Dorothy Macardle
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Macardle was an Irish
author and historian. Her book, The Irish Republic
, is one of the more frequently cited narrative accounts of the Irish War of Independence
and its aftermath. She is generally regarded as the definitive contemporary historian from the republican anti-treaty
perspective.
, and was raised Roman Catholic. She received her secondary education in Alexandra College
, Dublin a school under the management of the Church of Ireland
and later attended University College, Dublin. Upon graduating, she returned to teach English at Alexandra.
in 1917. In 1918 (during the War of Independence
), Macardle was arrested by the RIC
while teaching at Alexandra; she was eventually dismissed in 1923, towards the latter end of the Irish Civil War
, because of her anti-Treatyite
sympathies and activities.
When the republican movement split in 1921-22 over the Anglo-Irish Treaty
, MacArdle sided with Éamon de Valera
and the anti-Treaty Irregulars
. She was imprisoned by the fledgling Free State
government in 1922, during the Civil War
, and served time in both Mountjoy and Kilmainham Gaol
s.
While working as a journalist with the League of Nations
in the 1930s she acquired a considerable affinity with the plight of pre-war Czechoslovakia. Consequently she differed with official Irish government policy on the threat of Nazism
, Irish neutrality during World War II
, compulsory Irish
language teaching in schools, and deplored the reduced status of women in the 1937 Irish Constitution.
.
She also researched her mammoth book The Irish Republic which was first published in 1937. Her political opponents and some modern historians consider her to be a hagiographer for de Valera's political views. Murray considers that: "..de Valera’s ambitious scheme was eventually implemented by Dorothy MacArdle, his devoted follower and lifelong apologist, whose book The Irish Republic conforms closely to the overall plan outlined by de Valera in prison, and even incorporates many of its details. The outline originally proposed by de Valera was extremely detailed, incorporating a carefully planned chronology and headings from which the
chapters were to be developed."
She died in 1958 at the age of 69 of cancer in hospital in Drogheda
. Though she was somewhat disillusioned with the new Irish State (in particular, regarding its treatment of women), she left the royalties from The Irish Republic to her close friend Éamon de Valera
, who wrote the foreword to the book. De Valera visited her when she was dying and prayed constantly, but without success, for her conversion from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
author and historian. Her book, The Irish Republic
The Irish Republic (book)
The Irish Republic is a history book written by Dorothy Macardle, first published in 1937, which covers the formation and existence of the Irish Republic, the Irish War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Irish Civil War, a period which covered from 1919–1923.The book, which was first...
, is one of the more frequently cited narrative accounts of the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
and its aftermath. She is generally regarded as the definitive contemporary historian from the republican anti-treaty
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
perspective.
Youth
Dorothy Macardle (alternatively spelt McArdle) was born in Dundalk, Ireland in 1889 into a wealthy brewing family, famous for their Macardle's AleMacardle Moore Brewery
MacArdle Moore Brewery was a brewery in Dundalk, Ireland, formed in 1850 from the merger of two older breweries, McAllisters and Wynnes. Over the years it was to become almost synonymous with brewing in Dundalk...
, and was raised Roman Catholic. She received her secondary education in Alexandra College
Alexandra College
Alexandra College is a private, single-sex school located in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. It serves girls from ages 4 to 19 as boarding or day pupils. The school is one of the most prestigious in Ireland and ranks highly in Leaving Certificate results tables...
, Dublin a school under the management of the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
and later attended University College, Dublin. Upon graduating, she returned to teach English at Alexandra.
Nationalist
Macardle was a member of the Gaelic League and later joined Cumann na mBanCumann na mBan
Cumann na mBan is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914 as an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers...
in 1917. In 1918 (during the War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
), Macardle was arrested by the RIC
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
while teaching at Alexandra; she was eventually dismissed in 1923, towards the latter end of the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
, because of her anti-Treatyite
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
sympathies and activities.
When the republican movement split in 1921-22 over the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
, MacArdle sided with Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
and the anti-Treaty Irregulars
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)
The original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence 1919–1921. Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the IRA in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and...
. She was imprisoned by the fledgling Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
government in 1922, during the Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
, and served time in both Mountjoy and Kilmainham Gaol
Kilmainham Gaol
Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison, located in Kilmainham in Dublin, which is now a museum. It has been run since the mid-1980s by the Office of Public Works , an Irish Government agency...
s.
While working as a journalist with the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
in the 1930s she acquired a considerable affinity with the plight of pre-war Czechoslovakia. Consequently she differed with official Irish government policy on the threat of Nazism
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Irish neutrality during World War II
Irish neutrality during World War II
The policy of Irish neutrality during World War II was adopted by Dáil Éireann at the instigation of Éamon de Valera, its Taoiseach upon the outbreak of hostilities in Europe and maintained throughout the conflict. De Valera refrained from joining either the Allies or Axis powers...
, compulsory Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
language teaching in schools, and deplored the reduced status of women in the 1937 Irish Constitution.
Author
MacArdle recounted her Civil War experiences in Earthbound: Nine Stories of Ireland (1924). MacArdle became a playwright in the next two decades. In her dramatic writing she used the pseudonym Margaret Callan. During this time she worked as a journalist at the League of NationsLeague of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
.
She also researched her mammoth book The Irish Republic which was first published in 1937. Her political opponents and some modern historians consider her to be a hagiographer for de Valera's political views. Murray considers that: "..de Valera’s ambitious scheme was eventually implemented by Dorothy MacArdle, his devoted follower and lifelong apologist, whose book The Irish Republic conforms closely to the overall plan outlined by de Valera in prison, and even incorporates many of its details. The outline originally proposed by de Valera was extremely detailed, incorporating a carefully planned chronology and headings from which the
chapters were to be developed."
She died in 1958 at the age of 69 of cancer in hospital in Drogheda
Drogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....
. Though she was somewhat disillusioned with the new Irish State (in particular, regarding its treatment of women), she left the royalties from The Irish Republic to her close friend Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
, who wrote the foreword to the book. De Valera visited her when she was dying and prayed constantly, but without success, for her conversion from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
Published works
- Tragedies of Kerry, 1922–23
- Earthbound: Nine Stories of Ireland (1924)
- The Irish Republic (published 1937, 1938, 1951, 1968 and subsequently)
- Uneasy Freehold (1942, basis for the 1944 movie The UninvitedThe Uninvited (1944 film)The Uninvited is a 1944 American supernatural mystery/romance film directed by Lewis Allen. It is based on the Dorothy Macardle novel Uneasy Freehold.Charles Lang was nominated for a 1945 Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography.-Plot:...
) - A Study of the Children of Liberated Countries: Their Wartime Experiences and Their Needs (1949)
- Without Fanfares: Some Reflections on the Republic of Ireland (1947)
- The Uninvited (1942) (novel) American title of Uneasy Freehold (1941) (made into movie with Ruth Hussey and Ray Milland)
- The Dark Enchantment(1953) (a novel set in Provence)
- The Unforeseen (1946) (novel set in Ireland) American title of Fantastic Summer (1946)
- Shakespeare, Man and Boy (published posthumously in 1961)