Winifred Mabel Letts was born on 10 February 1882 in Salford, Lancashire, England. She was educated at St. Anne’s School, Staffordshire and later Alexandra College. After her father's death, she and her mother moved to Blackrock. In 1915, she joined the Volunteer Aid Detachment, serving with the Almeric Paget Massage Corps. Letts was a war poet whose work originally covered lyric poetry exploring Irish folk themes popularised by the Celtic Revival. In the 1950s, moved to Killiney. She died on the 7th June 1972 and is buried in Rathcoole. A memorial plaque celebrating her life and work was unveiled in Rathcoole by President Michael D. Higgins on 20 June 2022.
Bairbre O’Hogan, along with local historian Mervyn Ennis, originally brought Letts’s legacy and local links to the attention of South Dublin Libraries in 2021. This led to collaborations on an exhibition about WM Letts’s life, and a symposium celebrating her work. South Dublin Libraries is delighted to publish this book, which aims to add to the recorded history of South Dublin County, and keep Letts’s work alive for future generations.
Bairbre O’Hogan was born and bred in Dublin. She completed her BA in Celtic Studies and an MA in Early Irish Literature and Language before becoming a Teacher of Irish, Celtic Studies and Tourism in Dominican College, Sion Hill. She is a former Director of Dublinia museum in Christchurch. An Alumni Officer for DIT and State-accredited Translator (Irish) since 2006. She has a lifelong fascination with genealogy and local history, and feels it is important to record family events for future generations.
