Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd

Horace Plunkett: An Anglo-American Irishman by Margaret DigbyReview by: F. S. L. LyonsIrish Historical Studies, Vol. 7, No. 26 (Sep., 1950), pp. 129-130Published by: Irish Historical Studies Publications LtdStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30005332 .

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Reviews 129 had been suppressed. A closer acquaintance with the literature of the rebellion would have enabled Sir Henry to show that the militia loyalty that he commends was of even greater consequence than he suggests and would have enriched his pages with a far fuller picture of the force.

1798, however, is only one year in militia history. Sir Henry McAnally gives the same close attention to the post-union period, when the militia came to act more and more exclusively as a police force and as a training school for the regular regiments, as he does to the earlier, There are full references to the numerous authorities consulted and an index. The book is a valuable and much needed addition to the reference library of students of the period, and to the military historian, British or Irish, it is indispensable.

G. A. HAYES-MCCOY

HORACE PLUNKETT : AN ANGLO-AMERICAN IRISHMAN. By Margaret Digby. Pp. xvi, 314. Oxford : Blackwell. I949. 15s.

SIR HORACE PLUNKETT'S life touched history at so many points, and he was on intimate terms with so many of the leading figures-Irish, English and American-of the last half-century, that a biography of him was long overdue. This work Miss Margaret Digby has now admirably performed in a book which is scholarly, well-written and excellently produced. It must, moreover, be regarded as authoritative, for it is based upon Plunkett's diaries and private correspondence, as well as upon his published works; it contains an introduction by Dr W. G. S, Adams and an epilogue by 'Mr Gerald Heard, two of Sir Horace's closest associates; and the whole work has been carried out with the co-operation of the Horace Plunkett Foundation.

Miss Digby has been concerned to emphasise three aspects of Sir Horace Plunkett's career. First, his intimate knowledge of the United States and his devotion to the cause of improving. Anglo-American relations; in this connection his correspondence with Colonel House during the first world war-printed here in some detail-is of special interest as revealing the extent to which Plunkett acted as a link between House and some members of the British war cabinet. In the second place, the author has brought out very clearly the strenuous efforts made by Sir Horace to preserve Irish unity and to hold the balance between the extremists of right and left; but, as is obvious from the chapters on the Irish Convention, the obstacles to unity were much too great to be overcome by one who, like Plunkett, occupied an intermediate position between nationalists and unionists, and was in consequence distrusted by both. Finally, Miss Digby has quite rightly given most of her space to an account of Plunkett's life-long campaign for agricultural co-operation. His influence in this sphere was world-wide, for it was manifest as far afield as America, India and China; the more concrete evidences of his labours were, however, to be found nearer home-in the Irish Agricultural

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130 Reviews

Instruction, both in great measure the outcome of his vision and energy. If ever, as Plunkett himself dreamed, political division in Ireland should give place to economic co-operation, then his true significance in Irish social history will become apparent and a reassessment of his career will be imperative; thanks to Miss Digby's valuable study the material for such a new judgment is now at last available.

F. S. L. LYONS

ESSAYS IN BRITISH AND IRISH HISTORY IN HONOUR OF JAMES EADIE TODD. Edited by H. A. Cronne, T. W. Moody and D. B. Quinn. Pp. xv, 336. London: Muller. I949. 21S.

I

ONE reader at least has found the short biographical notice which the editors have prefixed to this volume perhaps the most stimulating essay of the seventeen which are here joined as a tribute to the unselfish work and high intellectual qualities of the late James Eadie Todd (1885-1949; professor of modern history in the Queen's University of Belfast, 1919- 45). Todd took on himself so heavy a share of work in his department that his routine teaching duties made it impossible for him to become a specialist in the branch of historical science which had first attracted him. 'He made the modern history of Europe his peculiar sphere as a teacher in Belfast, though his special interests as an historian had originally lain in medieval and economic history.' It is thus peculiarly fitting that the first essay in this volume should be by Professor Cronne, formerly Todd's pupil, then his colleague at Queen's, on 'The royal forest in the reign of Henry I '. There is nothing here that directly concerns students of medieval Irish history; but this careful survey of the available evidence, chiefly derived from the pipe rolls and miscellaneous charters, will help all students to grasp more clearly the elaborate system of organised forest law as it existed in the England of Henry I and Henry II. Professor Cronne makes it plain that the system which can be studied in full detail under Henry II was already developed in its broad outlines during his grandfather's reign. When we read of disputes here in Ireland between (for example) the new Anglo-Norman archbishops of Dublin and the king's officers concerning forest rights in the reign of John, the points at issue are better understood after a careful reading of this valuable essay.

Miss Isabel Megaw writes on 'The ecclesiastical policy of Stephen, 1135-9 '. It is her contention that Stephen has been unfairly blamed for the failure of his policy in the quarrel which cost him the support of the legate and the archbishop of Canterbury in I1139- I must confess that I have found her interpretation of this episode unsatisfying. If Stephen did not foresee the probable effect of his rash action in arresting two bishops for failure to surrender their castles, he can have known little of the ecclesiastical principle that was thus boldly challenged. Miss

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