South and that the Volunteers in the North should be armed. ('B') Papers retained by Hall from 1914-15: Two copies annotated by FH of a report headed 'SECRET' relating to a movement afoot to provide arms (13 January 1915) with reference to 'notorious pro-Germans, associates and confederates of CASEMENT'; list of those conspiring to provide arms for the Nationalist Volunteers, including associates of Casement, 12 January 1915; copies of (intercepted) telegrams and copy letters between Kettle and Moore; long letter to Hall, Dublin, 10 August 1914, describing a meeting with Colonel Moore and Captain [FitzRoy] Hamphill; list of volunteers who attended Raheen Manor training depot; copy letters annotated by FH; flimsy precis of correspondence about the purchase of arms (Moore / Kettle/ Casement), 4 pages folio; copy letter to Moore from Irish Volunteers Inspector General's Office, Dublin, 8 November 1915, 3 pages folio; copies of telegrams and letters, 4 pages folio, December 1914 - January 1915; reports from the Irish Government on seditious publications, arms trafficking etc., 6 pages and covering notes, 14 pages folio in all, with FH's note attached 'DESTROY when perused'; W[ar] O[ffice] file 'Genl No 5 / 479' 24/12/1914, concerning the 'wait and see' attitude of the British government, heavily annotated in red, probably by FH. With Extracts of reports from G.O.C. Troops, Ireland to the Secretary of the War Office, 9/12/1918. Later material: File of papers about the Ulster Covenant Jubilee, 1962, including correspondence between FH and Lord Brookeborough [Basil Brooke, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland], and with the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland [PRONI] with reference to FH's gun-running narrative (presumably the 1934 typescript included above) which he does not wish to be made public. Three envelopes with British Stamps overprinted by the Provisional Government of Ireland in 1922 and a photograph of Ballyedmond Castle, the property of Lady Ballyedmond.