Review Reviewed Work(s): Bulmer Hobson and the nationalist movement in twentieth-century Ireland by Marnie Hay Review by: Fergal McCluskey Source: Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 37, No. 145 (May 2010), pp. 158-159 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20750083 Accessed: 31-12-2019 18:31 UTC

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This content downloaded from 82.31.34.218 on Tue, 31 Dec 2019 18:31:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 158 Irish Historical Studies

BULMER HOBSON AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY IRELAND. By Mamie Hay. Pp 272, illus. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2009. ?55 hardback; ?18.99 paperback.

Bulmer Hobson's formative influence in numerous political and cultural organisations begs the question as to why, until now, his autobiographical Ireland: yesterday and tomorrow (1968) remained the only consequential account of his career. Dr Hay expresses little surprise, however, at this historiographical gap. In fact, Hobson's position as 'worsted in the political game' (p. 1) serves as this book's premise. Quaker origins aside, Hobson typified early twentieth-century Ulster's emerging republican avant-garde, sharing the petit-bourgeois background, Gaelic revivalism and boundless energy of his three main contemporaries, Denis McCullough, Sean Mac Diarmada and Patrick McCartan. Dr Hay's valuable political biography enriches the established narrative of prominence in the early Sinn Fein movement, Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.). takeover and involvement in the Irish Volunteers, and the events of the Easter Rising, while Hobson's early life and later years in the political wilderness also receive scholarly attention. The book opens with a rich account of Hobson's adolescence in Belfast, detailing the eclectic influences that formed his cultural and revolutionary mindset. This leads onto an interesting assessment of Hobson's early cultural activism, although whether repackaging and popularising the ideas of others should be regarded as 'genius' is debatable (p. 38). Similarly, just because Hobson claimed Keynes's general theory represented an affirmation of his plans to reforest an Ghaeltacht does not make it so (p. 224). The author employs a commendable breadth of sources, notably in chapters detailing Hobson's involvement in the Dungannon Clubs and Sinn Fein. However, this reader found the lack of a wider context frustrating here; for instance, who 'attacked and mobbed' (p. 51) early Dungannon Club meetings in west Belfast? Why does Joseph Devlin not intrude on the narrative until spring 1913 (p. 128)? Coverage of the early Sinn Fein period includes noteworthy analysis of Arthur Griffith's personal antipathy to Hobson. Yet, arguably, the Clan choice of Hobson over Griffith to tour America in 1907 relied more on the northerner's republicanism and Protestantism than the force of his oratory (p. 67). The author also gives an impressive treatment of Hobson's involvement in the I.R.B, coup when the 'younger generation ... trounced the old guard' (p. 101). The most important section of the book embodies a protracted narrative of the Irish Volunteer movement, Hobson's central role in its direction (before and after the co-option of Redmond's nominees), through to his attempts to subvert the Easter Rising (including a very entertaining segment on his kidnapping prior to the rebellion). The concluding chapters are largely successful in explaining Hobson's position as 'leader manque' of the Sinn Fein revolution (p. 207) and his later attempts to justify his past record. Hay relies on the later accounts of McCullough, McCartan and Hobson himself, but often leaves all three men's retrospective desire to recast their role in the Rising to the reader's intuition. This raises a wider point regarding critical distance between author and subject. A central argument is that, early on, Hobson synthesised the ideas of Fintan Lalor and Wolfe Tone into a programme for 'moral insurrection' (p. 18). This constituted the ideological bedrock for his subsequent actions, by extension justifying opposition to the Rising and support for guerrilla tactics on the grounds that it 'not only adhered to the constitutions of both the Irish Volunteers and the I.R.B., but was designed to maximise the chance of military success' (p. 177). The author supports this analysis through refer ence to Hobson's autobiography and interviews given to the B.B.C. and R.T.E., all dating from the 1960s (pp 188, 243-5). Similarly, the claim that Hobson avoided a split by nobly accepting his expulsion/resignation from the I.R.B, supreme council in July 1914 allows Hobson options contemporaneous evidence suggests he did not have (p. 138). On 25 June Tom Clarke informed John Devoy of the intention to expel Hobson (Clarke to Devoy, 25 June 1914 (N.L.I., MS 31696)). Devoy's subsequent treatment of Hobson only confirmed this (p. 140).

This content downloaded from 82.31.34.218 on Tue, 31 Dec 2019 18:31:59 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Reviews and short notices 159

As indicated in the book's title, the author adheres to the label 'nationalist', with a central question being 'Why and how did Bulmer Hobson become a leader of the Irish nationalist movement prior to 1916?' (p. 4). Hobson and his cohorts were and viewed themselves pri marily as republicans. John Redmond's Irish Party represented the 'nationalist movement' until after the Rising, by which time Hobson had disappeared from political life. The author argues that Hobson's eclipse robbed the Sinn Fein movement of a great talent (p. 207), and that his subsequent obscurity signified 'the conscious forgetting of individuals who do not fit the dominant historical paradigm' (p. 4). This view underplays the fact, acknowledged by Hay, that Hobson was the only leading Fenian who actively opposed the Rising. Moreover, having avoided arrest he could not point to atonement through incarceration, unlike Eoin MacNeill, Griffith and many others - none of whom had Hobson's knowledge of I.R.B, plans by January 1916 (p. 183). Dr Hay's biography rightly pays tribute and adds signifi cantly to our understanding of Hobson's role in the genesis of the Irish revolution, whilst recognising that her book represents 'only one' of a variety of interpretations (p. 252).

Fergal McCluskey Department of History, National University of Ireland, Galway

Belfast boys: how unionists and nationalists fought and died together in the First World War. By Richard S. Grayson. Pp 272. London: Continuum. 2009. ?25.

The thoughts, attitudes and reactions of ordinary British soldiers to the Great War have received a good deal of attention over the last thirty years or so. Denis Winter's Death's men (1978) provided a neat overview, despite a handful of strange, and occasionally downright dubious, assertions. Others have worked on more specific aspects. Peter Simkins did an excellent job on those who joined up in the great volunteering rush of 1914 in Kitcheners army (1988), while Gary Sheffield concentrated on the relationship between leaders and led in Leadership in the trenches (2000), and Tony Ash worth explored the complex attitudes towards violence in Trench warfare, 1914-1918 (1980). Alongside these works ranging over large numbers of units are those that focus on specific regiments, battalions or men from certain districts. Amateur military historians have made a significant impact in this particular field, having devoted much time and energy to uncovering information stashed in local librar ies, records offices and regimental museums. Particular attention has been lavished on the so-called 'pals battalions', those units formed by men from certain districts or occupations who joined up together in the autumn of 1914; examples of these works abound, including volumes on the Barnsley, Birmingham, Carmarthen, Durham, Hull, Leeds, Manchester and Swansea Pals, to name but a few. However, it is only comparatively recently that British university-based academics have begun to recognise the importance of closely researched local and regional studies of units in order to test and nuance the wider historiography. The phenomenon is much further advanced in other parts of the anglophone world, particularly Australia, where works such as Dale Blair's Dinkum diggers: an Australian battalion at war (2001) provide an excellent model for similar studies. At the same time, local studies have become a staple part of investigations into post-war memorialisation, commemorative practices and rituals. Peter Donaldson's Ritual and remembrance: the memorialisation of the Great War in east Kent (2006) and Nuala Johnson's Ireland, the Great War and the geography of remembrance (2003) are two excellent examples of this approach. In terms of the fusion between military and social history, Ireland has already been well served. Keith Jeffery's Ireland and the Great War (2000) provided a comprehensive overview, and Timothy Bowman's Irish regiments in the Great War: discipline and morale (2003) has focused on the impact of war on Irish units. Into this field comes Richard Grayson's highly readable book exploring the experiences of west-Belfast men. Much very fine detective work has been lavished on the volume, as Grayson has pored over many

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