Papers of Josephine Mcneill P234 Descriptive Catalogue UCD Archives
Papers of Josephine McNeill P234 Descriptive Catalogue UCD Archives archives @ucd.ie www.ucd.ie/archives T + 353 1 716 7555 F + 353 1 716 1146 © 2009 University College Dublin. All rights reserved ii CONTENTS CONTEXT Biographical History iv Archival History iv CONTENT AND STRUCTURE Scope and content vi System of arrangement vi CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE Access x Language x Finding Aid x DESCRIPTION CONTROL Archivist’s Note xi iii CONTEXT Biographical History McNEILL, Josephine (1895–1969), diplomat, was born 31 March 1895 in Fermoy, Co. Cork, daughter of James Ahearne, shopkeeper and hotelier, and Ellen Ahearne (née O’Brien). She was educated at Loretto Convent, Fermoy, and UCD (BA, H.Dip.Ed.). With a BA in French and German she began a teaching career, teaching at St Louis’ Convent, Kiltimagh, at the Ursuline Convent, Thurles, and at Scoil Íde, the female counterpart of St Enda’s, established by her friend Louise Gavan Duffy (qv). A fluent Irish-speaker with an interest in Irish language, music, and literature, she took an active part in the cultural side of the Irish independence movement. She was also a member of Cumann na mBan and in 1921 a member of the executive committee of that organisation. She was engaged to Pierce McCann, who died of influenza in Gloucester jail (March 1919). In 1923 she married James McNeill, Irish high commissioner in London 1923–8. Josephine McNeill took reluctantly to diplomatic life, but it never showed in public. Her charm and intelligence were immediately apparent, and in a period when Joseph Walshe (qv), the secretary of the Department of External Affairs, viewed married diplomats and diplomatic wives with disdain, McNeill was a noted hostess, both in London and later in Dublin, where James McNeill was governor general of the Irish Free State (1928–32).
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