Tom sent us this very interesting page from a notebook of his grandfather (Tom Corbett)
It contains the signatures of all the men in the Irish delegation that signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty on December 6th 1921
- Arthur Griffith (delegation chairman)
- Michael Collins
- Robert Barton
- Eamonn Duggan
- George Gavan Duffy
The signatures match very well with the Treaty signatures (as seen below).
Read more on the Anglo Irish Treaty and those that signed it.
A copy of the signatures on the Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921
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“Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain? Will anyone? I tell you this; early this morning I signed my death warrant. I thought at the time how odd , how ridiculous —a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago.” – Michael Collins in a letter referring to signing the treaty.
Eamonn Duggan didn’t sign the original Anglo-Irish Treaty on the 6th of December 1921. His signature was simply cut from a menu he had previously signed and pasted on the document. (The first cut and paste job in history). This was sticking out like a sore thumb in the all the newspapers that carried the story with a copy of the document for all to see.
Regards
Jack Kiernan
Mullingar
And another signatory, Barton, repudiated the document and voted against it in the Dail when he was free of the intimidation and pressure that made him sign it in the first place in Downing St.
It was not, and could not be called a ‘Treaty’. Treaties are signed between equal states and the UK would never sign a Treaty with one of its Dominions – an inferior entity. It never did. That is why it is called ‘Articles of Agreement’ for a Treaty but no actual Treaty was ever agreed.
Jack
The 1922 elections which the pro-treaty party “won” was actually rigged. No matter what the document was called it wasn’t legally accepted by the people of Ireland.
Jack K
Jack,
Robert C. Barton, in his signed statement dated 27th July 1954 stated the following on what transpired during the vote in the Dáil: “Gavan Duffy voted for the Treaty after making a speech against the Treaty, but he felt bound to do so, having signed it. That was also my position.” In London Gavan Duffy was in very much the same position as I was in.”
Barton’s statement can be downloaded from the Military Archives website, document number “W.S. 979” The above information is on page 41.
Jack K
Jack
Yes, the people had voted overwhelmingly and fought for a Republic for four years. They did not do all this to become a Dominion.
Jack
The cut and paste signature is clear in this copy
Photograph of the British Original of the Aanglo Irish Treaty 6 December 1921 [1] [2]