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‘God save the king’ versus ‘The soldier’s song’: the 1929 Trinity College national anthem dispute and the politics of the Irish Free State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Ewan Morris
Ewan Morris*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Sydney
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Extract

National symbols have long been the subject of political controversy in Ireland and remain so today. Although arguments about symbols are now more common in Northern Ireland than in the Irish Republic, the early years of the Irish Free State saw vigorous discussions about the appropriateness of the new state’s symbols. One such debate broke out in 1929, following a dispute between the Free State government and Trinity College, Dublin, over which anthem should be played for the Governor-General. At the time this dispute was described by one political commentator as ‘one of those political storms in a tea-cup in which we delight’, and now, from a distance of almost seventy years, it is perhaps even harder to understand how such passions were roused over a seemingly minor incident. Even teacup storms can provide valuable insights, however, if historians can learn to read the tea-leaves.

One way of studying national anthems is to analyse their texts and compare them with those of other nations in order to obtain ‘an unique view into the polity, its self-conception or self-image, and ultimately, its deepest political aspirations, experiences, goals, and values’. Such an approach, however, takes an ahistorical and essentialist view of the nation or state and loses sight of political divisions within the nation. National anthems must be seen in their historical context: the circumstances of their creation and adoption must be examined, as must the ways in which the meanings attached to them change over time. They often emerge out of political conflict and can become the focus of conflict once again as new political forces come to the fore. Despite the claims of governments and nationalist ideologues, the selection of a national anthem is not a simple expression of ‘national will’.

Type
Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 31 , Issue 121 , May 1998 , pp. 72 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1998

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References

1 See Bryson, Lucy and McCartney, Clem, Clashing symbols?: a report on the use of flags, anthems and other national symbols in Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1994)Google Scholar.

2 Round Table, Sept. 1929. (Articles on Ireland in this journal throughout the 1920s were written by J. J. Horgan, ‘an intelligent supporter of the new [Free State] administration’ ( Brown, Terence, Ireland: a social and cultural history, 1922 to the present (Ithaca, 1985), p. 273)Google Scholar). An Phoblacht, 15 June 1929, also described the incident as a storm in a teacup.

3 Zikmund, Joseph II, ‘National anthems as political symbols’ in Australian Journal of Politics and History, xv, no. 3 (1969), pp 73-4Google Scholar.

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6 Lester to McGann, 1 Feb. 1924 (N.A.I., DT, S 3767A); Lester to secretary of Executive Council, 24 Apr. 1924 (ibid.).

7 Memorandum, 27 May 1924 (ibid.).

8 Dublin Evening Mail, 13 June 1924.

9 Ibid., 16 Aug., 22 Oct. 1924.

10 The six entries selected by the editors were published in the Dublin Evening Mail, 5 Feb. 1925.

11 Dublin Opinion, Nov. 1923.

12 Dublin Evening Mail, 10 Mar. 1925.

13 Ibid., 5 Feb. l925.

14 For mocking references in republican newspapers to this line in ‘Let Erin remember’ and its supposed relevance to the Free State see Éire, 31 May 1924; An Phoblacht, 29 June 1929.

15 Dublin Opinion, July 1924.

16 Lester to secretary of President’s Department, 3 July 1926 (N.A.I., DT, S 3767A); extract from minutes of Executive Council, 12 July 1926 (ibid.).

17 Dáil Éireann deb., xv, 2196–8 (20 July 1926); draft ministerial reply (N.A.I., DT, S 3767A).

18 Cork Examiner, 21 July 1926; Irish News, 22 July 1926; Irish Statesman, 31 July 1926; Irish Independent, 14 Aug. 1926.

19 Chief of Staff, note for discussion by Council of Defence, 18 Aug. 1927 (Military Archives of Ireland, Department of Defence (DD), 3/22518); extract from minutes of Council of Defence, 18 Aug. 1927 (ibid.).

20 Church of Ireland Gazette, 22 Mar., 12, 26 Apr., 10, 24, 31 May 1929.

21 Irish Times, 7 Aug. 1926.

22 Secretary of Department of External Affairs to T. A. Smiddy, Free State high commissioner in London, 4 Apr. 1930 (N.A.I., DFA, D 5085). For other complaints about the singing of ’God save the king’ at the military jumping competition see The Leader, 18 Aug. 1928; The Nation, 17 Aug. 1929; The Star, 17 Aug. 1929; Honesty, 16 Aug. 1930.

23 See Jane Leonard, ‘The twinge of memory: Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday in Dublin since 1919’ in English, Richard and Walker, Graham (eds), Unionism in modern Ireland: new perspectives on politics and culture (London, 1996), pp 99–114 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 On the political attitudes and economic position of Protestants (who made up the overwhelming majority of the ex-unionist community) in the Irish Free State see Bowen, Kurt, Protestants in a Catholic state: Ireland’s privileged minority (Kingston, Ont., 1983), pp 55–64, 80–90Google Scholar.

25 Irish Independent, 13 Aug. 1928; Fritz Brase (director of the Army School of Music) to Adjutant-General, Department of Defence, 4 Oct. 1928 (Military Archives of Ireland, DD, 3/22518).

26 Extract from minutes of H.Q. staff, 31 Aug. 1926 (Military Archives of Ireland, DD, 3/22518); Sherry, ‘Story’, p. 42.

27 Sexton, Brendan, Ireland and the crown, 1922–1936: the Governor-Generalship of the Irish Free State (Dublin, 1989), p. 115 Google Scholar; on McNeill’s background see ibid., pp 112–13.

28 The Freeman, 30 June 1928.

29 J. C. O’Sullivan to Minister for Defence, 14 Aug. 1928 (N.A.I., DT, S 7393).

30 McNeill to Cosgrave, 17 Sept. 1928 (ibid., S 6535).

31 Extract from Executive Council minutes, 4 Oct. 1928 (ibid., S 3767A); Cosgrave to McNeill, 19 Oct. 1928 (ibid.).

32 O’Sullivan to Diarmuid O’Hegarty, 7 June 1929 (ibid., S 6535); note from Cox, 16 May 1929 (ibid.).

33 Report by McNeill, 11 June 1929 (including memorandum from the Provost and board of Trinity College, 25 May 1929, and letter from the Governor-General’s private secretary to the Provost of Trinity College, 28 May 1929) (ibid.); memorandum, 28 May 1929, regarding the Executive Council’s decision (ibid.).

34 Irish Independent, 15 June 1929.

35 Irish Times, 13 June 1929.

36 Ibid., 11 June 1929.

37 Connacht Sentinel, 11 June 1929; Irish Independent, 11, 12 June 1929; Northern Whig, 11 June 1929.

38 Irish Times, 12 June 1929.

39 Ibid., 13 June 1929.

40 Northern Whig, 13 June 1929; Irish Times, 13 June 1929; Irish Independent, 15, 20 June 1929.

41 Smiddy to secretary of Department of External Affairs, 12 June 1929 (N.A.I., DFA, EA 156).

42 Report by Smiddy, 17 June 1929 (ibid., EA 231/3).

43 Webb (Lord Passfield) to Smiddy, 5 July 1929 (ibid., EA 156).

44 Granard to Cosgrave, 12 June 1929 (N.A.I., DT, S 6535).

45 Dulanty to O’Hegarty, 24 June 1929 (ibid.).

46 The Star, 16 Feb. 1929.

47 See the comments of ‘a confidant of the Free State Cabinet’ in Irish Times, 11 June 1929.

48 A draft copy of the letter is marked ‘Draft submitted by D/External Affairs’. Smiddy reported in a letter to the secretary of the Department of External Affairs, 29 June 1929, that he had given Webb a copy of the letter to Lord Granard (N.A.I., DFA, EA 156). Other examples of copies of Cosgrave’s letter being sent to correspondents are in N.A.I., DT, S 6535, S 3262A.

49 Cosgrave to Granard, 19 June 1929 (N.A.I., DT, S 6535).

50 Albert Henry Armstrong was killed on 20 February 1929 (see O’Sullivan, Donal, The Irish Free State and its Senate: a study in contemporary politics (London, 1940), pp 255-6Google Scholar).

51 O’Hegarty to Dulanty, 26 June 1929 (N.A.I., DT, S 6535).

52 The Star, 15 June 1929.

53 Honesty, 22 June 1929.

54 The Nation, 22 June 1929.

55 The Leader, 15 June 1929; Irish Independent, 13 June 1929.

56 Limerick Leader, 15 June 1929.

57 Irish News, 10 June 1929.

58 Irish Independent, 13 June 1929; The Leader, 15 June 1929.

59 The Nation, 22 June 1929.

60 Irish Times, 15 June 1929.

61 Ibid., 14 June 1929.

62 Church of Ireland Gazette, 14 June 1929; Irish Times, 15 June 1929.

63 Round Table, Sept. 1929. See also ‘Ex-Nationalist’ in Irish Times, 21 June 1929.

64 Belfast News-Letter, 13 July 1929.

65 Northern Whig, 12 June 1929.

66 Honesty, 29 June 1929.

67 The Nation, 22 June 1929.

68 An Phoblacht, 29 June 1929.

69 Ibid., 15 June 1929.

70 Honesty, 29 June 1929. Magennis was one of those who had broken away from Cumann na nGaedheal following the Boundary Commission débâcle and formed Clann Éireann, whose policy included the removal of the oath of allegiance from the constitution (see Moss, Warner, Political parties in the Irish Free State (New York, 1933; repr., New York, 1968), pp 25-6, 148Google Scholar).

71 An Phoblacht, 15 June 1929.

72 Ibid., 29 June 1929.

73 Irish Times, 19 June 1929.

74 ‘X.Y.Z.’, ibid., 17 June 1929; T. W. E. Drury, ibid., 19 June 1929.

75 Round Table, Sept. 1929.

76 T. W. E. Drury in Irish Times, 19 June 1929; D. F. Curran in Irish Independent, 15 June 1929; James S. Ashe, ibid., 21 June 1929.

77 ‘A.V.C.’ in Irish Times, 13 June 1929; Purefoy Poe, ibid., 19 June 1929; ‘Ex-Nationalist’, ibid., 21 June 1929; D. F. Curran in Irish Independent, 15 June 1929.

78 Belfast News-Letter, 8 June, 13 July 1929; Belfast Telegraph, 8 June 1929.

79 Northern Whig, 13 June 1929.

80 Irish Statesman, 22 June 1929.

81 Belfast Telegraph, 8 June 1929; Irish Independent, 25 June 1929; Belfast News-Letter, 13 July 1929.

82 Belfast News-Letter, 13 July 1929.

83 Cork Examiner, 11 June 1929; The Cross, Aug. 1929.

84 The Nation, 22 June 1929.

85 Irish Times, 15 June 1929.

86 T. F. Harvey Jacob in Irish Independent, 15 June 1929; Round Table, Sept. 1929.

87 Irish Statesman, 22, 29 June 1929.

88 O’Hegarty to McNeill, 15 May 1931 (N.A.I., DT, S 6535); McNeill to O’Hegarty, 16 May 1931 (ibid.).

89 Typed extract from Irish Independent, 9 June 1932 (ibid.).

90 McDowell, R.B. and Webb, D.A., Trinity College, Dublin, 1592–1952: an academic history (Cambridge, 1982), p. 434 Google Scholar.

91 An exception to the general rule is the decision of the South African government in 1994 to give equal status to the apartheid-era anthem, ‘Die stem van Suid Afrika’, and the anti-apartheid anthem, ‘Nkosi sikelela iAfrica’ (see Bryson & McCartney, Clashing symbols?, pp 31–2).

92 The views held by ex-unionists in the Free State were much more widely held in the other dominions, where ‘God save the king’ was generally used as the national anthem together with local anthems, but there were still conflicts over local versus imperial symbols, particularly in South Africa. See Kwan, Elizabeth, ‘The Australian flag: ambiguous symbol of nationality in Melbourne and Sydney, 1920–21’ in Australian Historical Studies, xxvi, no. 103 (1994), pp 280–303 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Saker, Harry, The South African flag controversy, 1925–1928 (Cape Town, 1980)Google Scholar.