Augustine Birrell
George V | |
---|---|
Prime Minister | Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman H. H. Asquith |
Preceded by | James Bryce |
Succeeded by | Sir Henry Duke |
Personal details | |
Born | Wavertree, Liverpool, England | 19 January 1850
Died | 20 November 1933 London, England | (aged 83)
Political party | Liberal |
Spouse(s) | Margaret Mirrielees (d. 1879) Eleanor Tennyson (d. 1915) |
Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
Augustine Birrell KC (19 January 1850 – 20 November 1933) was a British Liberal Party politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916. In this post, he was praised for enabling tenant farmers to own their property, and for extending university education for Catholics, but was criticised for failing to take action against the rebels before the Easter Rising, leading to his subsequent resignation. A barrister by training, he was also an author, noted for humorous essays.
Early life
Birrell was born in
He was educated at
His first wife, Margaret Mirrielees, died in 1879, only a year after their marriage, and in 1888 he married Eleanor Tennyson, daughter of the poet
Entry into politics
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After unsuccessfully contesting parliamentary seats in Liverpool, Walton in 1885 and Widnes in 1886, Birrell was elected to parliament for West Fife at a by-election in 1889, as a Liberal.[9] He retained his seat in the general elections of 1892 and 1895, but in the general election of 1900 he stood in Manchester North East and was defeated. In 1903 he edited Eight Years of Tory Government, a "handbook for the use of Liberals", which attacked the incumbent Conservative administration's record on issues such as housing and worker's compensation.[10]
President of the Board of Education
In December 1905 Birrell was included in the cabinet of
Birrell introduced the Education Bill 1906, intended to address nonconformist grievances arising from the Education Act 1902. The bill passed the Liberal-dominated House of Commons comfortably, but the House of Lords, with a Conservative majority, passed wrecking amendments which undermined its meaning, and the government dropped it. This use of dilatory parliamentary procedures and wrecking amendments over the education bill began a period of political tension between the Commons and Lords which ultimately concluded with the Lords' rejection of the People's Budget of 1909, sparking the Constitutional Crises of 1909–11.[15]
Birrell had been seen as a poor advocate for the bill, although he complained privately that it was mainly Lloyd George's work, and that he himself had had little say over its contents.[16] The defeat of the bill made it impossible for Birrell to continue in his post, and in January 1907 he was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, to replace James Bryce who had been made Ambassador to the United States. While serving in government, Birrell supported a number of progressive measures and proposals such as expanded housing provisions, land reform,[17] and substantial increases in education spending at both primary and secondary level.[18]
Birrell and Women's Suffrage
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Like many of his political colleagues and members of the general public, Birrell strongly disapproved of the
Chief Secretary for Ireland
Council Bill, Universities Bill and Land Bill
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Augustine_Birrell_Vanity_Fair_18_January_1906.jpg/220px-Augustine_Birrell_Vanity_Fair_18_January_1906.jpg)
Birrell's first
Birrell had more success in areas such as Education and the Irish land question. His excellent relations with both Roman Catholic and Protestant church leaders such as Archbishop of Dublin William Walsh ensured the successful passage of the Irish Universities Bill 1908, which established the National University of Ireland and Queen's University Belfast and dissolved the Royal University of Ireland. It solved the sectarian problem in higher education by dividing the Protestant and Catholic traditions into their own separate spheres and ensured Catholic, Nationalist scholars had access to university education.[9] Contemporaries also praised his achievement in carrying the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act (1909), which though falling far short in its financial provisions allowed for compulsory purchase by the Land Commission of large areas of land for the relief of congestion, through a hostile House of Lords.[25]
Home Rule Bill
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After the passing, with the support of the
World War
In the latter part of 1915 Birrell was one of those Liberal ministers (others being
Easter Rising
A further threat to Birrell's administration had arisen with the formation in November 1913 of the Irish Volunteers, ostensibly to safeguard Home rule but in fact, under the influence of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) aiming to break the union with Britain altogether. Feelings in nationalist Ireland were further aroused by the possibility of conscription. Sir Matthew Nathan, Birrell's Under-Secretary since October 1914, told him in September 1915 that the Nationalist Party was losing ground in the country and that extreme nationalists, often referred to as Sinn Féiners, were gaining support. Nathan took measures such as suppressing newspapers and forcing Irish Volunteer organisers to leave the country. The Irish Party leaders, Redmond and Dillon, cautioned against taking direct action against the 'Sinn Féiners' and the administration kept to that policy.[33] Birrell himself felt that the danger of a bomb outrage was greater than that of an insurrection.[34] His assessment was proved wrong when the Easter Rising began on 24 April 1916.
Birrell had spent Easter in London, where Nathan had telegraphed him with news of the capture and scuttling of the arms ship the Aud and the arrest of Sir
Personal life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Augustine_Birrell%3B_Katharine_Frances_Asquith_%28n%C3%A9e_Horner%29%3B_Anthony_Birrell_by_Lady_Ottoline_Morrell_%28borderless%29.jpg/220px-Augustine_Birrell%3B_Katharine_Frances_Asquith_%28n%C3%A9e_Horner%29%3B_Anthony_Birrell_by_Lady_Ottoline_Morrell_%28borderless%29.jpg)
While Birrell's first phase as Chief Secretary was a clear success, the period from about 1912 onwards saw something of a decline in Birrell's career which was also mirrored in his domestic life. Birrell's second wife Eleanor had been suffering from an inoperable brain tumour and this eventually caused her to lose her sanity. This affected Birrell deeply, privately and publicly, but he did not tell his political colleagues, who were simply given to understand that she did not care for social life. There were two sons of the marriage, Francis and Anthony.
The quality of his public work deteriorated and as one historian has noted the severe personal strain must have been a contributory factor in "...the uncharacteristic combination of excessive zeal and indecision which marked [Birrell's] response to the Dublin industrial agitation of 1913".[39] Only after Eleanor died in 1915 did Birrell begin to regain some of his old energy and effectiveness as a minister.
Later life
Birrell did not defend his seat in the 1918 general election, nor did he ever return to Ireland. In 1929, he accepted an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland, but storms in the Irish Sea prevented him from making the crossing and he had to receive his degree in absentia.[40] He returned to literature with a further volume of essays and book reviews, More Obiter Dicta (1920) and a book on his father-in-law, Frederick Locker-Lampson.[31] He died in London on 20 November 1933, aged eighty-three. His autobiography, Things Past Redress, was published posthumously.
Selected works
- Obiter Dicta, Elliot Stock, 1885
- Res Judicatae: Papers and Essays, Charles Scribner's Sons 1892
- Essays about Men, Women, and Books, Elliot Stock, 1895
- Collected Essays, Elliot Stock, 1899[41] (comprising Obiter Dicta; Res Judicatae; Essays about Men, Women, and Books)
- Miscellanies, Elliot Stock, 1901
- Essays and Addresses, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1901 (same content as Miscellanies)
- William Hazlitt, Macmillan, 1902
- Eight Years of Tory Government, 1895-1903; home affairs; handbook for the use of liberals London, 1903
- In the Name of the Bodleian, and Other Essays, Elliot Stock, 1905
- Andrew Marvell, Macmillan, 1905
- Selected Essays: 1884–1907, Thomas Nelson, 1909
- Self-Selected Essays : a Second Series, Nelson, 1917
- More Obiter Dicta, W. Heinemann ltd., 1924
- Et Cetera: A Collection, Chatto and Windus, 1930
- Things Past Redress London, 1937
Papers
The main collection of Birrell's papers, those dealing with his period as Chief Secretary, are deposited in the
References
- ^ Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae; by Hew Scott
- ^ "Birrell, Augustine (BRL870A)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Alvin Jackson, Augustine Birrell in Brack et al. (eds.) Dictionary of Liberal Biography; Politico's, 1998 pp 42
- ^ a b Who was Who, OUP 2007
- ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 989–990.
- ^ Ó Broin, Leon, The Chief Secretary: Augustine Birrell in Ireland, Chatto & Windus, 1969 pp. 3–4
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 136
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 206
- ^ a b Jackson, Augustine Birrell, p.43
- ^ Birrell, Augustine, ed. (1903). Eight Years of Tory Government, 1895-1903. The Liberal Publication Department. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ a b Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, pp. 4–5
- ^ "No. 27862". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 December 1905. p. 8892.
- ISBN 978-0521530538. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ISBN 978-0826421173. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ Havighurst, Alfred F., Britain in Transition: The Twentieth Century, University of Chicago Press, 1985, pp. 89–90
- ^ Crosby 2014, pp.74-7
- ^ "New Land Purchase Bill before House of Commons | Century Ireland". RTÉ.ie. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-08.
- ^ "EDUCATION (PROVISION OF MEALS) BILL. (Hansard, 2 March 1906)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 2 March 1906. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
- ISBN 978-1136247545. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- ^ Wilson, Trevor, ed. (1970). The Political Diaries of C P Scott: 1911–1928. Collins. p. 35.
- ^ "Deputation received by other ministers". Votes for Women. 15 August 1913. pp. 664–5. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, pp. 11–15
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, pp. 18–19
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, pp. 25–26
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, pp. 20–24
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, pp. 57–58
- ^ Ronan Fanning, "Why commemorating the Home Rule Bill would be unwise" Archived 16 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Irish Times, 16 August 2014
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 85
- ^ Patricia Jalland, The liberals and Ireland: the Ulster question in British politics to 1914, Harvester Press, Brighton, 1980, p. 169
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 106
- ^ a b
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Birrell, Augustine". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 460.
- ^ Guinn 1965 pp.126-7
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 149
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 166
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 173
- ^ Ó Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 174
- ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970, p. 116
- ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 161
- ^ Pat Jalland, Augustine Birrell in Dictionary of National Biography, OUP 2004–08
- ^ Irish Times 9 August 2008
- ^ "Review of Collected Essays by Augustine". The Athenæum (3773): 200–201. 17 February 1900. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ Cameron Hazlehurst, Sally Whitehead & Christine Woodland, A Guide to the Papers of British Cabinet Ministers, 1900–1964; Royal Historical Society, Cambridge, 1996
- Bibliography
- "Obituary: Augustine Birrell". The Times. 21 November 1933.
- Crosby, Travis. L. (2014), The Unknown David Lloyd George: A Statesman in Conflict, London: IB Tauris and Co. Ltd, ISBN 978-1-78076-485-6, retrieved 23 August 2014
- ISBN 1902301099.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Jalland, Pat (2004). "Augustine Birrell: Politician and Author". Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: OUP.
- Guinn, Paul (1965). British Strategy and Politics 1914-18. Clarendon. ASIN B0000CML3C.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- Works by Augustine Birrell at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Augustine Birrell at Internet Archive
- Works by Augustine Birrell at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Hansard 1803–2005: augustine birrell contributions in Parliament by {{{2}}}