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“Father Willie” (Father Willie Doyle, SJ) as part of the “Irish Messenger Series” published by the Irish Messenger Office. Includes a note from Diarmuid [ ], Fitzpatrick’s Book Shop, 12 Cathedral Street, Upper O’ Connell Street, Dublin to Fr Fergal [McGrath] SJ in which he refers to a reprint of an insert letter by T. Cain, 22 Limetree Crescent, Cockermouth, Cumberland which corrects Fr Doyle’s date of death.

Documents found among the papers of Fr Willie Doyle SJ (with whom Fr Browne briefly served as chaplain), collated by Fr Charles Doyle SJ, concerning Fr Frank Browne SJ. Includes telegrams to Robert Browne, Bishop of Cloyne (14 March & 25 August 1919) concerning Fr Browne & circular letter from the War Office to Fr Browne, St Francis Xavier’s, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin, informing him of his appointment as an Honorary Chaplain to the Forces 3rd Class ‘as from 1st Sept. 1921 on which date your commission as a temporary Chaplain to the Forces ceased to have effect.’ (14 September 1921).

Original and copies of appreciations of Fr Willie Doyle SJ including letters from General Sir William Bernard Hickie, 16th Division, B.E.F.to Hugh Doyle Esq., Melrose, Dalkey, Dublin (15 December 1917) and to Fr Charles Doyle SJ (14 October 1924); Private M. Murphy, France, (Fr Willie Doyle’s orderly) (22 August 1917).

[Copy of] letter from Col. M. O'Grady, Assistant Military Secretary at the War Office in Whitehall, London to Hugh Doyle, father of Fr Willie Doyle SJ. Informs him that Fr Doyle was mentioned in Despatches from General Sir Douglas Haig, which were published in the London Gazette.

A file relating to correspondence of bequests made to Irish Fr Provincial regarding the Hong Kong and China missions.

• Perpetual burse in memory of Fr WM. Doyle SJ in the new seminary in Hong Kong (1936);
• Perpetual burse in memory of Fr Walsh SJ in Hong Kong (1936);
• Memorial burse in memory of Fr Fegan SJ in China (1936);
• List of burse money for the education of Chinese Jesuits (13 September 1940);
• Statement of accounts for quarter the Ricci Mission Unit (1 July - 30 September 1943).

Family photograph with Fr Willie Doyle SJ at an formal occasion, perhaps the wedding anniversary of his parents, outside the family home in Dalkey, county Dublin.

Fr William Doyle SJ, Chaplain - by Keogh Brothers Ltd., 124 St Stephens Green West and 75 Lower Dorset St, Dublin. On reverse is written Rev. C. Doyle, Presbytery, Upper Gardiner Street.

Letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Irish Fr Provincial William Delany SJ informing him of his proposal for a ‘House of Retreats for Workingmen’. Includes ‘Report on the proposed House of Retreats for Workingmen’ and brochures for retreats at Rathfarnham Castle, printed in 1922.

File of holograph letters and typewritten letters by Fr Willie Doyle SJ concerning his ordination at Milltown Park (28 July 1907); tertianship at L’ Ancienne Abbaye, Tronchiennes, Belgium to his mother and father, his sister Mai and brother Charles (October 1907 - 21 July 1908); attending a mission in Great Yarmouth (20 April 1908); work as a minister at Belvedere College to his sister Mai (April - July 1909); at the Convent of St John of God, Wexford to his sister Mai (2 August 1910); at Enghien, Belgium to his father (2 - 14 October 1912); while giving missions in Clare, Cork, Limerick and Dublin and working at Rathfarnham Castle, to his father and sister Mai (20 March 1914 - 6 November 1915).

A file of letters from Fr Willie Doyle SJ, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin to Irish Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan SJ. Includes a letter remarking 'May the Lord reward you for getting us this place; it is like a paradise to come back to after the bustle and rush of the missions' (13 January [1914], 1p). Includes letters volunteering to serve as a war chaplain (4 - 26 November 1914, 3 items).

Holograph letters and typewritten letters by Mr Willie Doyle SJ while: at Clongowes Wood College to his mother and father, and sister Lena (6 April 1897 - 1898); undertaking philosophy at Enghien, Belgium to his mother and father (2 October 1898 - 3 June 1899); at St. Mary’s Hall, Stonyhurst College, England to his mother and father (14 October 1900 - 31 March 1901); at Clongowes Wood College to his mother and father, and sister Mai (18 December 1901 - 5 August 1903); undertaking theology at Milltown Park (23 December 1904 - Easter 1906).

Holograph letters and one typewritten letter by Willie Doyle: as a schoolboy in Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, England to his brother Bob and mother (30 May 1886 - 9 April 1887); as a Jesuit novice at St Stanislaus, Tullabeg, County Offaly to his mother and father, and sisters Mai and Lena (8 August 1891 - 9 July 1892); as a scholastic at Milltown Park, Dublin to his father and brother Bob (31 May - Christmas 1893) and to Brother Cahill on finishing his noviceship (8 June 1893) and at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare to his mother and father, and brothers Bob and Charles (3 September 1894 - 23 August 1896).

Letters to the Irish Provincial on various matters. Includes letters concerning financial matters and;
– a complaint about an individual Jesuit with regard to his behaviour while conducting a retreat for nuns (See also ADMN/3/36);
– a draft deed of trust for the Father Delany Exhibition (See also ADMN/3/13);
– the health and financial affairs of various scholastics;
– the proposal for the establishment of a [school] at Tullabeg by the Society of Pious Missions;
– a conference of Jesuit Fathers in Chicago for the purpose of adopting a Provisional Constitution of the ‘Frequent Communion Guild’;
– requests for money from various individuals;
– the campaign to appoint a Catholic Director to the Board of Directors of the Clogher Valley Railway (the Society are shareholders in the Railway);
– the appointment of Jesuits to various offices;
– a petition to the British government ‘to show mercy to Roger Casement’;
– a proposed portrait of Archbishop Walsh by Sir John Lavery;
– a profit and loss account of the Irish Monthly for year ending 31 August 1914 (See also ADMN/3/20; 66; 67);
– the work of St. Joseph's Young Priests (See also ADMN/3/53);
– lists of locations of Retreats and names of priests giving Retreats for 1912 and 1913 (See also ADMN/3/36; 41);
– suggestions for Retreats given by Jesuits, by Dr Patrick Foley, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin (1896-1926) and memorandum on the scheme to establish a small lending library in Milltown Park for priests (See also ADMN/3/12; 38).

Material relating to Fr Andrew O'Farrell SJ, including letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ introducing Andrew O'Farrell to Fr Provincial (1913), catalogue entry (1930), memorial card and obituary.

A file relating to the Irish Jesuit Mission Office (The Ricci Mission Unit) based in Ireland. The file contains financial information (accounts, donations and burses) relating to the Hong Kong mission, letters by Fr Thomas Martin SJ, relating to the administration of the Hong Kong mission and personnel/volunteers for the mission.

Photographic album belonging to Fr John A McAvoy SJ, with captions in English and Irish. Includes photographs of

• Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin 1929;
• Irish Jesuits on villa (holiday);
• area around Wicklow;
• Irish Jesuits contemporary to John A McAvoy;
• Michael Collins' grave 1922;
• Clongowes Wood College, 1921;
• Orangemen in Rathfriland, County Down, 12 July 1920;
• B Special 'Black and Tans' of Ulster, Rathfriland, 1923;

File of photographs of First World War scenes (Military convoy, 30 July 1916 and the Menin Road), Rathfarnham Castle and Dalkey. Includes copies of images of St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly and Kemmel Hill and Zonnebeke, Belgium and small handwritten sketch maps of Ypres (11 February 1935).

File of copies photographs of Fr Willie Doyle SJ including: newspaper photograph announcing death (1917); mounted photograph of Willie and his brother, when both young; copies of portrait photographs of Fr Willie Doyle SJ used in publications, Fr Doyle in military uniform and with his parents and in group photograph with other Jesuits. Includes:

• Postcard from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Rosario Nesbitt, 12 May 1912;
• Photograph of Milltown Park villa group, 1905, outside Carysfort, Kilcoole, County Wicklow.

Postcard from Fr Willie Doyle SJ, Guadaloupe Barracks, Bordon, Hampshire to his father, Hugh Doyle Esq., Dalkey, Dublin in which he gives his new address.

Postcards of Dun Laoghaire and ‘views of Dalkey’ - Main Street, Castle Street, Sorrento Park, Dalkey Island and Church of the Assumption, Dalkey.

Retreat Library at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin with portrait of Fr Willie Doyle SJ in the background – photograph by Gay O’ Brien

William Joseph Gabriel Doyle was born (1873) at Melrose, Dalkey Avenue, Dalkey, county Dublin. Known as Willie, Billie or Sloper (a comic book hero of the time), he was the youngest of seven children of Hugh Doyle, registrar of the insolvency court, and Christine Doyle (née Byrne). Growing up, Willie was devout, caring and cheerful. Educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, in 1891 Willie followed his older brother Charles into the Jesuits. After two years as a novice, he taught at Clongowes Wood College, where he produced The Mikado and founded the school magazine, The Clongownian. His Jesuit formation included periods in Belgium and England, and further teaching at Clongowes and Belvedere Colleges. After ordination at Milltown Park on 28th July 1907, Willie began work as an urban missionary and retreat giver in Ireland. His positive attitude made him a great success, and he travelled all around the British Isles. He was also the author of best-selling pamphlets on retreats and vocations.

Volunteering as a military chaplain in First World War, Fr Doyle was sent to France with the Royal Irish Fusiliers in early 1916. Within days of his arrival at the Front, he showed himself outstanding in the work of a chaplain. Lt Col HR Stirke noted that Fr Doyle was ‘one of the finest fellows that I ever met, utterly fearless, always with a cheery word on his lips and ever ready to go out and attend the wounded and the dying under the heaviest fire’. Present at the battles of the Somme and Messines, Fr Doyle was killed during the third battle of Ypres on 16th August 1917, while going to the aid of a wounded man near Frezenberg. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial, Belgium. Fr Doyle was awarded the Military Cross, and he was put forward for the Victoria Cross posthumously but did not receive it. Writing to Willie’s father, Hugh, in December 1917, Major General WB Hickie remarks that: ‘I could not say too much about your son. He was loved and reverenced by us all. His gallantry, self sacrifice and devotion to duty were all so well known and recognized. I think that his was the most wonderful character that I have ever known.’