Andrew Reginald Nicholas Gerald Bonaparte-Wyse, CBE, CB (1 November 1870 – 1 June 1940) was an Irish civil servant and for many years the sole Roman Catholic in the Northern Ireland administration to rise to the rank of

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

Early life

Andrew Reginald Nicholas Gerald Bonaparte-Wyse was born on 1 November 1870 in Limerick, Ireland. He was the grandson of Sir Thomas Wyse, a Member of Parliament and educational reformer, and great-grandson of Lucien Bonaparte. His father,

William Bonaparte-Wyse Captain William Charles Bonaparte-Wyse (20 January 1826 – 3 December 1892) was an Irish soldier and poet. Early life William Charles Bonaparte-Wyse was born in Waterford, the son of the politician and educational reformer Sir Thomas Wyse, a ...

, was a poet who wrote in

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

, was a friend of

Mistral Mistral may refer to: * Mistral (wind) in southern France and Sardinia Automobiles * Maserati Mistral, a Maserati grand tourer produced from 1963 until 1970 * Nissan Mistral, or Terrano II, a Nissan 4×4 produced from 1993 until 2006 * Micropl ...

, and became the only foreign member of the consistory of the Félibrige, the Provençal cultural association. He was educated at

Downside School Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey. Originall ...

. He graduated from the University of London with Bachelor of Arts in French, and received a Master of Arts in Classics.

Career

After teaching for some time near

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, in 1895, he was appointed an inspector of national schools in Ireland. In 1897, he went to France and Belgium to assist an inquiry into the primary school curriculum. In 1905, he was appointed to the central office of the Commissioners of National Education, and a decade later was appointed junior secretary, the second-ranking officer in the department. Described by the historian Joseph Lee as a "hardline Unionist", Bonaparte-Wyse remarked on the change of attitude in Dublin following the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

of 1916: "there is a very menacing tone among the lower classes who openly praise the Sinn Féiners for their courage and bravery".Joseph Lee, ''Ireland, 1912–1985: Politics and Society''. (Cambridge University Press, 1989), page 32. Following the Partition of Ireland in 1922, Bonaparte-Wyse transferred to the Northern Ireland Ministry of Education; he commuted to Belfast weekly from his home in Blackrock, County Dublin. In 1927, he was appointed

, the only Roman Catholic at that grade in the service, and the last before the appointment of Patrick Shea in 1969. Bonaparte-Wyse later became a civil service commissioner for Northern Ireland before retiring in 1939. He was a member 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 List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

, a

Knight of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

, a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

Personal life

In 1896, he married Mariya de Chripunov, the daughter of a Russian aristocrat; the couple had had three children; two daughters, Helen Victoria and Mary Alexandrine, and a son, William Lucien, who served in the Free French Navy during the Second World War.

Death

He died in a nursing home in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, in 1940, aged 69.

References

*
Wyse, Andrew Reginald Nicholas Gerald Bonaparte-
in the '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaparte-Wyse, Andrew Nicholas 1870 births 1940 deaths House of Bonaparte Alumni of the University of London Civil servants from Northern Ireland Catholic Unionists Companions of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Irish people of French descent Knights of Malta People from Limerick (city) People educated at Downside School