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1 Walter Patrick Hore-Ruthven (1870-1956), 10th Baron Ruthven (Scotland) and 2nd Baron Ruthven (U.K.), G.O.C. London District (1924-8).
2 I have observed Chamberlain’s instructions by reproducing the report without abridgement. Capitalised personal names have been reduced to lower case, and passages underlined in the typescript have been italicised. Biographical notes, otherwise unattributed, are derived from standard dictionaries such as Who’s Who, Thom’s Irish Who’s Who (Dublin, 1923), and O’Farrell, Pádraic, Who’s Who in the Irish War of Independence, 1916–1921 (Dublin & Cork, 1980)Google Scholar; and nominal sources such as Thom’s Official Directory, and the monthly, quarterly and half-yearly (British) Army Lists. The careers of Irish army officers have been traced from Brennan-Whitmore, 1926 Army List; Duggan, Irish army, esp. app. 1, pp 297–305; and information from officers’ records kindly supplied by Commandant Peter Young. Standard military abbreviations have been used without elucidation.
3 John Courtis was commissioned as 2nd lieut., R.A.S.C., in 1923. In the same year Reginald Vionnée Cowey (b. 1863, retired 1928) rose to lt-col. in the R.A.M.C. Comparison of his entries in Who’s Who for 1918 and 1939 indicates a remarkable rejuvenation, fitting for an inveterate sportsman. His birthdate was promoted from 1863 to 1873 (as also in later Army Lists), while his entry to the army was postponed from 1881 to 1901.
4 For Maj. Dominick Doyle see below (note 14). Capt. J.P. Hawe was secretary to the G.H.Q. Command Council.
5 McGowran was a Dublin man, according to Irish Independent, 26 Oct. 1926.
6 The Miners’ Executive, and the Mining Association representing employers, remained in deadlock after the termination of the General Strike on 12 May 1926. Following the abandonment of central bargaining in mid-August, the miners drifted back to work. At the time of Chamberlain’s visit most remained on strike, although work in all districts resumed by December. The severe impact of the strike on Dublin was attested by the distribution of fuel vouchers to the Dublin poor, the raising of £4,000 for relief through the Irish Times Fuel Fund, and the eventual importation of European and American coal (of which the hrst consignment reached Dublin on 3 November 1926). See Clegg, Hugh Armstrong, A history of British trade unions since 1889, ii (Oxford, 1985), pp 410–18 Google Scholar; Irish Times, 27 Oct., 5 Nov. 1926.
7 Michael Brennan (1896-1986): A.G. (1925-8), I.G. (1928-31), and C.O.S. (1931-40). Brennan, a farmer’s son from Meelick, County Clare, was prominent in the Anglo-Irish War as an independent-minded commandant (1st Western Div., 1921), and as a broker between army factions in 1922, when by stealth he undermined republican control of the Limerick region. See his dry memoir The war in Clare (Dublin, 1980), and Fitzpatrick, David, Politics and Irish life, 1913–1921: provincial experience of war and revolution (Dublin, 1977), esp. ch. 6Google Scholar.
8 Felix G. Cronin (c. 1891–1961): Q.M.G. (1924-7), Ass. C.O.S. (1927-8). A teacher’s son from Lorrha, County Tipperary, Cronin became adjutant of the 1st Southern Div. (1921 ). His career peaked in 1925 with his marriage to Kitty Kiernan, former fiancée of Michael Collins, but ceased abruptly with his enforced retirement in February 1929 as a result of inattention to his duties and ‘certain allegations’ that reached the ear of Desmond FitzGerald, Minister for Defence. In civilian life he proved only moderately successful, as a promoter of sweepstakes and fuel merchant. See Broin, Leon Ó, In great haste: the letters of Michael Collins and Kitty Kiernan (Dublin, 1983), pp 221–2 Google Scholar; N.A.I., Executive Council files, S 5661.
9 ‘Shinty’ or ‘shinny’: variant in Scotland and northern England of the Irish game of hurling.
10 Daniel Hogan (killed in U.S.A., c. 1941): G.O.C. Eastern Command (1922-7); C.O.S. (1927-9). Hogan was born at Slievenamon, County Tipperary, but moved to Clones, County Monaghan, as a railway clerk. After working with Eoin O’Duffy as an auctioneer, Hogan succeeded him as O.C. Monaghan Brigade, later becoming O.C. 5th Northern Div. (1921).
11 Fritz Wilhelm Brase (1875-1940): Director, Army School of Music (1923-40), known as ‘Fitz Brassy’. Brase, a graduate of Leipzig Conservatoire and the Berlin Academy, was appointed Musical Director of the 13th Prussian Infantry in 1906 and of the 1st Grenadier Guards five years later. He conducted his last concert of massed bands before the Kaiser and Hindenburg at Christmas 1917. In Ireland Brase continued to use the honorific title ‘Royal Musical Director’. He became a leading member of the Nazi Auslandsorganisation in Ireland, an affiliation which he was directed to sever by the army authorities. See Brennock, J., ‘Army School of Music: the first twenty years’ in An Cosantóir, xxxiii, no. 10 (Oct. 1973), pp 335–41 Google Scholar; Duggan, John P., Neutral Ireland and the Third Reich (Dublin, 1989 ed.), p. 63 Google Scholar.
12 Francis Bennett (b. Newry, 1891): Q.M.G. staff (1924-8), rising to Dep. A.G. (1939-43) and member of the Special Military Court (1939); retired 1949.
13 Dr Thomas Francis Higgins, later O’Higgins (1890-1953): Director, A.M.S. (1924-9), T.D. (1929-54), becoming parliamentary leader of Fine Gael (1944) and a minister (1948-51). His younger brother Kevin (1892-1927) was Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice (previously ‘Home Affairs’) up to his assassination. Tom Higgins, born in Stradbally (Queen’s County), was licensed at the Royal Colleges in Dublin and became a dispensary doctor in Maryborough, now Portlaoise (1914-20). See Maye, Brian, Fine Gael, 1923–1987 (Dublin, 1993), esp. pp 318-19Google Scholar; White, Terence de Vere, Kevin O’Higgins (Dublin, 1948; repr. Dublin, 1986)Google Scholar.
14 Dr Dominick Doyle (b.c. 1893): O.C. Field Div., A.M.S., in 1926; pass graduate in medicine at U.C.D. (autumn 1917).
15 Daniel McKenna: in charge of Administration and Records section in A.G.’s branch, 1926; C.O.S. succeeding Michael Brennan (1940-49). McKenna had been trained for O’Duffy’s abortive intervention in Northern Ireland, becoming Dep. O.C. 2nd Northern Div. in August 1922.
16 Barry O’Brien, otherwise Barra Ó Briain (1901-88): Military Secretary to General Staff (1926-7), called to bar (1926), Senior Counsel (1940), rising to President of Circuit Court (1959-73) and President of the High Court of Justice in Cyprus (on secondment, 1960–62). O’Brien, son of a Dublin doctor, was an active guerrilla fighter responsible for burning out a British army vehicle near Soloheadbeg shortly before the infamous murders of January 1919; but he found time to secure his B.A. from U.C.D. in 1921.
17 The Irish Independent published a report of the boxers’ arrival by R.M. Hilliard (a former bantamweight amateur champion and future casualty at the battle of Jarama on 26 October 1937), while its next issue included an animated photograph of the British team shadow-boxing, as well as a form guide. I am grateful to Jane Leonard for alerting me to Hilliard’s fate.
18 Renamed Cathal Brugha Barracks after de Valera’s accession to power.
19 Peter Hughes (d. 1954): Minister for Defence (1924-7), T.D. for Louth-Meath (1921-3) and Louth (1923, defeated 1927); urban councillor, Dundalk (1905-24; chairman from 1917); chairman, Board of Guardians (1920-22); county councillor, Louth (1921-4). His career in local politics was interrupted by prolonged incarceration as a ‘German Plotter’ in Usk jail, Monmouthshire. Hughes was not a ‘country gentleman’ but a grocer in Park Street, Dundalk, who was also “interested in farming’. His obituarist in the Irish Times (25 June 1954) recalled him as a man of ‘homely geniality’ who nevertheless ‘kept himself under a rigid discipline’ while in the Dáil.
20 On 26 July 1926, 8,000 spectators had watched the Garda boxers whipping a team of gendarmes during Garda Week (Gárda Review, i, no. 9 (Aug. 1926), p. 614).
21 The Imperial Conference was still in session, lasting from 19 October to 23 November 1926. In the event, the Free State army was not so recognised, and the Irish representatives did not contribute any formal statement on defence (Duggan, Irish army, pp 150–51; Canning, British policy towards Ireland, pp 112–13).
22 Eoin (Owen) O’Duffy (1892-1944): T.D. for Monaghan (1921, resigned Dec. 1922), Chief Commissioner of the Garda Síochána (1922, dismissed by de Valera in 1933), also seconded as G.O.C, and I.G. of the forces after the ‘army mutiny’ (Mar. 1924-Feb. 1925), leader of the ‘Blueshirts’ under various party titles (July 1933, resigned Sept. 1934), founder of the National Corporate Party (1935) and leader of the Irish Brigade in Franco’s Spain (1936-7). O’Duffy, son of a small farmer from near Castleblayney, County Monaghan, had worked for local authorities as an engineer and surveyor, becoming a prominent guerrilla fighter, prison organiser and O.C. 2nd Northern Div. (Mar. 1921), rising to Director of Organisation (June 1921) and briefly C.O.S. (Feb.-July 1922). He was treasurer of the I.R.B., under the presidency of Michael Collins, in late 1921. See Walsh, ‘Eoin O’Duffy’; O’Beirne-Ranelagh, ‘The I.R.B.’, p. 28.
23 William Richard English Murphy (1890-1975): Dep. Commissioner of the Garda Síochána (1925-54), having been Chief Commissioner of the disbanded Dublin Metropolitan Police (May 1923–1925). Born in Bannow, County Wexford, he became a teacher after graduating from a Catholic training college in 1913, served as an inspector of national schools, having secured another degree from Queen’s University, Belfast, and in 1920 received an honorary master’s degree in recognition of his war service. Under the name English-Murphy, he had joined the South Staffordshire Regiment (Territorial) as a 2nd lieut. in 1915, rising to acting It-col. by the Armistice and securing both M.C. and D.S.O. In the Civil War he succeeded O’Duffy as O.C. Kerry Command in September 1922, resigning to become Director of Training (Jan.-May 1923). I am grateful to Sergt J. P. Duffy, curator of the Garda Archives, for access to Murphy’s service record, and to Jane Leonard for biographical details.
24 Commandant L. O’Hegarty, of the Army Athletics Association.
25 The first Governor-General of the Free State (1922-8) was Timothy Michael Healy (1855-1931), well known since 1880 as a Nationalist M.P. with strong clerical associations. His lodge in Phoenix Park had hitherto housed the lord lieutenant, and is now the presidential residence, Áras an Uachtaráin.
26 The adjutant was Capt. Pádraic Ó Donnchadha.
27 Brase is said to have picked up some of these melodies while attempting to learn English during evenings spent at the Beresford (later Ceannt) Barracks. The N.L.I, has a copy (undated) of the first Irish fantasy, published by Denis McCullough (music seller and former President of the Supreme Council, I.R.B.), but printed in Brase’s native Leipzig by C.G. Röder. The same partners produced Brase’s General Mulcahy march: dedicated to General Mulcahy in gratitude and homage, a blaring tribute to the celebrated Minister for Defence (1922-4), member of the l.R.B.’s Supreme Council, and chief promoter of the Army School of Music. See Brennock, ‘Army School of Music’, p. 338.
28 ’Flat pitch’ was part of the initial design for the Army School of Music as sketched in early 1922, when it was hoped (in vain) that French experts from the Garde Républicaine would oversee its development. Mulcahy considered that concert or philharmonic pitch, by then used only in Britain, had contributed to the poor quality of British band music. This view was endorsed unavailingly in 1920 by the commandant of the Royal Military School of Music, a strong proponent of diapason normal as world standard pitch (Duggan, Irish army, p. 110; Sauerzweig, C., ‘Army School of Music’ in MacCall, Séamus (ed.), The call to arms: a historical record of Ireland’s defence forces (Dublin, 1945), pp 57–62 Google Scholar; correspondence on pitch in P.R.O., WO 32/3920).
29 Farrell J. Tully (1896-1984), in fact a mere lieut., was on the personal staff of the A.G., Michael Brennan. After two years in the ranks Tully had become 2nd lieut. in the Leinsters in 1917, eventually becoming an acting capt., Indian army, before his retirement in 1922.
30 William Bruen (1875-1961), M.C., O.B.E., Médaille Militaire. Bruen was a policeman’s son, born in Collooney, County Sligo, and educated by the Christian Brothers at Castlebar, County Mayo. After twenty years of service he was commissioned in the Connaught Rangers in October 1914, rising to capt. in Jan. 1917. Having been twice wounded, he was assigned to the embarkation staff at North Wall, Dublin, from August 1915.
31 John Patrick Hunt (1875-1938) also won the D.C.M. As Chief Instructor he came only fourth in precedence in the Army School of Instruction, so that Chamberlain may have overstated his influence. After some schooling by the Christian Brothers this son of an unskilled labourer joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in 1891, winning two medals while serving with the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa. After a period instructing the O.T.C.s of Dublin University, St Andrew’s College and St Columba’s College he was remobilised and commissioned in 1914. He served in the Labour Corps, later commanding a medley of Royal Dublin Fusiliers and other units which, as ‘Hunt’s Force’, provided spirited defence before retreating with the residue of the 16th (Irish) Div. in March 1918. According to his subordinate, Lieut. Frank Laird of the 8th R.D.F., Hunt was reputed to be ‘the best soldier in the Division’ without being ‘spoiled’ by his success. Jack Hunt’s highest rank in the British army was temp. It-col. See Johnstone, Tom, Orange, green and khaki: the story of the Irish regiments in the Great War (Dublin, 1992), p. 361 Google Scholar; Dungan, Myles, Distant drums: Irish soldiers in foreign armies (Belfast, 1993), p. 77 Google Scholar; Laird, Frank M., Personal experiences of the Great War (Dublin, [1925]), p. 109 Google Scholar. Kevin Myers and Jane Leonard kindly provided further biographical details.
32 The Defence estimates for the year ending 31 March 1927 provided for severe reductions of the army establishment at all levels, provoking furious outcry from G.H.O. staff. In fact the number of officers, initially 1,053, was reduced by only 142 over the year; but rapid reduction followed in 1928 when the terms of redundancy became more attractive (Duggan, Irish army, pp 50–55).
33 No such officer has been traced. The ‘legal officer’ at the Curragh Training Camp in 1926 was Capt. Seán (John Joseph) Donovan, a former student at U.C.D. who received an honorary B.A. in 1918 for his ‘distinguished services during the War’. Donovan seems not to have been called to the bar, and had served from July 1917 as lieut. in the 3rd Batt. (Reserve), Royal Irish Regiment, not the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
34 Seán Mac Eoin. otherwise John Joseph McKeon (1893-1973): G.O.C. Curragh (1925-7), Q.M.G. (1927-9), C.O.S. (Feb. 1929, resigned June 1929), T.D. for Longford-Westmeath (1921-3) and various constituencies (1929-65), Minister for Justice and later Defence (1948-51, 1954–7), presidential candidate against O’Kelly in 1945 and de Valera in 1959. Mac Eoin, a blacksmith’s son from Bunlahy, County Longford, was responsible for numerous killings and escapades in the Anglo-Irish War, becoming O.C. 1st Midland Div. (1921) and G.O.C. Western Command during and after the Civil War. His celebrity reached the ear of General Macready, the last British G.O.C, in Ireland, who praised the ‘Blacksmith of Ballinasloe’ [sic] for his soldierly cheeriness and humour ( Macready, Nevil, Annals of an active life (2 vols, London, 1924), ii, 584–5)Google Scholar. See Pádraic O’Farrell, The Seán Mac Eoin story (Cork, 1981; repr. as The Blacksmith of Ballinalee, Mullingar, 1993); Mageean, John, Man of the people (Dublin, 1945)Google Scholar.
35 Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st earl of Birkenhead (1872-1930), Secretary of State for India (1924-8), and Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (1863-1937), Foreign Secretary (1924-9), were both signatories of the Anglo-Irish agreement of December 1921.
36 The ‘smoking night’ at the sergeants’ mess, McKee Barracks, was ‘probably the most enjoyable of all’ the entertainments during the visit, according to An t-Óglach, v, no. 18 (6 Nov. 1926), p. 10. The reporter, ’Foam’, failed to notice the brief visitation of senior officers.
37 Commandant A. Thompson was in charge of pay and accounts, Q.M.G.’s branch. Jane Leonard informs me that he had served with the Canadian artillery. The choice of theatre, as listed in the Irish Times on 26 Oct. 1926, comprised The last of Mrs Cheyney at the Gaiety, Brinsley Macnamara’s The glorious uncertainty at the Abbey, Rustling for Cupid at the Tivoli, and two reviews (The show at the Theatre Royal, and Sacked again at the Olympia — perhaps the most pertinent theme for an officer in the 1920s).
38 Chamberlain was a Roman Catholic.
39 Persual of the Irish Field and the index to The Times suggests that no such visit occurred, although the temporary cessation An t-Óglach during the first nine months of 1927 leaves the matter in doubt.
40 The Times, whose index regularly recorded army boxing fixtures, seems to have ignored the visit to Dublin.