Eoin MacNeill ( ga, Eoin Mac Néill; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar,

Irish language Irish (an Caighdeán Oifigiúil, Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages, Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European lang ...

enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland r ...

from 1921 to 1922,

Minister for Industries The Minister for Industries was a position in the Ministry of Dáil Éireann, the government of the Irish Republic, the self-declared state which was established in 1919 by Dáil Éireann, the parliamentary assembly made up of the majority of Ir ...

1919 to 1921 and

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

January 1919 to April 1919. He served as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms s ...

(TD) from 1918 to 1927. He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for Londonderry City from 1918 to 1922 and a Member of the Northern Ireland Parliament (MP) for Londonderry from 1921 to 1925. A key figure of the

Gaelic revival The Gaelic revival ( ga, Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including folklore, mythology, sports, music, arts, etc.). Ir ...

, MacNeill was a co-founder of the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it em ...

, to preserve Irish language and culture. He has been described as "the father of the modern study of early Irish medieval history". He established the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...

in 1913 and served as Chief-of-Staff of the minority faction after its split in 1914 at the start of the World War. He held that position at the outbreak of the Easter Rising in 1916, but had no role in the Rising or its planning, which was carried out by his nominal subordinates, including

Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...

, who were members of the secret society, the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

. On learning of the plans to launch an uprising on Easter Sunday, and after confronting Pearse about it, MacNeill issued a countermanding order, placing a last-minute newspaper advertisement instructing Volunteers not to take part. In 1918 he was elected to the

First Dáil The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the Un ...

as a member of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

Early life

MacNeill was born John McNeill, one of five children born to Archibald McNeill, a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

working-class baker, sailor and merchant, and his wife, Rosetta (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

'' McAuley) McNeill, also a Catholic. He was raised in

Glenarm Glenarm () is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies on the North Channel coast north of the town of Larne and the village of Ballygalley, and south of the village of Carnlough. It is situated in the civil parish of Tickmacreva ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, an area which "still retained some Irish-language traditions". His niece was nationalist and teacher,

Máirín Beaumont Máirín or Maureen Beaumont (7 December 1894 - 19 January 1972) was an Irish nationalist and teacher. Early life and family Máirín or Maureen Beaumont was born Mary McGavock in Glenarm, County Antrim on 7 December 1894. Her parents were Anni ...

. MacNeill was educated at

St Malachy's College St Malachy's College, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the oldest Catholic diocesan college in Ulster. The college's alumni and students are known as Malachians. History The college, founded by Bishop William Crolly, opened on the feast of Sa ...

(Belfast) and

Queen's College, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. He had an interest in Irish history and immersed himself in its study. He achieved a BA degree in economics, jurisprudence and constitutional history in 1888, and then worked in the British

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. He co-founded the

in 1893, along with

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde ( ga, Dubhghlas de hÍde; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician and diplomat who served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 t ...

; MacNeill was unpaid secretary from 1893 to 1897, and then became the initial editor of the League's official newspaper ''

An Claidheamh Soluis ''An Claidheamh Soluis'' () was an Irish nationalist newspaper published in the early 20th century by '' Conradh na Gaeilge'' (the Gaelic League). It was named for the "Sword of Light" (in modern spelling ''Claíomh Solais'') of Gaelic myth. ...

'' (1899–1901). He was also editor of the '' Gaelic Journal'' from 1894 to 1899. In 1908, he was appointed professor of early Irish history at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. He married Agnes Moore on 19 April 1898. The couple had eight children, four sons and four daughters (though the 1911 census entry for Mac Neill noted 11 children, seven of whom were still alive).

Irish Volunteers

The Gaelic League was from the start strictly non-political, but in 1915, a proposal was put forward to abandon that policy and become a semi-political organisation. MacNeill strongly supported that and rallied to his side a majority of delegates at the 1915 ''

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): **Dáil Éireann ...

''. Douglas Hyde, a non-political Protestant, who had co-founded the League and been its president for 22 years, resigned immediately afterward. Eoin_MacNeill

Through the Gaelic League, MacNeill met members of

, the

(IRB), and other nationalists and republicans. One such colleague, The O'Rahilly, ran the league's newspaper ''An Claidheamh Soluis'', and in October 1913 they asked MacNeill to write an editorial for it on a subject more broad than

issues. MacNeill submitted a piece called "The North Began", encouraging formation of a nationalist volunteer force committed to

Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...

, much as the unionists had done earlier that year with the

Ulster Volunteers The Ulster Volunteers was an Irish unionist, loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Volunteers were based in the ...

to thwart Home Rule in Ireland. Bulmer Hobson, a member of the IRB, approached MacNeill about bringing the idea to fruition, and, through a series of meetings, MacNeill became chairman of the council that formed the

, later becoming its chief of staff. Unlike the IRB, MacNeill was opposed to the idea of an armed rebellion, except in resisting any suppression of the Volunteers, seeing little hope of success in open battle against the

British army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

. The Irish Volunteers had been infiltrated by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which planned on using the organisation to stage an armed rebellion, with the goal of separating Ireland from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and establishing an Irish Republic. The entry of the UK into the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

was, in their view, a perfect opportunity to do that. With the co-operation of

James Connolly James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the ...

and the

Irish Citizen Army The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a small paramilitary group of trained trade union volunteers from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) established in Dublin for the defence of workers' demonstrations from the Dublin ...

, a secret council of IRB officials planned a general rising at Easter 1916. On the Wednesday before Easter, they presented MacNeill with a letter, allegedly stolen from high-ranking British staff in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the ...

, indicating that the British were going to arrest him and all the other nationalist leaders. Unbeknownst to MacNeill, the letter—called the Castle Document—was a forgery. When MacNeill learned about the IRB's plans, and when he was informed that

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish people, Irish I ...

was about to land in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the cou ...

with a shipment of German arms, he was reluctantly persuaded to go along with them, believing British action was now imminent and that mobilization of the Irish Volunteers would be justified as a defensive act. However, after learning that the German arms shipment had been intercepted and Casement arrested, and having confronted

, who refused to relent, MacNeill countermanded the order for the Rising by sending written messages to leaders around the country, and placing a notice in the '' Sunday Independent'' cancelling the planned "manoeuvres". That greatly reduced the number of volunteers who reported for duty on the day of the Easter Rising. Pearse, Connolly and the others agreed that the uprising would go ahead anyway, but it began one day later than originally intended to ensure that the authorities were taken by surprise. Beginning on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, the Rising lasted less than a week. After the surrender of the rebels, MacNeill was arrested although he had taken no part in the insurrection. The rebel leader Tom Clarke, according to his wife Kathleen, warned her on the day before his execution, "I want you to see to it that our people know of his treachery to us. He must never be allowed back into the National life of this country, for so sure as he is, so sure will he act treacherously in a crisis. He is a weak man, but I know every effort will be made to whitewash him."

Political life

MacNeill was released from prison in 1917 and was elected MP for the National University and Londonderry City constituencies for Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election. In line with abstentionist Sinn Féin policy, he refused to take his seat in the British House of Commons in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and sat instead in the newly convened

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, where he was made Secretary for Industries in the second ministry of the

. He was a member of the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore o ...

for Londonderry between 1921 and 1925, although he never took his seat. In 1921, he supported the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

. In 1922, he was in a minority of pro-Treaty delegates at the

Irish Race Convention The Irish Race Conventions were a disconnected series of conventions held by Irish nationalists. The majority were held in the United States and supported by Irish-American organisations, but others were held in Australia, Argentina, and France. ...

in Paris. Following the establishment of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independ ...

, he became Minister for Education in its second (provisional) government, the

third Dáil The Third Dáil was elected at the general election held on 16 June 1922. This election was required to be held under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on 6 December 1921. It first met on 9 September and until 6 December 1922, it was the Provisio ...

. In 1923, MacNeill, a committed internationalist, was also a key member of the diplomatic team that oversaw Ireland's entry to the League of Nations. MacNeill's family was split on the treaty issue. One son, Brian, took the anti-Treaty side and was killed in disputed circumstances near

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

by Free State troops during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

in September 1922. Two other sons, Niall and Turloch, as well as nephew Hugo MacNeill, served as officers in the Free State Army. One of Eoin's brothers, James McNeill, was the second and penultimate

Governor-General of the Irish Free State The Governor-General of the Irish Free State ( ga, Seanascal Shaorstát Éireann) was the official representative of the Monarchy in the Irish Free State, sovereign of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1936. By constitutional convention (politi ...

Irish Boundary Commission

In 1924 the three man

Irish Boundary Commission The Irish Boundary Commission () met in 1924–25 to decide on the precise delineation of Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, the border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, which ended the Ir ...

was set up to settle the border between

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

and the Irish Free State; MacNeill represented the Irish Free State. MacNeill was the only member of the Commission without legal training and has been described as having been “pathetically out of his depth”. However, each of the Commissioners was selected out of political expediency rather than for any established competence or insight into boundary making. On 7 November 1925, a conservative British newspaper, ''

The Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British d ...

'', published a leaked map showing a part of eastern

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

(mainly The Laggan district) that was to be transferred to Northern Ireland; the opposite of the main aims of the Commission. Perhaps embarrassed by that, especially since he said that it had declined to respect the terms of the Treaty, McNeill resigned from the Commission on 20 November. On 24 November 1925 he also resigned as Minister for Education, a position unrelated to his work on the Commission. On 3 December 1925, the Free State government agreed with the governments in London and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

to end its onerous treaty requirement to pay its share of the United Kingdom's "imperial debt" and, in exchange, agreed that the 1920 boundary would remain as it was, overriding the Commission. That angered many nationalists and MacNeill was the subject of much criticism, but in reality, he and the Commission had been sidestepped by the intergovernmental debt renegotiation. In any case, despite his resignations, the intergovernmental boundary deal was approved by a Dáil vote of 71–20 on 10 December 1925, and MacNeill is listed as voting with the majority in favour. He lost his Dáil seat at the June 1927 election.

Academic

MacNeill was an important scholar of Irish history and among the first to study

Early Irish law Early Irish law, historically referred to as (English: Freeman-ism) or (English: Law of Freemen), also called Brehon law, comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norm ...

, offering both his own interpretations, which at times were coloured by his nationalism, and translations into English. He was also the first to uncover the nature of succession in Irish kingship, and his theories are the foundation for modern ideas on the subject. He was a contributor to the Royal Irish Academy's Clare Island Survey, recording the Irish place names of the island. On 25 February 1911, he delivered the inaugural address on "Academic Education and Practical Politics" to the Legal and Economic Society of University College Dublin.. His disagreements and disputes with Goddard Henry Orpen, particularly over the latter's book ''Ireland under the Normans'', generated controversy. He was President of the

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquit ...

from 1937 to 1940 and President of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural i ...

from 1940 to 1943.

Later life and death

He retired from politics completely and became Chairman of the

Irish Manuscripts Commission The Irish Manuscripts Commission was established in 1928 by the newly founded Irish Free State with the intention of furthering the study of Ireland's manuscript collections and archives. Its foundation was primarily motivated by the loss of many h ...

. In his later years he devoted his life to scholarship, he published a number of books on Irish history. MacNeill died in Dublin of natural causes, aged 78 in 1945.

Legacy

His grandson Michael McDowell served as

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Ta ...

, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, TD and a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

. Another grandson, Myles Tierney, served as a member of

Dublin County Council Dublin County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a local authority for the administrative county of County Dublin in Ireland. History The county council was established by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Its headquart ...

, where he was Fine Gael whip on the council.Profile
, Easter1916.ie; accessed 15 September 2015.

Works

*''Ireland Before Saint Patrick'' (1903) *''Duanaire Finn: the book of the lays of Fionn'' (1908) *''Early Irish population groups: their nomenclature, classification and chronology'' (1911) *''The Authorship and Structure of the

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-cen ...

'' (1913) *''Phases of Irish history'' (1919) *''The Irish law of dynastic succession'' (1919) *''The Case for an Irish Republic'' (1920) *''Celtic Ireland'' (1921) *''History of Ireland: Pre-Christian times to 1921'' (1932) *''Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland'' (1934) *''Early Irish laws and institutions'' (1935) *''The Irish Nation and Irish culture'' (1938) *''Military service in Medieval Ireland'' (1941)For a comprehensive listing of journal articles by MacNeill, see F. X. Martin: 'The Writings of Eoin MacNeill', ''Irish Historical Studies'' 6 (21) (March 1948), pp. 44–62.

References

External links

* *
Tierney/MacNeill Photographs, collection of over 500 images, the largest parts of the collection relate to the political and academic careers of Eoin MacNeill and his son-in-law Michael Tierney
UCD Digital Library Collection. File:Piece 207-155; John McNeill or Eoin McNeill (1922).pdf, page=11, British Army military intelligence file for John McNeill File:Piece 209-029; Eoin Macneill Speech 1917; Brian Macgilligan, Bernard Macgilligan (1916-1917).pdf, page=7, Eoin Macneill Speech 1917 {{DEFAULTSORT:Macneill, Eoin 1867 births 1945 deaths Academics of University College Dublin Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Burials at Kilbarrack Cemetery Cumann na nGaedheal TDs Early Sinn Féin TDs Irish magazine editors Irish newspaper editors 20th-century Irish historians Members of the 1st Dáil Members of the 2nd Dáil Members of the 3rd Dáil Members of the 4th Dáil Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for County Londonderry constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Londonderry constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the National University of Ireland Ministers for Education (Ireland) Ministers for Finance (Ireland) Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1921–1925 People educated at St Malachy's College People from County Antrim People of the Irish Civil War (Pro-Treaty side) Presiding officers of Dáil Éireann Teachtaí Dála for the National University of Ireland UK MPs 1918–1922