Life
1867-1945 [or John MacNeill; var. McNeill, D.Litt.]; b. 15 May, Glenarm,
Co. Antrim; ed. St. Malachy’s Belfast and RUI; scholar and politician;
president [commander-in-chief] Irish volunteers, br. of James [see supra]
spent holidays in Inis Meain, Aran; in response to Hyde’s “Necessity
.. &c.” (1893), he published ‘A Plea and a Plan for the
Extension of the Movement to Preserve and Spread the Gaelic Language in
Ireland’ (1893); co-founder and first Secretary of Gaelic League,
1893; ed. Gaelic Journal, 1894-98, and Fainne an Lae, [1898]-99,
and Claidheamh Soluis, 1899-1901; co-founder Feis Ceol, 1899; cancelled
long-running serialisation of An tAth. Peadar Ó Laoghaire’s
Seadna in Gaelic Journal (1894-97) over dispute arising
from the priest’s advocacy of Munster Irish; 1st Professor of Early
Irish History UCD, 1909-45; issued “The North Began” in An
Claideamh Soluis (1 Nov. 1913), commissioned by The O’Rahilly
(then editor), leading to the inaugural Volunteer meeting on 25th Nov.
1913 in the Rotunda, Dublin, where 3,000 men enlisted for the new militia;
elected Chief of Staff of Irish Volunteers [hence called leader of extremists
in DNB]; supported Redmond until the IPP leader demanded half the seats
on the Volunteers Provisional Committee for his nominees, 1914; participated
in arrangements for Howth gun-running; opposed call for enlistment of
Volunteers in British Army; believed that conscription in Ireland would
supply popular support for action by Volunteers; subjected to forged ‘Castle
Document’ indicating tht the govt. was about to arrest Volunteer
leaders; objected to the fait accompli in which Volunteers were
called out for an exercise and thrown unknowingly into action; countermanded
mobilization on learning an insurrection was planned by Pearse and others
(‘we have used your name for what is was worth, but we have done
with you now’); arrested in sequel; sentence to life imprisonment,
but released 1917, and rehabilitated in nationalist movement, receiving
respectful tokens from de Valera and others; Derry MP, 1918; Dáil member,
and Speaker, Finance Minister, Jan.-April 1919); replaced by Michael Collins,
becoming Minister for Industries, April 1919-Aug 1921; Minister without
Portfolio in Provision Government; Minister for Education, Aug.-Dec. 1922,
and also during Dec. 1922-Nov. 1925; contrib. to Irish Review,
1922; Boundary Commissioner representing Free State, Nov. 1924, but resigned
from Commission, 20, Nov. 1925, following leak of no-change position to
Morning Post, 7 Nov.; but refused to accept the report and outcome;
retired from politics; 1927; fnd. Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1929;
chaired committee charged with simplying Irish language in the draft Constitution;
elected President of Royal Soc. of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1937-40; Pres.
RIA, 1940-43; d. 15 Oct., Dublin; regarded as the father of the modern
study of early Irish medieval history; there is an obituary by C. P. Curran
(Irish Independent, 21 Oct. 1945). DNB DIB DIW DIH FDA DUB OCIL
WJM
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Works
Phases of Irish History (Dublin: M. H. Gill 1919; facs. rep. 1968);
Celtic Ireland (Dublin: Martin Lester 1921); also Foreword to John
Mitchel, An Ulsterman for Ireland, being the letters to the Protestant
farmers, labourers, and artisans of the North of Ireland (Dublin:
Three Candle Press 1917); Early Irish laws and Institutions (Dublin:
Burns Oates and Washbourne 1933), 155pp.
‘Why and how the Irish language is to be preserved’, in Irish Ecclesiastical Record [Vol. XII Nollaig 1891] (Dublin 1893); ‘Toghairm agus Gleus Oibre’, Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge (Marta 1893) [Titles supplied by Frankie Sewell, UU Coleraine.]
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Criticism
Féil-sgríbhinn Eóin Mhic Néill (Dublin:
Three Candles Press 1940); Do. [rep.], John Ryan, ed., (Four Courts
1995), incl. bibliography of his works; J[ohn] Ryan, ‘Eoin Mac
Neill 1867-1945’, in Studies 34 (1945), pp.433-48.
F. X. Martin, ed., The Irish Volunteers (Duffy 1963).
Michael Tierney, ‘Eoin MacNeill, A Bibliographical Study’, in J. Ryan, ed., Eoin MacNeill, Saint Patrick (Dublin: Three Candles Press 1964), p.9-34.
F. X. Martin, ed., Michael Tierney, Eoin MacNeill: Scholar and Man of Action 1876-1945 (OUP 1980) [var. 1981], with full biblography; by Martin.
F. X. Martin and Francis John Byrne, eds., The Scholar Revolutionary: Eoin MacNeill and the Making of the New Ireland (Shannon: IUP 1973) [12 contribs. incl. Donal McCartney, ‘MacNeill and Irish-Ireland’, pp.75-98].
John Ryan, Essays and Studies presented to Professor Eoin MacNeill (Dublin: Three Candles Press 1940).
Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, ‘The Irish-Ireland Idea, Rationale and Relevance’, in Edna Longley, ed., Culture in Ireland, Division or Diversity? (IIS/QUB 1991), pp.54-71.
John Francis Byrne, Irish Kings and Highkings (1973), for a modern appraisal of MacNeill’s Irish historical scholarship.
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Notes
Lady Gregory, letter to Shaw, Aug. 1916, ‘I wish something
could be done for John McNeill [sic; in contrast to Casement for whom
she feels little enthusiasm after the diary revelations], a scholar to
the backbone and most generous in his help to learners. There are such
masses of MSS to be translated while he is making sacks in gaol.’
See Lucy McDiarmid, reviewing Dan H Lawrence and Nicholas Grene, eds.,
Shaw, Lady Gregory, and the Abbey, A Correspondence and a Record (Colin
Smythe 1993) [ILS, Spring 1994, pp.4-6.
Stephen Gwynn, Irish Literature and Drama (1936): ‘At the same time Professor Eoin MacNeill had begun that work of reconstructing our conceptions of the early Irish states by an intensive study of the old genealogies, law tracts, and such matter, which appeared a dead jungle till be brought it back to life. No other scholar has limited his study so strictly to the original texts, and the divining power which he brought to the task has given intelligible reality to what was least comprehensible.’ (p.181.).
Maurice Headlam, Irish Reminiscences (1947): ‘The split in the Volunteers was started, the day before the Prime Minister came to Dublin to make a recruiting speech, by a manifesto, signed by MacNeill and others who were afterwards concerned in the Rebellion of 1916. This manifesto detailed Mr Redmond’s crimes. He had consented to a dismemberment of Ireland, he had "declared it to be the duty of the Irish Volunteers to take foreign service under a Government which is not Irish [...] having disregarded the Irish Volunteers and their solemn engagements. Mr Redmond is no longer entitled [...] to any place in the administration and guidance of the Irish Volunteer organization." It ended by regretting that Sir Roger Casement’s absence in America prevented him signing.’ (p.149); further quotes Frank O’Connor’s (‘the biography of the gunman Michael Collins’) description of Redmond as ‘hook-nosed, spineless and suave [and] a perfect Irish gentleman.’ (The Big Fellow: Life of Michael Collins, p.150.
Joseph Lee, Modernisation of Ireland, 1850-1918 (Dublin 1973), Eoin MacNeill showed in ‘The North Began’ his characteristic combination of insight and illusion. [...] The essential assumption was that Ulster Protestant attitudes were basically the consequences of British duplicity. The Unionist mentality was attributed to the divide and conquer polities pursued by Britain. Once the British notified the Unionists that their interests would be satisfactorily guarded in a home rule state the scales would drop from their eyes and they too would enter the promised land ... [18-19] Eoin MacNeill showed in ‘The North Began’ his characteristic combination of insight and illusion. [...] The essential assumption was that Ulster Protestant attitudes were basically the consequences of British duplicity. The unionist mentality was attributed to the divide and conquer polities pursued by Britain. Once the British notified the Unionists that their interests would be satisfactorily guarded in a home rule state the scales woudl drop from their eyes and they too would enter the promised land [...; 18-19] MacNeill, ‘History shows that this present sentiment of theirs is a calculated outcome of persistent and unscrupulous policy of English statesmen pursued purely in "the English interest" ... The rest of the Ulster difficulty consists of fears and prophecies.’ Dismissed fears that under home rule ‘the religion and industry of Ulster Protestants would be suppressed’ with the triumphant affirmaton that ‘there is no body of people in the world more free from intolerance in matters of religion than the Catholics of Ireland.’ ( The Ulster Difficulty, Dublin 1917, p.24, 23.) [19]. Further: MacNeill felt that only if ‘the vital principle of nationality’ was at stake could a rising be morally justified. He also held that ‘unacceptible measures could morally be resisted’, including the attempt to make the Volunteers surrender their arms. (Lyons, Ireland, p.347-8). Lee concludes, the differences between MacNeill and Pearse were less those of moral principle than of tactical opinion. [27] MacNeill had a horror of state intervention, ‘The use of Irish public servants was and would be mainly conditioned by the public attitude on the matter and ... a purely bureaucratic and official favouring of Irish, in the absence of a strongly more than a barren conformity’; and further, ‘you might as well be putting wooden leg on hens as trying to restore Irish through the school system.’ (MacNeill to Cosgrave, 22 Oct 1924; SPO S3717) [133]. Lee speaks of MacNeill’s image of Ireland isle of saints and sages, and ‘schoolmasters of Europe’. [133]. Further, Eoin MacNeill appointed to represent the Free State on the Commission confronted by Mr Justice Feetham, an English born South Africa Supreme Court veteran. ... Controversy has concentrated on the appointment of MacNeill. When the Commission agreed on the exchange of S. Armagh for East Donegal, WT Cosgrave’s Govt. quickly opted for the status quo, accepting relief from the share of the British national debt stipulated in Art. 5. Did MacNeill handled negotiations effectively? According to Prof. Mansergh, ‘a more agile, if need be less principled, Irish member would at least have ensured that the break came earlier ... (See ‘Eoin MacNeill - a reappraisal’, Studies 73, Summer 1974; also G. J. Hand, ‘MacNeill and the Boundary Commission’, in Martin and Byrne, eds., Scholar Revolutionary, p.272. Desmond Williams wonders, ‘Was it prudent to send such an ambassador?’ [144-147].
D. George Boyce, Nationalism in Ireland (London: Routledge 1982; 1991 Edn.), discussing the theory of Gaelic high-kingship developed by MacNeill: ‘thus the twentieth-century scholar, Eoin MacNeill, sought to prove that there was a high-kingship of Ireland, an Irish law of a national extent, and a king who was supreme judge and law-giver.’ (p.26; citing F. X. Martin, with J. F. Byrne, eds., The Scholar Revolutionary: Eoin MacNeill and the Making of the New Ireland, Shannon 1973.)
Léon Ó Bróin, Protestant Nationalists in Revolutionary Ireland (1985), index, Gaelic League [formidable contribution expounding its philosophy], 11; writes on Home Rule [The North Began described Ulster Volunteer movement as essentially a home rule movement, and as the British Army had not been used against it, nor could it be used to prevent the rest of the country having a like force; seized on especially by Hobson, who recognised its revolutionary possibilities], 61-2; Chief of Staff of Irish Volunteers [Ireland could not take part in foreign quarrels until legislatively independent; repudiated Redmond], 64; confronts Pearse [alleged Castle document purporting to show that the govt. was about to disarm the Volunteers; at first credulous, but later recognised it as bogus; wrung admission that Rising was intended from Pearse; told him he would do everything in his power short of informing the government to prevent it; had notice inserted in Sunday Independent, and instructed Hobson and JJ O’Connell to take charge of Cork and Dublin], 81; surprised by Rising [, 86; position of, after rising, 104; actions during Easter Week, 114-16; arrest and trial, 116-117; returns to Dublin, 146; member of Dáil, 166-67; criticised Boundary Commission proposals, 205-07; looks at position of Irish language, 207-09, 217; death, 218.
Donal McCartney, ‘MacNeill and Irish-Ireland’, in F. X. Martin and F. J. Byrne, eds., The Scholar Revolutionary: Eoin MacNeill and the Making of the New Ireland, 1973): ‘MacNeill’s cultural nationalism was almost a copy-book reproduction of that preached by the great romantic nationalists … Like the European nationalists his appeal was "to the masses" and Irish should cultivated "for the people", "however poor and struggling", and not for the students.’ (p.86; cited in Nuala C. Johnson, ‘Making Space: Gaeltacht Policy and the Politics of Identity’, in Brian Graham, ed., Geography Bibliography, In Search of Ireland: A Cultural Geography of Ireland, Routledge 1997, 174-91, p.181.)
Edna Longley, ‘From Cathleen to Anorexia’, in The Living Stream: Literature and Revisionism in Ireland, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe 1994), ‘[P]rior to the 1916 Rising, MacNeill sent round a circular trying to lower the temperature: “What we call our country is not a poetical abstraction … There is no such person as Cathleen Ni Houlihan … who is calling upon us to serve her.”’ (pp.173-95; p.175; see also remarks on 1916 Rising, quoted infra.)
BAIS Newsletter (No. 15, July 1998), refers to Charles O’Beirne’s defence of Eoin MacNeill against charge of ‘cynical betrayal’ in Foinse (April 1998).
Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, reviewing Oonagh Walsh, Ireland’s Independence (2002), writes that F. X. Martin was grossly inaccurate in his account of MacNeill and the formation of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 - MacNeill did not, for instance, advocate the fromation of such a force in his article “The North Began” in A Claidheamh Soluis. [...&c.]’ (Books Ireland, Sept. 2002, p.213.)
Seamus Deane, gen. ed., Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 2, selects ‘The North Began’ (1913)
[‘the two-edged sword of “Ulster” [...] every element of
sham and insincerity is a mortage given to destiny ... the only solution
now possible is for the empire either to make terms with Ireland or to
let Ireland go her own way’, 285-88]; ‘Our whig Inheritance’,
short article in Ireland Today (Nov. 1936) [the article argues
that Gaelic Ireland possessed no state but looked instead to a nation
for a common identity, ‘our claims to political autonomy, to having
a State of our own, have never been based and could not have been based
on Ireland’s having existed in former times as a State. They were
based, and rightly based, on th existence of an Irish Nation throughout
the ages of Irish history’ 980-82]; his article of Nov. 1913 [supra]
persuaded Bulmer Hobson and others in the IRB to front him for the Irish
Volunteers, 556; Patrick Pearse, ‘Professor Eoin MacNeill pointed
out last week that we have at this moment an opportunity of rectifying
the capital error we made when we allowed ourselves to be disarmed; and
such oppor-tunities, he reminds us, do not always come back to nations’,
557-58; the difference between the Gael and the Celt pointed out by MacNeill,
WP Ryan, and Sigerson [Deane, ed.], 722; Thomas MacDonagh intermediary
between Pearse and MacNeill, 780; A scholarly rationale for [the] shift
in emphasis from the state to the nation was provided by historical researches
of Eoin MacNeill ... MacNeill felt compelled to take issue with Thomas
Davis’s ballad “A Nation Once Again” on the grounds that
it imples that Ireland was not already a nation [as distinct from a state,
Luke Gibbon, ed. ], 953; Thomas Kettle gave evidence on his behalf at
court-martial, 1018; Arthur Clery defended MacNeill at court-martial,
1019, 368, Biog. & Criticism [as supra]. FDA3 remarks at 458, 504n,
Bulmer Hobson’s account of his role in 1916, ‘it was often easier
to convince MacNeill that nothing could be done than it was to spur him
into positive action.’ (Ireland Yesterday and Tomorrow, 1968,
Chp. VIII, 505-09, 559, 659.)
Belfast Central Public Library holds Daniel O’Connell and Sinn Fein (n.d.); Early Irish laws and Institutions (n.d.); Phases of Irish History (1919).
Hyland Books (Cat. 214) lists St Patrick, Apostle of Ireland (1934); also John Ryan, ed., St Patrick (1964), with memoir by Michael Tierney and a Patrician Bibliography by F X Martin; MacNeill papers (Exhibition Catalogue, July 1959), 23pp.
Early Irish laws and Institutions (Dublin: Burns Oates and
Washbourne [n.d.]) [publishers to the Holy See]; p.36 incl. ref. to T. Ó Raithbheartaigh, ed. Genealogical Tracts, I, for Irish MSS Commission
(1932); takes issue with P. W. Joyce’s descripton of the organising
principle of the tuath as the clann or tribe (p.7ff.; ref. Joyce, Social History, 1903, I, 166); ‘Civilisation and barbarism
are a matter of degree’ (p.49); A centralised authority is an instrument
of civilisation, not an essential. The absolute [49] state, the all--comprising
State is a thing specifically pagan.’ [50].
Test act: MacNeill answered Rolleston’s dismissal of Irish for modern communication and criticism at the special meeting of the Gaelic League council, 1 Feb. 1896, and translated the test passages in the ensuing experiment from Hyde’s Irish back into English [see Rolleston, RX]. There is an account of MacNeill in WP Ryan, The Pope’s Green Island (1912), pp.61-62, ‘The fact is he sees the whole Gaelic ideal so clearly, and it has become so much a part of himself, that to his philosophic nature the notion of growing impassioned about it would be ludicrous ... with Mr. MacNeill we have put [that] childish little theory [ie., Arnold’s theory of Gaelic temperament] to sleep in practice’ [62].
O’Connellite: Eoin MacNeill’s writings ‘show a constant insistence to place O’Connell in the heart of the Irish political tradition’. (Brian Farrell, ‘MacNeill in Politics’, in The Scholar Revolutionary, Eoin MacNeill 1867-1945, and the Making of the New Ireland, ed. FX Martin and F. J. Byrne, Dublin 1973, p.185; cited in Fergus O’Ferrall, ‘Liberty and Catholic Politics 1790-1990’, in Daniel O’Connell, Political Pioneer, ed. Maurice R. O’Connell, 1991, pp.35-56; p.134.)
Irish kings: The Irish Year Book (Sinn Féin [c.1919]), contains an unsigned article prob. by Eoin MacNeill, listing the Gaelic Kings from Annals of Four Masters chronology, and adding the English kings recognised in Ireland, viz, Henry II, Edward the Bruce, James I, Charles II, and George III, as being acknowledged by the patriotic Parliament (pp.265-73.)
Kith & Kin: his brother was James McNeill (1869-1938) second Gov. General of the Irish Free State, who used the variant spelling.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)