Father
Thomas Hannan's letter to his father indicates that support for his views was not universal within the family, and created tension with his father, William, in particular.
Thomas expresses dismay at William's disapproval, but stresses that he did not take the decision to appeal his conscription lightly. He suggests that William should be supporting his own wife and the rest of the family.
He writes: 'My mother and Ria needed all the sympathy you could give, instead of being a source of strength at this awful period in their lives you seem to have been a source of weakness and humiliation.'
Thomas mentions his weeks of solitary confinement, 'when a man is thrown back on his own thoughts'.
Nevertheless, he hopes for reconciliation with his father, while asserting that 'I have no thoughts of martyrdom, to me that is all sentimental piffle. I am only one of a determined minority who won't be browbeaten.'
