James Rochfort Maguire Vanity Fair 1 March 1894

James Rochfort Maguire (4 October 1855 – 18 April 1925) was a British imperialist and

Irish Nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

politician and MP in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great ...

. As a member of 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 nationa ...

he represented North Donegal (1890–92) and as a Parnellite Member he represented West Clare (1892–95). He was a friend and associate of

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Bri ...

(1853–1902), and was one of the three men who signed the original concession on which was based the

British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...

, of which he was president in 1923–25.

Life and career

He was the second son of John Mullock Maguire, rector of Kilkeedy, co. Limerick, and his wife Anne Jane née Humphreys. He was educated at Cheltenham College and

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, c ...

, where he obtained first classes in mathematics and jurisprudence. He was elected a Fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

in 1878 and was called to the bar in 1883, although he never practised the law. He married Julia Beatrice, eldest daughter of Viscount Peel, a former Speaker of the

, in 1895. While at Oxford, Maguire became friendly with Cecil Rhodes. In 1888, Rhodes sent him with Charles Rudd and Francis Thompson to negotiate a concession of land and mineral rights in

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi r ...

from Chief Lobengula at

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

. This was signed on 30 October. The

was chartered the following October and Maguire was associated with it for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, in 1888, Rhodes had reached an agreement with Parnell, whom he admired. Rhodes supported Home Rule for Ireland, but saw it as only part of an Imperial federal scheme for the whole

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

in which all the self-governing territories would send members to the Imperial Parliament. He therefore objected to the terms of

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-cons ...

's unsuccessful Home Rule Bill of 1886, which would have ended Irish representation at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bucki ...

. He gave Parnell £10,000 for the Irish Party's funds in exchange for an undertaking that the Party would promote the continuation of Irish members at Westminster (in the event both later Home Rule Bills, in 1893 and 1912, did provide for this). Maguire, who shared Rhodes' admiration for Parnell, became the main link between Rhodes and Parnell, and a seat was found for him at an uncontested by-election at North Donegal in June 1890. Less than six months later, however, the Irish Party split over Parnell's leadership. Maguire continued his support for Parnell, and, after Parnell's death in October 1891, for the embattled Parnellites. This meant that he was faced with a real fight at the general election of 1892. Then, he contested West Clare, defeating the Anti-Parnellite candidate convincingly by over 1,000 votes. However, at the following general election in 1895, after the destruction of the second Home Rule Bill by the House of Lords in 1894, Maguire lost the seat to a fresh Anti-Parnellite candidate, by 403 votes. His later career was almost entirely concerned with South and central Africa. He went through the

Siege of Kimberley The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony (present-day South Africa), when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try ...

in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

with Rhodes, accompanied by his wife. After Rhodes' death in 1902, Maguire carried on his work as a businessman, in the British South Africa Company, as a director of the Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, and particularly in the development of the

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to th ...

n railway system of which he was chairman for many years. He was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in '' The London Gazette'' and '' The Times'' in ...

for his efforts during the First World War. According to ''The Times'', among dozens of friends and associates from his imperial career who attended his funeral on 24 April 1925, there was only one representative of the Irish nationalist movement, namely his former Parnellite colleague John O'Connor.

Publications

*''The pioneers of empire: Being a vindication of the principle and a short sketch of the history of chartered companies, with especial reference to the British South Africa Company'', London, Methuen, 1896Note: Amazon attributes the first two publications to James Rochfort Maguire, but the British Library catalogue indicates authorship only as by "An Imperialist." *''Cecil Rhodes: A biography and appreciation'' (Macmillan's colonial library), 1897 *The case of Ireland: "The Times" proposal. My suggestions, 1919 *"Rhodesia," ''Journal of the African Society'' (continued as ''African Affairs''), Vol.22 No.86, January 1923, pp. 81–95

References

Sources

*''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'', 20 April 1925, pp. 6 and 7 *

F. S. L. Lyons Francis Stewart Leland Lyons (11 November 1923 – 21 September 1983) was an Irish historian and academic who was Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1974 to 1981. Biography Known as Le among his friends and family, Lyons was born in Derry, ...

, ''Charles Stewart Parnell'', London, Collins, 1977, pp. 442–4, 587–9 * *''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

'', 20 and 23 April 1925 *Brian M. Walker (ed.), ''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922'', Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 1978 *''Who Was Who'' 1916–1928

External links

*
Portrait photo of James Rochford Maguire’s wife Julia, née Peel (National Portrait Gallery, London)
( ttp://www.namebase.org/xmag/J_2Erochfort-Maguire.html Archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maguire, James Rochfort 1855 births 1925 deaths Irish Protestants Irish Parliamentary Party MPs UK MPs 1892–1895 Protestant Irish nationalists Parnellite MPs Irish non-fiction writers Irish male non-fiction writers Politicians from County Limerick Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Donegal constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Clare constituencies (1801–1922)