Life
1865-1950 [pseud. of Rev. James Owen Hannay]; b. 16 July, Belfast, Church
of Ireland clergyman’s son; ed. Haileybury and TCD, ordained 1889
[var. 1888]; rector of Holy Trinity Church, Westport, Co. Mayo, 1892-1913
[offic. 1916]; Donnellan Lecturer, TCD, 1901-02; active in Gaelic League,
he withdrew from executive to avoid a split amongst the nationalist
Catholic membership arising from animosity of PP from Tuam, 1906, in response
to supposed caricature in The Seething Pot (1905); also criticised
for Hyacinth (1906), the story of Hyacinth Conneally, as she moved
from Protestantism to Irish nationalism and finally rejects fanaticism
in favour of faith and family; based on a convent-centred industry taken
to be the Foxford Woollen Mills; Eleanor’s Enterprise, produced
by Count Markievicz for the Independent Theatre (1911); boycotted in Westport
after successful production of play, General John Regan, a novel
featuring Dr. O’Grady and Major Kent in a tale about a nationalist
monument raised by a returning American to a non-existent Irish hero;
a play-version premiered in London by Charles Hawtrey (1913) was toured
in Ireland and caused in Westport during which Birmingham was burned in
effigy and ejected from Gaelic League, 1914; called ‘the bigot of
Westport’ by D. P. Moran; Canon of St. Patrick’s, 1912-22; protested
against expression of attachment to the Union at the Church of Ireland
Synod, 1912, on grounds of realism; edited and introduced Recollections
of Sir Jonah Barrington (1918), professing that they would ‘shock
very severely the cultured sentimentalist who has fallen in love with
the dear, dark head of Kathleen Ni Houlihan’; became rector of Kildare
Parish, 1918-20; later chaplain to Viceroy, and the British ambassadorial
legation in Budapest, 1922; occupied living of Mells, Somerset, 1924-34;
vicar, Holy Trinity, Kensington, 1934-50 (from the year in which his wife
died); wrote nearly sixty gently satiric novels on Ireland including The
Seething Pot (1904); The Northern Iron (1907), the story of
Neal Ward, son of the Presbyterian minister Micah Ward, who becomes involved
in the Rebellion of 1798 and finally escapes to America; set in Ballintoy,
Co. Antrim; issued Is the Gaelic League Political? (1906), in support
of the League and its revivalist policy; published, Benedict Kavanagh
(1907), a novel in which the title-character finds his ground between
the claims of a nationalist father and the unionist clergyman who raised
him and makes a passionate plea for the Gaelic League; Spanish Gold
(1908), featuring Rev J. J. Meldon and Major Kent, in an adventure on
the Aran Islands ultimately centred on wise Aran islander Thomas O’Flaherty
Pat; The Search Party (1909), in which an anarchist moves to Clonmore
(Westport) and kidnaps local dignitaries and visiting MPs, and featuring
Dr. Lucius O’Grady, Birmingham’s fictional alter ego; Lalage’s
Lovers (1911); The Grand Duchess (1924); Millicent’s
Corner (1935); also Appeasement (1939), a political essay;
The Red Hand of Ulster (1912), the story of a rebellion in Ulster
led by an Irish-American millionaire, resulting in an independent Protestant
Ulster; Irishmen All (1913), a study of types that promoted an
inclusive notion of Irish nationhood; Adventures of Dr. Whitty
(1913), stories, incl. ‘The Deputation’, set in Land Commission
days; as Hannay he published The Spirit of Christian Monasticism
(1903); The Wisdom of the Desert (1904); The Connaught to Chicago
(1914; A Padre in France (1918); A Wayfarer in Hungary (1925),
and biographies, Isaiah (1937) and Jeremiah (1939), concerning
the prophet; also Pleasant Places (1934), an autobiography; disappointed
in efforts to solve the Irish conflict from standpoint of Christian toleration;
DLitt TCD, 1946; d. Kensington, London. DNB NCBE IF DIL DIW DIB DIH
KUN FDA DUB OCIL
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Works
Fiction (As George A. Birmingham), The Seething Pot (London:
Edward Arnold 1905; 6th imp. 1906), 300pp.; Hyacinth (London: Edward
Arnold 1906), another ed. (London & NY: Hodder & Stoughton [n.d.]),
316pp.; Benedict Kavanagh (London: Edward Arnold 1907; Hodder &
Stoughton 1913); The Northern Iron (Dublin: Maunsel 1907; Do.
(London: Everett [1912; var. 1913], Do., [fifth printing of
Maunsel edn.] (Dublin: Talbot 1945), 320pp.; The Bad Times (London:
Edward Arnold 1908; 3rd ed. Methuen 1913); Spanish Gold (London:
Edward Arnold 1908; 31st ed. Methuen 1935), rep. (London: Bodley Head
1973, 1990) [introduced by R B D French]; The Search Party (London:
Edward Arnold 1909, and eds.), rep. (Bodley Head 1973, 1990) [intro. Trevor
West]; Lalage’s Lovers (London: Methuen 1911, 1915), 216pp.;
The Major’s Niece (London: Smith, Elder 1911); The Simpkins
Plot (London: Nelson 1911); The Inviolable Sanctuary (London
& NY: T Nelson & Sons 1911) [CATL n.d.; DIL 1912; UUC c.1912],
369pp. front., map; US title, Priscilla’s Spies; The Red
Hand of Ulster (London: Smith, Elder; NY: George H. Doran 1912) [1st
edn. London, July; Colonial Edn., July 1912; new impr. Aug., Nov., 1912,
March 1913, May 1914, 1/- net; intro. note by Kilmse of Errigal]; Do.,
rep. with introduction by R. B. D. French (Dublin: IUP 1972), 277pp; General
John Regan (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1913), 323pp; The Adventures
of Dr. Whitty (London: Methuen 1913); The Lost Tribes (London:
Smith, Elder 1914), 331pp.; Gossamer (London: Methuen 1915); Minnie’s
Bishop and Other Stories (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1915), 344pp. [another edn.]; Methuen 1949), 205pp. [infra];
The Island Mystery (London: Methuen 1918); Our Casualty
(London: Skeffington 1919); Up the Rebels! (London: Methuen 1919)
[ded. ‘to any friends I have left in Ireland/after the publication
of this book’]; Inisheeny (London: Methuen 1920); Lady Bountiful
(London: Chrisophers 1921); The Lost Lawyer (London: Methuen 1921);
The Great-Grandmother (London: Methuen 1922); A Public Scandal
(London: Hutchinson 1922); Fed Up (London: Methuen 1923); Found
Money (London: Methuen 1923); King Tommy (London: Hodder &
Stoughton 1923); Send for Dr Grady (London: Hodder & Stoughton
1923); The Grand Duchess (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1924);
Bindon Parva (London: Mills & Boon 1925); The Gun-Runners
(London: Hodder & Stoughton 1925); Goodly Pearls (London:
Hodder & Stoughton 1926); The Smuggler’s Cave (London:
Hodder & Stoughton 1926); Now You Tell One: Stories of Irish Wit
& Humour (Dundee; London: Valentine & Sons 1927), 36pp. [mounted
frontispiece]; Ships and Sealing Wax (London: Methuen 1927); Elizabeth
and the Archdeacon (London: Gollancz 1928; Methuen 1952); The Runaways
(London: Methuen 1928, cheap ed. 1932), 252pp.; The Major’s
Candlesticks (London: Methuen 1929); Murder Most Foul! (London:
Chatto & Windus 1929); The Hymn Tune Mystery (London: Methuen
1930); Wild Justice (London: Methuen 1930); The Silver-Gilt
Standard (London: Methuen 1932); Angel’s Adventure (London:
Methuen 1933); Connaught to Chicago (London: Nisbet 1914 [1st edn.];
London: Methuen 1932) ) [var. 1933: DIL]; Two Fools (London: Methuen
1934); Love or Money (London: Methuen 1935); Millicent’s
Corner (London: Methuen 1935); Daphne’s Fishing (London:
Methuen 1937); Mrs. Miller’s Aunt (London: Methuen 1937);
Magilligan Strand (London: Methuen 1938), 250pp.; Miss
Maitland’s Spy (London: Methuen 1940); The Search for Susie
(London: Methuen 1941), 250pp.; Over the Border (London: Methuen
1942) [FDA ?1944]; Poor Sir Edward (London: Methuen 1943); Lieutenant
Commander (London: Methuen 1944); Good Intentions (London:
Methuen 1945), 190pp.; The Piccadilly Lady (London: Methuen 1946);
Golden Apple (London: Methuen 1947), 249pp; A Sea Battle
(London: Methuen 1948); Laura’s Bishop (London: Methuen 1949);
Two Scamps (London: Methuen 1950); Good Conduct (London:
John Murray [n.d.]). Collected Fiction, The Birmingham Bus [containing
Spanish Gold, The Search Party, Lalage’s Lovers,
The Adventures of Dr Whitty] (London: Methuen & Co. 1934) 888pp.
Miscellaneous, The Lighter Side of Life (London & Edinburgh: T. N. Foulis 1911; 1914; 4th edn., 1921; fifth edn., 1922), vii, 270pp; 16 col. ill. Henry W. Kerr [FDA3 err. 1912]; Intro. to Katherine Frances Purdon, Folks of Furry Farm (1914); Introduction to Recollections of Jonah Barrington [Every Irishman’s Library; Gen. Ed. A. P. Graves, with William Magennis, Douglas Hyde] (Dublin: Talbot Press; London: Fisher Unwin [1918]) [infra]; ‘The Church of Ireland’, by J O Hannay, in Irish Year Book [Sinn Féin; c.1919], pp.129-132; Irishmen All (London & Edinburgh: T. N. Foulis 1913), 224pp [12 col. ills. from oil paintings by Jack B. Yeats]; Golden Sayings from George A. Birmingham (London: L. B. Hill 1915); Spillikins: Essays (London: Methuen 1926); Can You Answer This? A Question Book (London: T. Fisher Unwin 1927); Do. (London: Ernest Benn 1946), 88pp.; Do you Know Your History? A History Questions Book (London: Gollancz 1928); Appeasement (1938) [var. 1939].
Autobiography, A Padre in France (London: Hodder & Stoughton [1918]), 302pp. [var. 1919]; An Irishman Looks at His World (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1919), 307pp. [var. 1923]; A Wayfarer in Hungary (London: Methuen 1925); Pleasant Places (London: Heinemann 1934), ill. Drama, General John Regan (London: G. Allen & Unwin 1933).
Articles [as James Hannay,] ‘Recent Humorists, Aytoun, Peacock, Prout’, North British Review 45 ([?1896]), 75-104; [George A Birmingham,] ‘The Literary Movement in Ireland’, in Fortnight Review, LXXXII (Dec. 2 1907), pp.947-57. [as J. O. Hannay,] ‘The Stage Irishman: His Origins and Development’, The Irish Times (8 Feb. 1912), p.7 [cited in Paul M. Levitt, Bibliography of Published Criticism on J. M. Synge, 1974].
Translations incl. L’avoué disparu histoire irlandaise traduite [...] par Louis Labat [The Lost Lawyer] (Paris 1933), 74pp.; Muiris Ó Cathán d’aistrigh [trans.], Iarann an Tuaiscirt (Oifig Díolta Foillseacháin Rialtais 1933), 317pp.; La double escapage traduit par Labat [The Runaways] (Paris: La Petite Illustration 1938); with Forbes Patterson, Round Our North Corner, with explanatory notes on Portrush, the White Rocks, Dunluce Castle, &c. (Giant’s Causeway: Mrs Florence E. Glass [?1955]), 3-35pp.
Bibliographical details
Minnie’s Bishop and Other Stories (NY: Hodder & Stoughton), 344pp. CONTENTS:
Minnie’s bishop; Sonny; Onnie Dever; Saints and scholars; For the famine of your houses; Fundamental society; Matty Hynes’ pig; Bedclothes; The child of our hope; Mad Antony; Civil war; The despatch rider; The highwayman; Turquoise and pearl; The ghosts; The mysterious envelope; The violinist; Passionate kisses; Eleanor's enterprise; The Careys; This lost land; Mrs. Williams; “Well done”; Biddy Canavan; The prodigal; The fate of John Goodenough.
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Criticism
Andrew Gailey, ‘An Irishman’s World, The Irish Review,
No. 13 (Winter 1992/93), pp.31-39; Brian Taylor, The Life and Writings
of James Owen Hannay (George Birmingham) 1865-1950 (Edwin Mellen Press
1995), 276pp. [0 7734 9123 6]. Studies (Autumn 1993) covers the
controversy concerning the ejection of George Birmingham from the Gaelic
League by reason on his Ascendancy connections.
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Notes
John Parker, Who’s Who in the Theatre (1930) give
Eleanor’s Enterprise as his first play, produced Gaiety Theatre
[Dublin], 1911; General John Regan, with Hawtrey, Apollo Jan 1913;
Send for Dr. O’Grady, Criterion 1923; and My America,
Coliseum, 1917.
Weldon Thornton, Synge and the Western Mind (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1979), cites George A Birmingham, ‘The Literary Movement in Ireland’, in Fortnight Review, LXXXII (Dec. 2 1907), pp.947-57. Birmingham found Synge’s Playboy ‘very difficult to understand, as difficult as Ibsen was at first to English audiences’ (Weldon, op. cit., p.135.)
Brian McKenna, Irish Literature, 1800-1875: A Guide to Information Sources (Detroit: Gale Research Co. 1978), p.258, cites James Hannay, ‘Recent Humorists, Aytoun, Peacock, Prout’, North British Review 45 ([?1896]), 75-104, in which the author remarks that Prout’s humour is thoroughly Irish ‘in its brilliance, its extravagance, and its waywardness of fanciful epigram - a kind of practical joking in literature.’
Diane Tolomeo, in Recent Research, ed. Thomas F. Kilroy (MLA 1983), cited in Cahalan. BIBL., see New Cam. Bibl. Eng. Lit., 4 (1972) 529-30; Also thesis by H. A. O’Donnell, QUB (1958-59). ADD Preface to Katherine Purdon, The Folk of Furry Farm (1914) [RX]
Bernard Share, ed., Far Green Fields, 1500 Years of Irish Travel Writing, ed. (Belfast: Blackstaff 1992) incls. extract from G. A. Birmingham, A Wayfarer in Hungary (London: Methuen 1925).
Kevin Rockett, et al., eds., Cinema & Ireland (1988), Lennox Robinson co-scripted adapt. of Birmingham’s General John Regan (Henry Edwards 1933).
Seamus Deane, gen. ed., Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 2, reprints ‘The Adventures of Dr. Whitty’ (1913), a short story set in Land League Days and advocating tolerance and understanding. FDA, Vol. 3, selects ‘The Country Gentleman’ from Irishmen All (1913), being portraits of 20th c. representative types. BIOG. FDA3 557, records he was ord. deacon, 1888; Westport rector, 1889-1913; involved in Gaelic League, and with Hyde and Plunket, and Standish O’Grady; his play General John Regan [1913] caused a riot when performed by a travelling company in Westport, 1914; France, 1916-17; rector of Kildare Parish 1918-20, and chaplain to lord lieutenant; British legation Budapest, 1922; rector of Mells, Somerset, 1924; moved to London on his wife’s death in 1934; died there in 1950.
Mellon Press, Publisher's notice on Brian Taylor, The Life and Writings of James Owen Hannay (1994), publishers’ notice: first biography, using original sources, family papers, and Hannay archive at TCD to show more complex figure than a novel-writing clergyman; involvement in Irish politics and in particular with Douglas Hyde’s Gaelic League, the contemporary scandals involving his early novels and a production of his successful play General John Regan and his masterly use of comedy to point up the ironies of Irish history are documented; 31 illustrations and complete bibliography of al his fictional, journalistic and theological writings [£49.95]
Anthony Slide, The Cinema and Ireland (1988): Stoll produced a feature based on George A. Birmingham’s novel, General John Regan, dir. by Harold Shaw and starring Milton Rosmer and Madge Stuart, in 1921. When the film was screened in Dublin at the Metropole, Autumn 1922, Rev. J. F. Flavin protested in the Irish Independent, ‘I availed myself of the earliest opportunity of seeing the production in the cinema and was horrified to think that such a travesty of Irish character and Irish life should be shown in the heart of Ireland. It is, indeed, nauseating for any self-respecting Irishman to see in the city of Dublin a film of Irish life in which the principal characters were pigs, the main scenery dirt, the chief characteristics of the people quarrelling, fighting, ignorance, drunkenness, sloth, and lying intrigue, with the representative of the Catholic Church an acquiescing buffoon. Imagine this film being advertised in a foreign country as being ‘eminently successful in Dublin’ and you can readily realise why we are sometimes slandered as ‘the dirty, ignorant Irish’ (p.17).
British Museum lists [in addition to fiction as George Birmingham], Introduction to Sir Jonah Barrington, Recollections [&c] [1918]; Intro. to Katherine Frances Purdon, Folks of Furry Farm (1914); [intor. to] Bindon Parva (Mills & Boon 1925); Can You Answer This? A Question Book (T. Fisher Unwin 1927); Do. (Ernest Benn 1946), 88pp.; Do you Know Your History? A History Questions Book (Gollancz 1928); Elizabeth and the Archdeacon (Methuen 1952); L’avoué disparu [The Lost Lawyer] histoire irlandaise traduite [...] par Louis Labat (Paris 1933), 74pp.; also La double escapage [The Runaways], traduit par Labat [La Petite Illustration, roman] (Paris 1938); The Northern Iron (Dublin: Maunsel 1907), another ed. (London: Everett’s Lib. [1913]), and Do., Irish translation as Iarann an Tuaiscirt, Muiris Ó Cathán d’aistrigh (Oifig Díolta Foillseacháin Rialtais 1933), 317pp.; The Lighter Side of Irish Life (Edinburgh: Foulis 1911), 16 ills. by W. Kerr, vii, 270pp; Do., 4th ed., 1921; fifth ed., 1922; The Birmingham Bus [containing Spanish Gold, The Search Party, Lalage’s Lovers, The Adventures of Dr Whitty] (London: Methuen & Co. 1934) 888pp.; Irish Short Stories (Faber 1942) [Whelan Cat. var. 1936]; Now You Tell Me One, Stories of Irish Wit and Humour (Dundee & London: Valentine & Sons 1927), 36pp.; also, with Round Our North Corner, with explanatory notes on Portrush, the White Rocks, Dunluce Castle, &c, by George Birmingham and Forbes Patterson (Giant’s Causeway: Mrs Florence E. Glass [?1955]), 3-35pp.
De Burca (Cat. 44; 1997) lists Spanish Gold (London: Methuen 1908; London: Bodley Head, 1973, 1990) [ 0 370 01488 X]; The Search Party (London: Methuen 1909; London: Bodley Head 1973, 1990) [0 370 01489 8]; Lalage’s Lovers (London: Methuen 1911); The Red Hand of Ulster (London: Smith Elder 1912; Harrap 1972) [0 71651 800 7]. The Inviolable Sanctuary (Nelson n.d.) [Hibernia 19] contrib. to Lady Cynthia Asquith, ed., The Funny Bone, New Humorous Stories (London: Jarrold 1928), 287pp. Magilligan Strand (London: Methuen 1938), 250pp., smuggling sweepstake tickets into England from Co. Derry; Sea Battle (Methuen 1948, [218pp], semi-sequel to Spanish Gold, set of same Connaught island; Round Our North Corner, with explanatory notes on Portrush, the White Rocks, Dunluce Castle, &c, by George Birmingham and Forbes Patterson (Giant’s Causeway: Mrs Florence E. Glass [1955]), 36pp. [given as 1970 in UUC CAT]. QRY Err. Irishmen All (London & Edinburgh: T. N. Foulis 1914 [sic].)
Ulster University Library (Morris Collection) holds General John Regan, 3 acts (1913); Irishmen All (1913); The Lighter Side of Irish Life (1911); Round Our North Corner, with explan. notes on Portrush, the White Rocks, Dunluce Castle [...] Giant’s Causeway [?1970]. (Belfast Public Library holds 35+ titles.)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)