Denny, who has recently inherited his father’s seat, has publicly promised to remain neutral between the rival candidates, including Crosbie and Colonel Henry Arthur Herbert. Crosbie believes one of Denny’s comments — whether real or perceived — breaches this neutrality, and he issues a formal challenge.
The confrontation culminates in a duel at Oak Park, Tralee. Crosbie, taking careful aim, shoots Sir Barry Denny through the head, killing him instantly. At the time, killing in such disputes is considered an affair of honour, though legally it is premeditated murder.
The killing shocks the political and social elite of County Kerry. Denny is about to be raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Denmore when he dies. The feud between the Crosbie and Denny families is bitter and long‑lasting, lasting for generations.
Crosbie is returned as MP for Kerry following the by‑election, but he dies suddenly on July 6, 1797 after falling from his horse. Local tradition holds that he was poisoned by the Denny family in revenge for the duel.
This incident remains one of the most notorious episodes in 18th‑century Irish political history, illustrating the intense personal rivalries and honour‑driven violence that often accompanied parliamentary contests in Ireland at the time.
Grattan, a leading Irish WhigMP and a key figure in the Irish Parliament’s push for greater autonomy from Britain, has long advocated for reform of the penal laws that exclude Catholics from political life. His motion seeks to remove the legal barriers preventing Catholics from being elected to Parliament, a move that would significantly alter the balance of power in Ireland.
Although the motion fails, it is part of a broader wave of reformist debate in the late 18th century. Grattan’s efforts lay the groundwork for later Catholic emancipation campaigns, culminating in the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which finally allows Catholics to sit in Parliament.
The debate is documented in the Report of Debates in the House of Commons of Ireland, session 1796–7, which records Grattan’s motion alongside other contentious issues of the time, such as the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and disarming Ulster.
In summary, on October 17, 1796, Henry Grattan’s Catholic emancipation motion is defeated in the Irish House of Commons, underscoring the resistance to Catholic political rights in Ireland at the time, but also marking an early step in the long struggle for reform.
As a result of Boyle’s death before his father the Irish Viscountcy of Dungarvan and the English Barony of Clifford pass to his eldest son,Charles Boyle (bef. 1669–1704), who later becomes the 3rd Earl of Cork and 2nd Earl of Burlington upon the death of his grandfather in 1698. By his mother Lady Elizabeth Clifford’s death in 1691, he has already inherited the Barony of Clifford, which then also passes to his son.
At the time of his death, Charles leaves behind six children from his two marriages:
Arethusa Boyle (born 1688), daughter of his second wife Lady Arethusa Berkeley, married James Vernon
Boyle’s death In 1694 ensures the continuation of the Boyle family legacy through his children, particularly his eldest son, who consolidates the family’s English and Irish peerages. He is buried in Londesborough later that same month.
Although Boyle has a distinguished career as a Member of Parliament and as a Fellow of the Royal Society, his early death precludes him from inheriting the earldoms. Nevertheless, through strategic marriages and succession, the Boyle family maintains their prominent position in Anglo-Irish nobility.
Annesley is a prominent figure in Irish politics during the late 1690s. Initially aligned with the Whig faction, he later moves closer to Tory interests, particularly in his opposition to Catholic influence and the growing presence of ScottishPresbyterians in Ulster. His political stance and actions in the Irish Parliament draw criticism from certain factions.
The “Report of the Commissioners” is a formal parliamentary document produced by a committee tasked with examining Ireland’s governance, economic conditions, and political tensions. Annesley’s involvement in drafting or presenting parts of this report is seen by some as politically damaging or controversial. The exact nature of his contribution is not fully detailed in surviving records, but it is sufficient to trigger his expulsion.
The early 1700s in Ireland are marked by ongoing sectarian tensions between Protestants and Catholics, political maneuvering between Whig and Tory factions in the Irish Parliament and economic hardship and poor governance conditions, which are themes in the commissioners’ report.
Annesley’s expulsion reflects the sensitivity of political discourse in Ireland at the time, where even well-intentioned inquiries can be used to target opponents.
Following his expulsion, Annesley continues his political career in England, being returned as MP for Preston in 1705 and later for Westbury. He remains active in Parliament until 1734, when he does not stand for re-election in the 1734 British general election.
In summary, on September 28, 1703, Francis Annesley is expelled from the Irish House of Commons for his part in the “Report of the Commissioners,” a move that underscores the political risks of engaging in sensitive parliamentary inquiries during a volatile period in Irish history.
The ban comes after just eight months of Dáil Éireann’s existence, which begins on January 21, 1919, when Sinn Féin MPs refuse to take their seats in Westminster and instead convene a separate parliament in Dublin. The British initially underestimate its significance, but events change rapidly.
Sinn Féin’s attempt to raise funds (the Dáil Loan) in August 1919 for the republican cause is seen as a move to legitimise an independent administration, undermining British control. Also, some Irish Volunteers members swear allegiance to Dáil Éireann, which is seen as a political act with potential to inspire wider resistance. The summer of 1919 also sees a surge in attacks, prompting Dublin Castle to respond with suppression measures.
The proclamation takes effect nationwide, including all counties and major boroughs such as Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Derry, and Waterford. Within days, police raids and searches target Sinn Féin headquarters and members’ homes. The Harcourt Street headquarters in Dublin is raided, leading to arrests of figures like Patrick O’Keefe and Ernest Blythe. Similar searches occur in Belfast, Derry, Omagh, and Ballycastle, uncovering literature, weapons, and ammunition in some cases.
The ban is a major blow to Sinn Féin’s political prestige, but it also hardens the resolve of many republicans. Historians note that the suppression turned some moderate politicians into “extremists” and increased the likelihood of militarisation. Despite the crackdown, the Dáil continues to operate in secret, meeting in multiple Dublin locations to maintain the Irish Republic’s political legitimacy.
In short, the September 12, 1919 declaration marks a turning point in the Irish War of Independence, shifting the conflict from political negotiation to open confrontation.
(Pictured: Members of the First Dáil Éireann seated and standing outside the Mansion House in Dublin on January 21, 1919)
Todd is born in Rathfarnham, on April 23, 1805. He is noted for his efforts to place religious disagreements on a rational historical footing, for his advocacy of a liberal form of Protestantism, and for his endeavours as an educator, librarian, and scholar in Irish history.
Todd is the son of Charles Hawkes Todd, a professor of surgery, and Eliza Bentley, and is the oldest of fifteen children. Noted physician Robert Bentley Todd is among his younger brothers. His father dies a year after he receives a BA from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1825, diminishing his prospects for success. However, he is able to remain at the college by tutoring and editing a church periodical.
Todd obtains a premium in 1829, and two years later is elected Fellow, taking deacon’s orders in the same year. From that time until 1850, when he becomes a Senior Fellow, he is among the most popular tutors in TCD.
Todd takes priest’s orders in 1832. He begins publishing in earnest, including papers on John Wycliffe, church history, and the religious questions of his day. He is Donnellan Lecturer in 1838 and 1839, publishing works related to the Antichrist in which he opposes the views of the more extreme of his co-religionists who apply this term to the Roman Catholicism and the Pope. In 1840 he graduates Doctor of Divinity.
In 1837, Todd is installed Treasurer at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and becomes Precentor in 1864. His style of preaching is described as simple and lucid, and his sermons interesting. He co-founds Saint Columba’s College in 1843, a school which promotes the Irish language for those who intend to take orders, as well as promoting the principles of the Church of Ireland.
In 1849, Todd is made Regius Professor of Hebrew at Trinity, and a Senior Fellow the following year. In 1852, he is appointed Librarian, and working alongside John O’Donovan and Eugene O’Curry, he classifies and arranges the collection of manuscripts. When his office receives money, he spends it on the acquisition of manuscripts and rare books, and he deserves much credit for the library’s high ranking as one of the chief libraries of Europe.
Todd’s secular achievements are no less remarkable. In 1840, he co-founds the Irish Archaeological Society and acts as its honorary secretary. He is elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and strives actively to acquire transcripts and accurate accounts of Irish manuscripts from foreign libraries. He is honorary secretary from 1847 to 1855, and president from 1856 to 1861. In 1860, he is given an ad eundem degree at the University of Oxford.
Todd is a notable person among notable people. His work is widely respected and cited. Among his friends and acquaintances are lawyer and poet Sir Samuel Ferguson, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) and Roman Catholic convert Edwin Wyndham-Quin, fellow historian William Reeves, artist Sir George Petrie, and the Stokes family (physician father William, future lawyer and Celticist son Whitley, and future antiquarian daughter Margaret).
Todd dies at his home in Rathfarnham on June 28, 1869, and is buried in the churchyard of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The Battle of St. Matthew’s, also known as the Battle of Short Strand, is a gun battle that takes place on the night of June 27-28, 1970, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is fought between the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and Ulster loyalists in the area around St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic church. This lies at the edge of the Short Strand, a Catholic enclave in a mainly-Protestant part of the city. Violence erupts there, and in other parts of Belfast, following marches by the Orange Order. The battle lasts about five hours and ends at dawn when loyalists withdraw. The British Army and police are deployed nearby but do not intervene. Three people are killed and at least 26 wounded in the fighting, while another three are killed in north Belfast.
The battle is the Provisional IRA’s first major action during the Troubles, and a propaganda victory for the Irish nationalist organization. It presents itself as successfully defending a vulnerable Catholic enclave from armed loyalist mobs. Loyalists, however, argue that the IRA lured them into a carefully prepared trap.
During the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 in Belfast, Catholic Irish republicans clash with Protestant Ulster loyalists and the mainly-Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Northern Ireland’s police force. Catholics believe that they are about to become “victims of a Protestant pogrom” and Protestants believe they are on the “eve of an IRA insurrection.” Hundreds of Catholic homes and businesses are burned out and more than 1,000 families, mostly Catholic, are forced to flee. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has few weapons or members and is unable to adequately defend the Catholic areas. The rioting ends with the deployment of British troops. In December 1969, the IRA splits into the Official Irish Republican Army and the Provisional Irish Republican Army—with the Provisionals vowing to defend Catholic areas in future.
The Short Strand is a Catholic/nationalist enclave in East Belfast, a mainly Protestant/Ulster unionist part of the city. In the early years of the Troubles, Catholics in Short Strand number about 6,000, while their Protestant neighbours total about 60,000.
On Saturday, June 27, 1970, a large march by the Orange Order takes place in west Belfast, which is joined by loyalist bands from other parts of the city. Violence breaks out as the march enters the Catholic Springfield Road area on its way to Whiterock Orange Hall. Missiles are thrown by both sides, a bakery is set ablaze, and the British Army fires CS gas to disperse crowds. The riot sparks violence in other parts of Belfast.
In north Belfast, another Orange march proceeds along the Crumlin Road, the boundary between the Catholic Ardoyne and the Protestant Shankill areas. According to Crown prosecutors, a crowd emerges from Ardoyne throwing bottles and stones. As the riot descends into a gun battle, the IRA—who according to Gerry Adams were “ready and waiting”—kill three Protestants: William Kincaid (28), Daniel Loughins (32) and Alexander Gould (18). Others are wounded, including a Royal Navypetty officer who is shot in the jaw while driving a field ambulance. Earlier in the month, British troops divert an Orange march away from Ardoyne, leading to serious rioting by Protestants in the Shankill.
In the predominantly Protestant east of the city, an Orange parade also takes place along the Newtownards Road. At the bottom of the road is the Catholic enclave of the Short Strand, and here a gun battle breaks out between the IRA and Protestants, though the cause of it is disputed by both sides.
Violence erupts at St. Matthew’s Catholic church on the evening of June 27. It begins after a loyalist band and supporters march through the area on their return from the main parade. Rival groups gather, taunting leads to stone-throwing, and eventually, shots are fired.
As the situation worsens, Catholic residents fear that the gathering crowds of loyalists will attempt to invade the Short Strand and burn them from their homes. Local IRA members retrieve weapons from arms dumps. A young resident, Jim Gibney, recalls, “I saw neighbours, people I knew, coming down the street carrying rifles. I was just dumbstruck by this experience. I’d never seen such a thing before.”
The battle begins at about 10:00 p.m. and continues for the next five hours. Loyalists begin attacking the church and surrounding property with petrol bombs. A small house on the church grounds, where the sexton lives with his family, is set ablaze. A nearby Catholic pub is also looted and burned.
A small group of IRA members and members of the Citizens’ Defence Committee take up positions in the church grounds and in adjoining streets. The IRA members are armed with M1 carbines and are led by Billy McKee, commander of the IRA’s Belfast Brigade. Also present is Billy Kelly, commander of the Belfast Brigade’s 3rd Battalion. The IRA members fire at the loyalists, some of whom are positioned on the roofs opposite. Jim Magee, a local loyalist, sees wounded people lying on the road and asks the police (RUC) for help. According to Magee, “[they] said ‘if you have anything, get it out and protect your people.’ So we got an old rifle and went into Frazer Street and started firing back.”
The security forces are deployed in the area at the time but do not intervene to end the fighting. Shortly after the shooting begins, StormontMPPaddy Kennedy goes with Short Strand residents to the local RUC base and demands protection for their homes. Across the River Lagan, in the Markets area, other IRA members assemble and prepare to reinforce the Short Strand should it be invaded. British soldiers eventually arrive in armoured vehicles and cordon off the roads around the Short Strand, which denies the IRA “any hope of reinforcement.” At the time, the British Army says that its soldiers fired no shots because “owing to the confused situation, it was impossible to identify targets.” British Army Colonel Mike Dewar later says, “The whole incident had taken its course because the Army was so chronically overstretched that night in Belfast. The one spare platoon in the whole of west Belfast was not able to get through rioting Protestants to the Short Strand.” JournalistTony Geraghty writes that sometimes “The gunfire eased long enough to allow an occasional British Army personnel carrier (a ‘Pig‘) to whine past, illuminated by the flames in a token gesture of law-and-order.”
Another journalist who witnesses the battle, Peter Taylor, later says, “The shooting intensified but the soldiers still declined to intervene and separate the two sides – either because they felt they were not numerically strong enough or because they did not wish to get caught up in the middle of a sectarian fight, in the darkness, with shots being fired by both sides.”
Liz Maskey, who is a volunteer nurse that night, says that the Short Strand is surrounded by loyalists and claim they attacked her ambulance as it tried to leave the area.
The loyalists withdraw after about five hours, as dawn breaks. IRA leader Billy McKee claims that his unit had fired 800 rounds during the battle.
Three people are killed in the fighting. At least 26 are wounded, including Billy McKee, who is shot five times.
Robert Neill, a 38-year-old Protestant, died instantly when a shot fired from the church bounced off the pavement and hit him in the spine.
James McCurrie, a 34-year-old Protestant, is shot dead on Beechfield Street.
Henry McIlhone, a 33-year-old Catholic, is helping to defend Short Strand when he is accidentally shot from the republican side. He dies on June 29. However, McKee maintains that McIlhone is shot by loyalists. Tírghrá, the IRA’s official list of its fallen, lists McIlhone as a “volunteer” but adds “although not a member of the IRA, Henry McIlhone was included in the republican roll of honour as a mark of respect for this great Irishman by republican comrades he fought alongside.”
Republicans and loyalists disagree over who started the violence and fired the first shots. Republicans claim that the violence was started by a mob of loyalists returning from an Orange march. They say that the loyalists tried to set the church alight and invade Short Strand, with the intention of burning the residents from their homes. Hence, republicans argue that they were defending the Short Strand from a loyalist attack. Loyalists claim the violence was begun by republicans, allegedly when the returning Orangemen and supporters were attacked on Newtownards Road. They argue that republicans attacked Protestants to lure them into “a carefully prepared trap.”
The following day, loyalists expel 500 Catholic workers from the nearby Harland & Wolff shipyard. Shortly after, the British government’s representative at Stormont says that the decision to allow Orange marches to go ahead on that day was “the greatest single miscalculation I have ever seen made in the course of my life.”
Many Catholics and nationalists believe that the IRA had been unable to defend them during the August 1969 riots. However, it is argued that the IRA’s defence of Short Strand redeemed it in the eyes of many Catholics and nationalists. Prior to the gun battle, the IRA had been waiting for an opportunity to portray themselves as defenders of the Catholic community. Among republicans, the battle is seen as a key event in the growth of the Provisional IRA.
Less than a week later, the British Army seizes a large haul of Official IRA weapons during a three-day operation in west Belfast. Nationalists see this as a confiscation of their defences.
Harrison’s brother, Henry, is a supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell and a Member of Parliament for Mid Tipperary. She herself becomes the first female city councillor for Dublin Corporation in 1912. She campaigns to have poor relief extended to the able-bodied unemployed and works to promote women’s rights. She is closely involved in Hugh Lane‘s efforts to establish a gallery of modern art in Dublin.
For some 30 years Harrison is part of social reform and women’s rights in Ireland. In 1912 she is the first woman to be elected to the Dublin City Council. Here she works closely with Alderman Alfie Byrne. She is also recognised for her prominent place in the suffrage victory procession and escorting Anna Haslam to vote in the Williams Street Courthouse, Dublin, in the 1918 United Kingdom general election.
Following Hugh Lane’s death on the RMS Lusitania in 1915, Harrison claims that they had been engaged to be married. Her 1914 portrait of Lane is one of her best-known works. She never marries.
Harrison dies on July 23, 1941, in Drumcondra, Dublin. She is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, the inscription on her gravestone reads “Artist and Friend of the Poor.”
From 1546 to 1549, Weston is a principal of Broadgates Hall (afterwards Pembroke College), and at the same time deputy reader in civil law at the university, under Dr. John Story. He is not a clergyman, and his later appointment to two lucrative deaneries greatly troubles his conscience.
On January 12, 1559, Weston is created Dean of the Arches and is a commissioner for administering the oaths required of ecclesiastics under the Act of Uniformity 1558. He is consulted in regard to the Queen’s Commission issued on December 6, 1559, for confirming Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury and is included in a commission issued on November 8, 1564, to inquire into complaints of piratical depredations committed at sea on the subjects of the King of Spain.
The Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Henry Sidney, requests that Weston be nominated for the post of Lord Chancellor of Ireland in succession to Hugh Curwen, Archbishop of Dublin, in April 1566. After a year, on June 10, 1567, Queen Elizabeth I tells Sidney that after good deliberation she has made the “choice for the supply of room of Chancellor by naming thereunnto our trusty well-beloved Doctor Weston, dean of the arches here, a man for his learning and approved integrity thoroughly qualified to receive and possess the same” and “that for some increase of his living whilst he remaineth in our service there she was pleased to give unto him the Deanery of St. Patrick’s, whereof the Bishop of Armagh, Adam Loftus, is now dean and yet to leave it at our order, as we know he will.”
Weston arrives in Dublin early in August and is sworn into office on August 8, 1567. He is conscientious in performing his duties, and greatly respected for his integrity, although ill-health (he is plagued by gout and gallstones) hampers his effectiveness. He is appalled by the laziness and inefficiency of many of the Irish judges and urges Elizabeth I to replace them with Englishmen wherever possible. He is equally shocked at the poverty and ignorance of many of the Protestant clergy in Ireland. His zeal for reform leads him, though a layman, to become an effective leader of the Church of Ireland for a few years. He cooperates with Adam Loftus, now Archbishop of Dublin, in purging the Archdiocese of Dublin of crypto-Catholics, but is opposed to the persecution of the Roman Catholic majority, or any efforts to forcibly convert them.
Weston dies on May 20, 1573, and is buried beneath the altar in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, “leaving behind him an excellent character for uprightness, judgment, learning, courtesy, and piety.”
Weston marries Alice Jenyngs, daughter of Richard Jenyngs of Great Barr, Staffordshire. They have a son, John, and three daughters, of whom most of known of Alice, who marries firstly Hugh Brady, Bishop of Meath, by whom she has numerous children including Luke and Nicholas, and secondly Sir Geoffrey Fenton, by whom she is the mother of Catherine, who marries Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and of Sir William Fenton.
MacNeill is one of five children born to Archibald McNeill, a Roman Catholic working-class baker, sailor and merchant, and his wife, Rosetta McNeill (née McAuley), also a Catholic. He is raised in Glenarm, an area which “still retained some Irish-language traditions.” His niece is nationalist and teacher, Máirín Beaumont.
MacNeill marries Agnes Moore on April 19, 1898. The couple has eight children, four sons and four daughters (though the 1911 census entry for MacNeill notes eleven children, seven of whom are still alive).
The Gaelic League is from the start strictly non-political, but in 1915, a proposal is put forward to abandon that policy and become a semi-political organisation. MacNeill strongly supports this and rallies to his side a majority of delegates at the 1915 Oireachtas. Douglas Hyde, a non-political Protestant, who had co-founded the League and been its president for 22 years, resigns immediately afterward.
Through the Gaelic League, MacNeill meets members of Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), and other nationalists and republicans. One such colleague, The O’Rahilly, runs the league’s newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis, and in October 1913 asks MacNeill to write an editorial for it on a subject broader than Irish language issues. He submits a piece called “The North Began,” encouraging the formation of a nationalist volunteer force committed to Irish Home Rule, much as the unionists had done earlier in the year with the Ulster Volunteers to thwart Home Rule in Ireland. In July 1915, he comments on the threat that the unarmed nationalists in Ulster might face: “…a demented…English driven Orange Army would be let loose upon the helpless Catholic people of Ulster, who would be driven out of the province or massacred where they stood.”
Bulmer Hobson, a member of the IRB, approaches MacNeill about bringing the idea to fruition, and, through a series of meetings, MacNeill becomes chair of the council that forms the Irish Volunteers, later becoming its chief of staff. Unlike the IRB, he is 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 Irish Volunteers have been infiltrated by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which plan on using the organisation to stage an armed rebellion, to separate Ireland from the United Kingdom and establishing an Irish Republic. The entry of the UK into World War I is, in their view, a perfect opportunity to do that. With the cooperation of James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army, a secret council of IRB officials plan a general rising at Easter 1916. On the Wednesday before Easter, they present MacNeill with a letter, allegedly stolen from high-ranking British staff in Dublin Castle, indicating that the British are going to arrest him and all the other nationalist leaders. Unbeknownst to MacNeill, the letter—called the Castle Document—is a forgery.
When MacNeill learns about the IRB’s plans, and when he is informed that Roger Casement is about to land in County Kerry with a shipment of German arms, he is reluctantly persuaded to go along with them, believing British action is now imminent and that mobilization of the Irish Volunteers will be justified as a defensive act. However, after learning that the German arms shipment has been intercepted and Casement arrested, and having confronted Patrick Pearse, who refuses to relent, MacNeill countermands 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.” This greatly reduces the number of volunteers who report for duty on the day of the Easter Rising.
Pearse, Connolly and the others agree that the uprising will go ahead anyway, but it begins one day later than originally intended to ensure that the authorities are taken by surprise. Beginning on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, the Rising lasts less than a week. After the surrender of the rebels, MacNeill is arrested although he has taken no part in the insurrection. The rebel leader Tom Clarke, according to his wife Kathleen, warns 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.”
In 1923, MacNeill, a committed internationalist, is also a key member of the diplomatic team that oversees Ireland’s entry to the League of Nations.
MacNeill’s family is split on the treaty issue. One son, Brian, takes the anti-Treaty side and is killed in disputed circumstances near Sligo by Free State troops during the Irish Civil War in September 1922. Two other sons, Niall and Turloch, as well as nephew Hugo MacNeill, serve as officers in the Free State Army. One of his brothers, James McNeill, is the second and penultimate Governor-General of the Irish Free State.
In 1924, the three-man Irish Boundary Commission is set up to settle the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State. MacNeill represents the Irish Free State. He is the only member of the Commission without legal training and has been described as being “pathetically out of his depth.” However, each of the Commissioners is selected out of political expediency rather than for any established competence or insight into boundary making. On November 7, 1925, a conservative British newspaper, The Morning Post, publishes a leaked map showing a part of eastern County Donegal (mainly The Laggan district) that is 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, MacNeill resigns from the commission on November 20. Hus performance in the Boundary Commission has been deemed highly negative in a 2025 study The Root of All Evil: The Irish Boundary Commission.
On November 24, 1925, MacNeill also resign as Minister for Education, a position unrelated to his work on the commission.
On December 3, 1925, the Free State government agrees with the governments in London and Belfast to end its onerous treaty requirement to pay its share of the United Kingdom’s “imperial debt” and, in exchange, agrees that the 1920 boundary will remain as it is, overriding the commission. This angers many nationalists and MacNeill is the subject of much criticism, but in reality, he and the commission have been sidestepped by the intergovernmental debt renegotiation. In any case, despite his resignations, the intergovernmental boundary deal is approved by a Dáil vote of 71–20 on December 10, 1925, and MacNeill is listed as voting with the majority in favour. He loses his Dáil seat at the June 1927 Irish general election.
MacNeill is an important scholar of Irish history and among the first to study Early Irish law, offering both his interpretations, which at times are coloured by his nationalism, and translations into English. He is also the first to uncover the nature of succession in Irish kingship, and his theories are the foundation for modern ideas on the subject.
MacNeill is a contributor to the Royal Irish Academy‘s Clare Island Survey, recording the Irish place names of the island. His disagreements and disputes with Goddard Henry Orpen, particularly over the latter’s book Ireland under the Normans, generate controversy.
MacNeill retires from politics completely and becomes Chair of the Irish Manuscripts Commission. In his later years he devotes his life to scholarship and publishes several books on Irish history. He dies in Dublin of natural causes, aged 78, on October 15, 1945. He is buried in Kilbarrack Cemetery.
