MICHAEL MACWHITE PAPERS P194 UCD Archives Application to consult this collection must be made to the depositor. Details of the procedure may be had from the duty archivist. archives @ucd.ie www.ucd.ie/archives T + 353 1 716 7555 F + 353 1 716 1146 © 2005 University College Dublin. All rights reserved ii Summary content and structure A FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION iv B PARIS v C GENEVA vi D WASHINGTON DC viii E ROME x F RETIREMENT xii G MEMOIRS xiii H EOIN MACWHITE, his son xiii J COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS xiii K PHOTOGRAPHS xiv Editorial note xv Chronology xxx iii MICHAEL MacWHITE PAPERS: content and structure A FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION I Official Orders and Certificates (1915-19) 1 II Notebooks and Diaries (1916) 2 III French Military Mission to the USA to raise 3 the Fourth ‘Liberty Loan’ (1918-19) IV Letters (1918; 1928: 1957-8) 4 V Publications and Press Cuttings 5 (1936; 1950-7) iv B PARIS I First Dáil Éireann (i) First Dáil Loan Issue (1919-21) 6 (ii) Diarmuid Ó hÉigeartaigh to Harry Boland (1920) 8 II Correspondence (i) with Provisional Government (1920-1) 9 (ii) with French Journalists and Academics (1920-1) 11 III Propaganda (i) As journalist for Young Ireland and United Irishman (1920-1) 12 (ii) Booklets (1919-21) 14 (iii) Press Cuttings (1919-21) 16 IV Other (1919) 16 v C GENEVA I Transfer from Paris Office (1921) 17 II Correspondence with Arthur Griffith (1921-2) 18 III League of Nations (i) Credentials and recognition of diplomatic status (1921; 1923) 20 (ii) Admission to membership of the League (1922-4) 21 (iii) Assemblies (1924-8) 23 (iv) Conferences (1923-8) 24 (v) Minutes of Council Meetings (1927) 29 (vi) International Labour Office (1923-9) 30 (vii) Correspondence (a) General (1922-8) 32 (b) Irish foreign representatives (1922-7) 38 (c) P.S. O’Hegarty (1922) 40 (d) Oliver St John Gogarty (1922-4) 41 (e) Gearóid McGann (1924-5) 41 (f) Alfred O’Rahilly (1925-9) 43 vi IV Department of External Affairs (i) Reports (1921-8) 44 (ii) Correspondence (a) George Gavan Duffy, Minister (1922-3) 50 (b) Desmond FitzGerald, Minister (1923-6) 53 (c) Joseph P. Walshe, Secretary (1922-9) 55 (d) Seán Murphy, Secretary (1927-8) 62 (iii) Transfer to Washington (1924-32) 63 V Propaganda (1921-3) 64 VI Personal Correspondence (1922-7) 65 VII Press Cuttings (1922-8) 67 vii D WASHINGTON DC I Appointment (1928-9) 67 II Irish Correspondence (i) Department of External Affairs (a) Joseph P. Walshe, Secretary (1929-33; 1937) 68 (b) Seán Murphy, Secretary (1937) 78 (c) Éamon de Valera, Minister and 79 Taoiseach (1937-8) (ii) Irish foreign representatives (1929-38) 79 (iii) Other Irish Government members (a) William T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council (1928-34) 82 (b) Desmond FitzGerald, Minister for Defence (1929-31) 82 (c) Senator Joseph Connolly, Minister for Lands and Fisheries (1933-7) 83 (d) Various (1929-37) 84 viii III US Correspondence (i) Alphabetical Files (1929-38) 85 (ii) Representations (1929-37) 93 (iii) Invitations (1929-38) 94 (iv) Personal (1929-38) 94 (v) Address books and Mailing lists (1929-38) 96 IV League of Nations (i) London Naval Treaty (1930) 96 (ii) Inter-se clause (1932) 97 (iii) Correspondence (a) Edward J. Phelan, International Labour Office (1929-36) 97 (b) Seán Lester (1929-33) 98 (c) Others (1929-38) 98 V Irish-America (i) Addresses, speeches and broadcasts (1929-38) 100 (ii) Correspondence (a) Irish-American Organisations (1929-38) 110 (b) Catholic Hierarchy in US (1930-8) 112 (c) General (1931-7) 114 (iii) Honorary Conferrings (1931-3) 116 ix VI Other Diplomatic Material (i) Award by Daily Washington ‘Merry-go- round’ (1938) 117 (ii) Customs passes (1930-8) 118 (iii) Farewell dinners hosted by various organisations (1938) 118 (iv) Identification cards and memberships of organisations (1927-40) 119 VII Publications (i) Press Cuttings (1929-38) 120 (ii) Booklets (1932-6) 121 (iii) Art Catalogues (1929-36) 122 viii E ROME I Appointment (1938) 122 II Irish Correspondence (i) Department of External Affairs (a) Joseph P. Walshe, Secretary (1938-46) 124 (b) Frederick H. Boland, Secretary (1947-50) 143 (c) Éamon de Valera, Minister (1939-40) 144 (d) Seán MacBride (1948-50) 145 (e) General (1938-50) 145 (ii) Irish foreign representatives (1938-50) 148 (iii) Irish government members (a) John A. Costello, Taoiseach (1948-9) 149 (b) Department of Finance (1939; 1945-8) 150 (c) Others (1945-9) 150 III Italian Correspondence (i) General annual correspondence files (1938-50) 151 (ii) Ministry for Foreign Affairs (1938-50) 155 (iii) Invitations (1939-46) 156 (iv) Calling cards (1938-50) 156 ix IV Diaries (1944;- 50) 156 V Diplomatic passports, travel permits and identification cards (1938-50) 162 VI Publications (i) Press cuttings (1938-50) 163 (ii) Books and booklets (1939-49) 164 (iii) Articles (1938-47) 166 (iv) Propaganda (1944; 1947) 168 x F RETIREMENT I Personal Correspondence (1950-5) 168 II Ireland and the North Atlantic Pact (1950-3) 169 III The Dublin French Society (1950-3) 170 IV Irish Neutrality in World War II (1950-7) 170 V UCD Summer School (1951) 171 VI Honorary Conferrings (1952-3) 171 VII Appointments Diary (1954) 172 VIII Art, Books and Theatre (1955) 173 IX Press Cuttings (1950-7) 174 xi G MEMOIRS I Early Years in West Cork (1883-1900) 175 II London (c. 1900) 176 III Arthur Griffith (1899-1922) 176 IV French Foreign Legion (1914-18) 177 V Paris (1919-21) 180 VI Geneva (1921-9) 182 VII Washington (1929-38) 184 VIII Rome (1938-50) 185 H EOIN MACWHITE, his son (1929-57) 186 J COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS (1926-49) 188 xii K PHOTOGRAPHS I Early Political (c. 1900-19) 190 II Arthur Griffith (c. 1910-22) 191 III French Foreign Legion (1908-56) 192 IV Paris (c. 1921) 198 V Geneva (1923-9) 199 VI Washington (1929-38) 200 VII Rome (1938-50) 207 VIII Retirement (1950-55) 212 xiii EDITORIAL NOTE Provenance The papers of Michael MacWhite were deposited in the Archives Department by his daughter-in-law, Mrs Kathleen MacWhite in November 2003. Context Early years (1883-1913) Michael MacWhite was born in Reenogreena, near Glandore, Co Cork, on 8 May 1883, the eighth of nine children of John White and Mary McCarthy. He attended local national schools, Reenogreena N.S. and Andfield N.S., and this was his only formal education. At the age of seventeen, in the year his father died, he successfully completed the British Civil Service exam in Dublin. On his visit to the capital to undertake the examination he met Arthur Griffith at a Celtic Literary Society meeting and from that time onwards and until his untimely death in 1922, Griffith wielded a strong influence on the course of MacWhite’s life. On passing the examination, MacWhite moved directly to London to take up work as a banking clerk. At this time, he became increasingly involved in the republican movement, and within a year, at the age of 18, he had become Secretary of the Irish National Club, of which Dr Mark Ryan, the old Fenian, was president. By 1903, he was President of the London branch of Cumann na nGaedheal with P.S.O’Hegarty as Honorary Secretary. In 1905, he left London for health reasons, and for a number of years travelled all over Europe, beginning with the Scandinavian countries, and also venturing to Finland, Western Russia, and Germany, picking up a smattering of languages as he went. There is a suggestion that Arthur Griffith recommended travelling to him. The itinerary of his travels is somewhat sketchy but from a letter he wrote to John Devoy xv c. 1913, a rough outline of his travels can be discerned.1 By 1906 he was in Denmark learning about agricultural co-operation, upon which he reported back to Griffith. He also studied high-school teaching methods, and taught language classes in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Christiana. In 1909 he toured Germany extensively, visiting ‘nearly every city…from Konigsberg to Heidelberg and from Aachen to Breslau.’2 After this tour, he returned to West Cork to establish, with Seán MacDermott, the first branch of Sinn Féin in Skibbereen and Dunmanway. In July 1912, he was again in London and was offered two positions as a newspaper correspondent, one in Rio de Janeiro and one in Sofia. He chose the latter and not long after his arrival, the First Balkan War broke out. He travelled through Turkey and Armenia, ended up enlisting in the Bulgarian Army and was subsequently wounded in action near Adrianople. On 10 February 1913, he was granted permission to enter Media in Persia and the following day he was able to board a French steamer ‘and bid an unconventional farewell to the Bulgars and the Serbs, their discords and their jealousies.’ 3 On arriving in Marseilles ten days later, MacWhite was admitted to the port hospital due to a complication of diseases, but by April 1913 he was discharged fully recovered. He then enlisted in the French Foreign Legion and by May 1913, he was stationed in Sidi-bel-Abbés, Algeria. French Foreign Legion (1913-18) Although in a handwritten autobiographical note, MacWhite states that he heard about the outbreak of World War I in the train between Marseilles and Lyon causing him to enlist in the Foreign Legion,4 his Legion records clearly show that he enlisted on 22 April 1913.5 When the war did break out, he saw action on the battlefields of France, Turkey and Greece. He was wounded at the battle of Gallipoli and at Macedonia, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre three times for his valour in combat.