James Winder Good (1877–1930) was an Irish political journalist and writer. Rejecting the Unionism of his

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

youth, Good migrated from the Belfast ''Newsletter'' to Dublin's ''

Freeman's Journal The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper. Patriot journal It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified with rad ...

''. In the years leading to Irish statehood and

Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

he was a persistent critic of British policy and of Irish

sectarianism Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

. Good was born 15 January 1877 in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, eldest son of Benjamin Good, an RIC constable, and Margaret Good (née Winder). His family moved to

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 Kingdom ...

and he was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...

, where he befriended

Robert Wilson Lynd Robert Wilson Lynd (''Irish: Roibéard Ó Floinn''; 20 April 1879 – 6 October 1949) was an Irish writer, editor of poetry, urbane literary essayist, socialist and Irish nationalist. Early life He was born in Belfast to Robert John Lynd, a P ...

and Paul Henry. Lynd recalled Good remarking that he wouldn't miss a Belfast riot for the offer of a first-night seat at a London play. Good graduated from Queen's College Belfast began his journalistic career in Belfast as a reporter with the ''Newsletter''. He supported the Ulster Literary Theatre. In 1908, the company produced his play "Leaders of the people" at the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...

in Dublin. Written under the pseudonym ‘Robert Harding’, the Ibsenite drama focuses on the trials of new conciliation party candidate in an Ulster election. Good was assistant editor of the ''

Northern Whig The ''Northern Whig'' (from 1919 the ''Northern Whig and Belfast Post'') was a daily regional newspaper in Ireland which was first published in 1824 in Belfast when it was founded by Francis Dalzell Finlay. It was published twice weekly, Monday ...

'' before moving in 1916, the year of the Easter Rising, to

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 c ...

to work as a leader writer for the ''

'', a paper closely allied to the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...

. Despite his aversion to

, Good supported acceptance of twenty-six county

dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...

statehood under 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 ...

. He believed that "hard" economic facts would persuade the Unionist six-county regime in Belfast that economic stability required "working arrangements" with the new Free State government in Dublin, and might, in time, "open the eyes of its former devotees to the drawbacks of Partition". In 1921, Good published a short polemical biography of the

Land League The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farme ...

activist

Michael Davitt Michael Davitt (25 March 184630 May 1906) was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his caree ...

. It expresses Good's preference for a national politics based on open organisation (as opposed to the "Fenianism" of Davitt's early years) and on popular economic and social interest. He lauds Davitt as the man whose "hammer strokes destroyed a system of land tenure, which for over three centuries had been the most powerful instrument in encompassing the economic degradation of the Irish people, and ensuring their subjugation to alien rule." As leader writer and drama critic Good joined of the Irish Independent when, after the

anti-Treaty IRA 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 ...

destroyed its presses, the Freeman's Journal merged with the paper in 1924. Good was also a regular correspondent for British and U.S. newspapers. From 1923 Good was assistant to

George William Russell George William Russell (10 April 1867 – 17 July 1935), who wrote with the pseudonym Æ (often written AE or A.E.), was an Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, painter and Irish nationalist. He was also a writer on mysticism, and a centra ...

as editor of the

Irish Statesman The ''Irish Statesman'' was a weekly journal promoting the views of the Irish Dominion League. It ran from 27 June 1919 to June 1930, edited by Warre B. Wells, assisted by James Winder Good, and with contributions from W. B. Yeats, George Bern ...

(1923–30) "the first major post-independence Irish intellectual review." Contributors included W.B. Yeats,

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

and Susan Langstaff Mitchell. Good died in Dublin on 2 May 1930.

Works

* ''Leaders of the people'' (play written under the pseudonym Robert Harding; premiered at the

, Dublin, 1908) * ''Ulster and Ireland'' (Maunsel & Co. Ltd, Dublin, 1919) * ''Irish Unionism'' (Dublin: Talbot Press, 1920) * ''

'' (Cumann Leigeacrai an Phobail, Dublin, 1921). *"Two Irish Patriots (Dr William Drennan and Mrs Martha McTier)", ''Studies: an Irish Quarterly Review'' 10:38, 1921.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Good, James Winder 1877 births 1930 deaths Irish Protestants Protestant Irish nationalists