March 28, 2013

Finest Hour 155, Summer 2012

Page 49

From Ireland to Vietnam

The Chamberlains, the Churchills and Ireland, 1874-1922, by Ian Chambers. Cambria Press, hardbound, illus., 346 pages, $114.95, Kindle $57.99.
The Churchills in Ireland 1660-1965: Connections and Controversies, Robert McNamara, ed. Irish Academic Press, hardbound, illus., 286 pages, $79.95.

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By Christopher H. Sterling


Two scholarly studies published in the past six years explore the role of political family ties and the ever- intractable issue of Irish Home Rule. Given the long role of Ireland in British life (the Act of Union dated to 1801), and the role of the Churchills there, it is surprising that these books are only the second and third on the Churchills and the troubled isle. The first, Mary Bromage’s Churchill and Ireland (Notre Dame Press, 1964) offered a generally uncritical biographical survey. Chambers makes use of extensive archival work to focus upon the changing role of two sets of famous fathers and their sons through a half- century of strife.

Interleaving the ideas and actions of Joseph and Austen Chamberlain, and then Randolph and Winston Churchill, his study centers on the dominant impact of fathers on sons amidst a changing political situation.

After an introductory chapter comparing and contrasting the two “Tory Radical” fathers, two further chapters explore the efforts of Joseph Chamberlain twice to oppose Home Rule in order to tie Ireland more closely to the Empire. Lord Randolph Churchill also took a strongly Unionist hand (“Ulster will fight. Ulster will be Right”). Part of the problem was a lack of real Irish experience in either man over the period 1880-93, though Lord Randolph fancied himself, and was viewed as, an authority. Alas, Chambers writes, both men used a narrow class- defined glass to view the Irish, having little feel for the concerns of the masses.

Chambers’ final four chapters cover Winston and Austen, and how they helped to define the dominant, festering issue of Irish nationalism. Austen Chamberlain (half-brother of Neville) generally followed in his father’s footsteps. Never as fully focused on the Irish problem as the others in this volume, he did come around to a more conciliatory position by the time the Anglo-Irish Treaty was being negotiated in 1920-22.

Chambers makes a strong case that Winston Churchill’s own changing views on home rule (from strongly Unionist to somewhat reluctant acceptance) were largely driven by political expediency. In one sense, he “drifted with the times,” though to say Churchill ever “drifted” is in itself controversial! The author provides a clear and documented narrative on the events of 1920-22. He helps us to understand how the rigid Unionist views of the fathers could not prevent a move toward independence of the Irish Republic during the time of their sons.

Robert McNamara, who teaches international history at the University of Ulster, offers an important collection of ten original papers ranging over a longer period, half devoted to Winston Churchill and Ireland. Reflecting recent research and newly available archival material, they concentrate on the role of Ireland in British political life. This new, well-documented anthology provides the collective views of a new generation of Irish and American scholars.

The first half centers on the years before Winston, including the role of Ireland in Restoration England and John Churchill’s 1690 Irish campaign. Later chapters cover the 1660s-1740s and connections between the Irish Hookes family and the Churchills as reflected in letters between them; and the role of Lord Randolph in Irish affairs in 1877-85 and 1886-93.

The Winston section begins with a review of his relationship with Ulster’s Unionists from the end of World War I to 1925; the difficult but changing interaction between WSC and Eamon de Valera, including the British attempts to gain access to Irish ports in World War II; and a fascinating essay by the editor on Churchill’s historical writing about Ireland, noting what he said and what he left out. The penultimate chapter, by Finest Hour‘s Michael McMenamin, surveys Irish-American Bourke Cockran’s mentoring role early in Churchill’s life. The final chapter is on the relationship between Churchill and the Irish-born Brendan Bracken.

Unfortunately, given the good material offered, the book was not well proofread. The lower-case “l” is used interchangeably with the numeral 1 in dates, Macaulay’s name is sometimes misspelled, and so on. Although My Early Life is listed in the bibliography with an asterisk indicating that it has significant material on Ireland, there is barely a mention of WSC’s first years in Ireland and no discussion of their significance in his autobiography.

Collectively, both of these expensive books shine much light into interesting corners of the Churchill story. Even in a new century, despite our sense of the background, we may forget how the Irish debate dominated British politics for so long. Chambers and McNamara bring that fact into vivid and readable focus.

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