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272 KATHLEEN NAPOLI MCKENNAKathleen McKenna was a member of an old Nationalist family, from Oldcastle, Co. Meath. She was an expert typist, and an intelligent girl with a telling turn
of phrase. Her father William McKenna was an old friend of Arthur Griffith, and through this connection she was employed as confidential typist for the
Irish Bulletin, the daily summary of information edited for the First Dail by Frank Gallagher for distribution to journalists in Dublin and abroad, 1919-21. The
foreign press soon found they could rely on the Bulletin’s accuracy, and it became an important publicity weapon for the First Dail and its cabinet - so much
so that the British thought it worth their while first to counterfeit it, and then to imitate it, with little success on either count.
In the autumn of 1921, McKenna was one of the ‘Dail girls’ who went to London for the Treaty negotiations, where she was Arthur Griffith’s personal secre-
tary. In early 1922 she was sent to Paris for the Irish Race Congress. As the Free State was established, she was a typist and confidential secretary for senior
ministers including Michael Collins, Desmond FitzGerald, Kevin O’Higgins and W.T. Cosgrave. She was a private secretary at the Boundary Commission in
1924, and accompanied the Irish delegation at the Imperial Conference in 1926. Many of the significant documents of the Irish history of this period passed
through her hands and her typewriter.
She left the Civil Service in 1931, married an Italian military man, General Napoli, and went to live with him in Rome and elsewhere. She remained in touch
with her family in Ireland, but never returned to live here permanently. She left a memoir of her days which has not yet been published. She is not to be
found in the principal works of reference, though she was perhaps as significant a person as some of those included.
The following items were from her personal collection, inherited by direct descent and then purchased in these rooms 2011 as part of our Independence
auction.
IRISH TREATY DELEGATION 1921
A handwritten menu for a meal in London attended by many of the Irish delegates and advisors to the Treaty talks, 10 November 1921, signed at rear by
Micheál Ó Coileáin [Collins], Art Ó Gríofa [Griffith) and E.S. Ó Dúgáin [Duggan] (delegates), Lionel Smith-Gordon, J.L. Fawsitt and Eamonn Broy (advisors),
Collins’ ‘minders’ Liam Tobin, Joe Dolan and Joe Guilfoyle; Fionán Ó Loingsigh [Lynch], assistant secretary; Alice Lyons (typist); Caoimhghin O hUiginn [Kevin
O’Higgins], Sean Milroy, and several others whose function is not clear.
The menu included a choice of soups: Peace (thick) or Publicity (clear); the fish course was ‘Hans Plaice’ or ‘Caddugan Steaks’ [the Irish delegates were staying
at Hans Place and Cadogan Gardens]; entrees included ‘Economic Cutlets (Reparation Gravy)’ and ‘Minced Ulster (North East Sauce)’; the Joint was Roast Beef
of Old England, with Aide Memoire of Potatoes; and so on.
The talks in London opened on 11 October; presumably the dinner marked the end of the first month. It seems the delegates had not yet realised that
‘minced Ulster’ was off the menu.
Kathleen McKenna’s copy [personal secretary to Arthur Griffith], with her initials to front.
A rare and delightful item.
Provenance: Collection of Kathleen Napoli McKenna, by descent, then purchased in these rooms, 19th April 2011, Independence auction, Lot 591
.
€ 2,500 - 3,500