Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2010 A Land Fit for Heroes?: The Great War, Memory, Popular Culture, and Politics in Ireland Since 1914 Jason Robert Myers Loyola University Chicago Recommended Citation Myers, Jason Robert, "A Land Fit for Heroes?: The Great War, Memory, Popular Culture, and Politics in Ireland Since 1914" (2010). Dissertations. Paper 159. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/159 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2010 Jason Robert Myers LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO “A LAND FIT FOR HEROES”?: THE GREAT WAR, MEMORY, POPULAR CULTURE, AND POLITICS IN IRELAND SINCE 1914 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN HISTORY BY JASON ROBERT MYERS CHICAGO, IL AUGUST 2010 Copyright by Jason Robert Myers, 2010 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A project of this type cannot be completed in a vacuum and many hands went into ensuring the success and quality of this dissertation. I owe a significant debt of gratitude to Dr. Theodore Karamanski who went out of his way to take on yet another supervisee, and one outside his primary field no less, at a critical time in my graduate school career. Dr. Karamanski provided careful and constructive criticism, as well as positive encouragement throughout the entire dissertation writing process. I owe similar thanks to Dr. Suzanne Kaufman, who has been a truly invaluable resource during my tenure at Loyola University Chicago, both as an adviser and an administrator. It was Dr. Kaufman who first introduced me to the study of memory, which proved to be a turning point in my approach to history. Dr. Prudence Moylan has been a critical sounding board from day one and has helped me to formulate and articulate my ideas throughout my graduate career. Finally, Dr. Andrew Wilson was kind enough to lend his expertise on the present subject matter, and managed to carve time out of his busy schedule to help an aspiring Irish historian reach the end of the line. Thanks are also in order for Dr. Robert Bucholz who conceived of this committee and provided critical counsel in making it a reality. I would also like to thank Loyola University Chicago for providing some of the funds that helped me complete my research and writing. A summer research grant greatly reduced the cost of my research trip to Ireland and the United Kingdom in the summer of 2008. Furthermore, an Advanced Doctoral Fellowship during the 2008-2009 school year iii provided the necessary time and support to complete initial drafts of my entire dissertation. Finally, a tuition waiver from the Graduate School for the 2009-2010 school year also helped to reduce my financial burdens. None of this would have been possible without the help and resourcefulness of the Interlibrary Loan staff at Cudahy Library at Loyola University Chicago, and I am grateful to everyone who has worked in that office over the past six years. I also owe a debt to all of the research institutions and their respective staffs that I encountered during my overseas research. Special thanks to Bill Craig and the staff at the Royal British Legion, Belfast for accommodating me and for the pint of Guinness! Others at Loyola University Chicago have been important contributors to the success of my graduate career and this project. It has been a pleasure to work with and work for the wonderful faculty of Loyola’s history department, including Dr. Lewis Erenberg, Dr. Susan Hirsch, and Dr. Dina Berger. Dr. Janet Nolen first introduced me to Irish historiography, and Dr. John Donoghue took a real interest in my dissertation subject and provided helpful suggestions during its early stages. Lillian Hardison, our Graduate Secretary, has been a fount of information and a wonderful guide through all of the various filings, submissions, and other minutia and procedures one must follow in order to accomplish anything at Loyola. My fellow colleagues in the History Department, especially members of the department’s Dissertation Writing Group, provided critical feedback on various chapters of the dissertation as well as a positive forum for discussion and camaraderie throughout the solitary process of dissertating. In particular, I would like to thank Andrew Donnelly, Thomas Greene, Elizabeth Hoffman-Ransford, Kevin iv Kaufmann, Dejan Kralj, Ron Martin, Daniel O’Gorman, Maria Reynolds, Jennifer Searcy, and Adam Shprintzen. I also owe thanks to my senior colleagues who helped familiarize me with the department and graduate school in general when I first arrived fresh from my undergraduate career, Dr. Timothy Lacy, Dr. Michael Nicholsen, and Dr. Justin Pettegrew. I would like to thank my friends outside of school who have often provided necessary relief, including an occasional pint, for a cash-strapped graduate student. I realize that I probably owe my fair share of pints, but hopefully a collective “thank you” will suffice. A number of people took the time to read over my work, whether it was during my first days of graduate school or as I wrap up my graduate career. Special thanks are deserved to Ms. Julia Boyles for her editorial help throughout my graduate career. Longtime family friend Dr. Laurie Alkidas also provided welcome feedback on the finished dissertation as well as sound advice and guidance during a particularly tumultuous period of graduate school. My family steadfastly supported me throughout my doctoral campaign. I would be bereft if I failed to acknowledge our dog, Sambuca. Not only did he provide welcome distractions in the form of long walks that allowed me to freely ruminate or simply clear my head, but also he kept me company during long days of writing and research. My father, James Myers and my brother John have been nothing but encouraging since the outset of my graduate career. Finally, I must admit that I lack the appropriate vocabulary to properly thank the two women most critical to this project’s success. First, my mother, Janis Myers, has inspired me in ways she can never know. My gratitude to her knows no v bounds, and this project is fittingly dedicated to her memory. My wife, Katie, the other dedicatee, has been a rock of support for me providing encouragement, criticism, and all the love that a historian could want or hope to receive. I cannot thank her enough. vi In memory of Janis Lee Myers, who gave me the roots and wings to succeed & For Katie, who made sure that I did. Is maith an scéalaí an aimsir. (Time is a great storyteller.) Irish Proverb If you know your history/Then you will know where you coming from. Bob Marley TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii ABSTRACT xiii INTRODUCTION: THE GREAT WAR AND MEMORY IN IRISH CULTURE 1 Irish Politics and the Great War: A Brief Overview 7 Irish Participation in the First World War 12 The British Legion 18 Chapter Organization 20 CHAPTER ONE: NOT A DAY OF REJOICING: THE EVOLUTION OF REMEMBRANCE DAY AND THE POPPY APPEAL IN IRELAND, 1919-1939 29 Introduction 29 Remembrance Day: Dublin 32 Cork 41 Derry 48 Belfast 55 The Poppy Appeal 61 Opposition to Remembrance Day and the Poppy Appeal 79 CHAPTER TWO: BUILDING AN IRISH IDENTITY: WAR MEMORIALS IN IRELAND 1919-1939 88 Dublin 94 Cork 102 Derry 109 Belfast 116 Private War Memorials 122 International Irish War Memorials 127 CHAPTER THREE: KEEPING THE HOME FIRES BURNING: MEMORY AND THE GREAT WAR IN IRISH POPULAR CULTURE, 1919-1939 140 Battlefield Pilgrimage 141 Memory of the First World War in Irish Popular Culture 149 CHAPTER FOUR: SERVICE REWARDS: HOUSING, UNEMPLOYMENT, AND EX-SERVICEMEN IN IRELAND, 1919-1939 178 Housing 182 Unemployment 197 ix CHAPTER FIVE: “WALTZING” TO A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE GREAT WAR 209 Great War Memory during the Second World War 210 Great War Memory after the Second World War 213 The Troubles 228 The War in Popular Culture: Literature 233 Music 240 Education 245 Public Discourse on the Great War in Ireland 248 Drama 254 Academic History 256 CHAPTER SIX: CREATING “A FUTURE TOGETHER”: THE RESURRECTION OF GREAT WAR MEMORY IN IRELAND SINCE 1987 259 Poppies 266 Popular Culture and the Memory of the Great War 271 Literature 288 Academic History 292 CONCLUSION 296 BIBLIOGRAPHY 304 VITA 326 x LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Houses built, under construction, or planned in Ireland, 1919 to 21 March 1922 185 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. The Stone of Remembrance and Cross at the Irish National War Memorial, Dublin. 102 2. One of two sunken gardens at the Irish National War Memorial, Dublin located at the east and west ends of the main park. 102 3. The Cork City War Memorial. 109 4. The Diamond War Memorial, Derry from the front (left) and the back (right). 116 5. Belfast City War Memorial Garden (left) and cenotaph inscription (right). 122 xii ABSTRACT Despite the fact that over 200,000 Irish men fought in the British Army during the First World War, Ireland’s sizeable contribution to the war remained in the shadows of history for most of the twentieth century. This dissertation examines the cultural components of the memory of the Great War in Ireland and argues that, taken together, they constitute an alternative Irish national identity that threatened and challenged republican nationalism.