A revolutionary past
It's not unusual for archivists to find slightly odd items hidden amongst the records they are cataloguing. Working with personal papers one of the most common items you find are locks of hair cut from children or recently deceased relatives. I have come across one lock of hair with Kathleen Lynn's papers, I initially assumed it was the hair from one of the patients of Saint Ultan's, but on research it turned out to be from her pet dog Bran (KL/2/14).
I wasn't quite sure what items I was likely to find with the papers of hospitals and doctors, gruesome medical implements perhaps, but suffice to say it wasn't this;
Yes, it's a bullet, but there is no blood on the archive floor!
It turns out that it is the bullet casing from one of the rounds fired over the grave of Kathleen Lynn at her funeral in September 1955, and preserved by Saint Ultan's hospital. Lynn had served in the 1916 rising as Chief Medical Officer to the Irish Citizens Army, and on her death was given a full military funeral by the Irish State. The Irish Citizen's Army provided a guard of honour and the 7th Easter Battalion fired three volleys over her grave, as the last post was sounded. Among those who attended the funeral was her former Irish Citizens Army comrade Éamon de Valera. After 1916 Lynn and de Valera had differed over politics, Lynn was critical of his decision to enter the Dáil in 1927 and the 1937 Constitution. Lynn saw the Constitution as reactionary and a menace to the economic position of women, as well as failing to recognise the contribution of women to Ireland's struggle for Independence.
Evening Press 16 September 1955 – Report on funeral of Kathleen Lynn from SU/7/4 – Saint Ultan's Newspaper Scrapbook
The Saint Ultan's Collection contains a small number of other items that were donated to the College with the archive collection (SU/9/1-SU/9/5). They include a chair and tray donated by Constance Markievicz to Saint Ultan's and said to have been decorated by her, they have been transferred the College's Heritage Collections for safe keeping. Markievicz was another friend of Lynn's from her ICA days, and it is supposed to have been Lynn who persuaded Markievicz to wear a skirt over her ICA uniform, as Lynn, though an active suffragist, did not approve of women wearing trousers. Lynn and Markievicz were to remain friends and worked together in Sinn Fein, until Markievicz's death in 1927. Lynn rushed to Dublin to attend Markievicz as she lay dying in Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital.