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Stephen Gwynn

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SLGwynn

Stephen Lucius Gwynn (1864-1950). Photo by Sir John Benjamin Stone (1838-1914). Courtesy National Portrait Gallery.

Stephen Lucius Gwynn (13 February 1864 - 11 June 1950) was an Irish poet, journalist, biographer, and a [Protestant nationalist politician. and Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons.

Life[]

Background[]

He was born in Saint Columba's College in Rathfarnham, south County Dublin, where his father John (1827-1917), a biblical scholar and Church of Ireland clergyman, was warden. His mother Lucy Josephine (1840-1907) was the daughter of Irish nationalist William Smith O'Brien. Stephen was the eldest of 10 children (8 brothers and 2 sisters). Shortly after his birth the family moved to Ramelton in County Donegal to the parish where his father had been appointed parson. John Gwynn later became regius professor of divinity at Trinity College, Dublin.

Youth and marriage[]

Stephen Gwynn spent his early childhood in rural Donegal, which was to shape his later view of Ireland. He went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where, as scholar, in 1884 he was awarded first-class honours in classical moderations and in 1886 literae humaniores. During term holidays he returned to Dublin, where he met several of the political and literary figures of the day.

Gwynn married his cousin Mary Louisa (d. 1941), daughter of Revd. James Gwynn. She later converted to [Catholicism. They had 3 sons and 2 daughters who were brought up in her religion, of whom Aubrey (1892-1983) became a Jesuit priest and professor of medieval history at University College, Dublin. Their second son Denis Rolleston (1893-1971) was professor of modern Irish history at University College, Cork. Stephen Gwynn’s brother Edward John (1868-1941) became provost of Trinity College and another brother Robert Malcolm became its senior dean. A third brother, Charles, had a successful career in the British Army and retired as a Major General.

Professional life[]

After graduating Gwynn spent 10 years from 1886 tutoring as a schoolmaster, for a time in France, which created a lifelong interest in French culture, as expressed in his Praise of France (1927). By 1896 he had developed an interest in writing, becoming a writer and journalist in London focused on English themes, until he came into contact with the emerging Irish literary revival, when he served as secretary of the Irish Literary Society.

This was the beginning of a long and prolific career as a writer covering a wide range of literary genres, from poetry and biographical subjects to general historical works. The eighteenth century was his particular specialism. He wrote numerous books on travel and on the topography of his own homeland, as well as on his other interests: wine, eighteenth-century painting and fishing.

Gwynn returned to Ireland in 1904 when he entered politics. In a by-election in November 1906 he won a seat for Galway city, which he represented as a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party until 1918. During this period he was active in the Gaelic League, and was one of the few Irish MPs to have close links to the Irish Literary Revival.

Along with Joseph Maunsel Hone and George Roberts he founded the Dublin publishing house of Maunsel & Company. He was opposed to the demand for Irish as a compulsory subject for matriculation. He supported the campaign which won the establishment of a Catholic university when he served on the Irish University Royal Commission in 1908. During the debate on the third Home Rule Bill, Gwynn at the request of his party leader John Redmond wrote The case for Home Rule (1911) and was in charge of much of the party’s official publicity and its replies to criticism from Sinn Féin.

World War 1[]

On the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 Gwynn strongly supported Redmond’s encouragement of Irish nationalists and the Irish National Volunteers to support the Allied and British war effort by enlisting in Irish regiments of the Irish Divisions, especially as a means to ensure the implementation of the suspended Home Rule Act at the end of an expectedly short war. Gwynn, now over 50, enlisted in January 1915 with the 7th Leinster Regiment in the 16th (Irish) Division. In July he was commissioned captain with the Connaught Rangers]] and served with them on the Western Front]] at the battles of Messines]], the Somme], and elsewhere.

He was one of five Irish MPs who enlisted and served in the army, the others being J.L. Esmonde, Willie Redmond, William Redmond and D.D. Sheehan, as well as former MP Tom Kettle. Together with Kettle and William Redmond he undertook a recruitment drive for the Irish divisions, co-operating with Kettle on a collection of ballads called Battle songs for the Irish Brigade (1915). Gwynn was made a chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in July 1915.

In 1916 he was appointed to the Dardanelles Commission.

Recalled to Ireland in late 1917 to participate in the Irish Convention chaired by Sir Horace Plunkett, he sided with the Redmonite faction of the Irish Party in supporting a compromise with the southern unionists in an attempt to reach consensus on a Home Rule settlement which would avoid partition. On the death of Redmond in March 1918, Gwynn took over as leader of the moderate nationalists in the Convention. He opposed the threat of compulsory military service during the Conscription Crisis of 1918, though as a member of the Irish Recruiting Council he continued to support voluntary recruitment, encountering intense opposition led by Sinn Féin.

Latter years[]

He formed the Irish Centre Party in 1918 and stood unsuccessfully as an Independent Nationalist for Dublin University in the December 1918 general election. The party merged with Plunkett’s Irish Dominion League to press for a settlement by consent on the basis of dominion status, but Gwynn subsequently broke with Plunkett due to his willingness to accept partition as a temporary compromise. The polarities which divided Ireland during the Anglo-Irish War and Irish Civil War increasingly sidelined Gwynn’s brand of moderate cultural nationalism. Although he supported the newly emergent nation he equally condemned some of the excesses, such as the burning of houses belonging to Irish Free State senators.

From the 1920s Gwynn devoted himself to writing, covering political events as Irish correspondent to The Observer and The Times. Later in his career he wrote some substantial works, and together with his son Denis Gwynn (The Life of John Redmond, 1932) did much to shape the retrospective image and self-justification of John Redmond. Stephen Gwynn was awarded an honorary Dlitt. from the National University of Ireland in 1940, and another from the University of Dublin in 1945. The Irish Academy of Letters awarded him the Gregory Medal in April 1950. In his literary writings he stood for a humanism and tolerance, which qualities, due to political upheavals, were relatively rare in the Ireland of his day. He died on the 11 June 1950 at his home in Terenure, Dublin, and was buried at Tallagh cemetery, south co. Dublin.

Recognition[]

His biography, The Life of Mary Kingsley, was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize

Publications[]

Poetry[]

Novels[]

Short fiction[]

  • The Glade in the Forest. Dublin: Maunsel, 1907.

Non-fiction[]

  • Memorials of an Eighteenth-century Painter: William Northcote. London: Unwin 1898.
  • The Repentance of a Private Secretary London: John Lane 1898.
  • The Decay of Sensibility, and other essays. London: John Lane, 1899.
  • Today and Tomorrow in Ireland: Essays on Irish subjects. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis 1903.
  • Fishing Holidays. London: Macmillan, 1904.
  • The Case for Home Rule (with introduction by John Redmond). Dublin: Maunsel, 1911.
  • Second Reading (essays). Dublin: Maunsel 1918.
  • Irish Books and Irish People. Dublin: Talbot / London: Unwin 1920) [var. 1919 Hyland];
    • Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1969.[1]
  • "Modern Irish Literature", Manchester Guardian, 15 March 1923, 36-40.
  • Irish Literature and Drama in the English Language: A short history. London: Nelson 1936.
  • Garden Wisdom. Dublin: Talbot / London: Unwin, 1921.
  • The Irish Situation. London: Cape, 1921.
  • History of Ireland. London: Macmillan / Dublin: Talbot, 1923.
  • Ireland (with introduction by H.A L. Fisher). London: Ernest Benn 1924. *The Student’s History of Ireland. London: Longman, 1925.
  • Fond Opinions (essays). London: Frederick Muller, 1938.

Biography[]

  • Tennyson: A critical study. London: Blackie & Son, 1899.[1]
  • Thomas Moore. London: Macmillan, 1904.
  • The Masters of English Literature. London: Macmillan, 1904.
  • Mrs. Humphrey Ward. London: Nisbet, 1918.[1]
  • John Redmond's last years. London: Edward Arnold, 1919.
  • Experiences of a Literary Man (autobiography). London: Thornton Butterworth, 1926.
  • Captain Scott. London: John Lane, 1929.
  • Saints and Scholars. London: Thorton Butterworth, 1929.
  • The Life of Horace Walpole. London: Thorton Butterworth, 1932.
  • The Life of Mary Kingsley. London: Macmillan, 1932.
  • The Life of Sir Walter Scott. London: Thorton Butterworth, 1933.
  • Claude Monet and His Garden. London: Country Life, 1934.
  • The Life and Friendships of Dean Swift. London: Thornton Butterworth, 1933.
  • Mungo Park and the Quest for the Niger. London: John Lane, 1934.
  • Sir Henry Simson: A memorial. London: R. Clay, 1934.[1]
  • Oliver Goldsmith. London: Thorton Butterworth, 1935.
  • Henry Grattan and his Times. London: G.G. Harrap, 1939;[1] Dublin: Browne & Nolan, 1939;
    • Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.[1]
  • Robert Louis Stevenson. London: Macmillan, 1939.

Travel[]

  • Highways and Bye-ways in Donegal and Antrim. London: Macmillan, 1899.
  • The Fair Hills of Ireland (illustrated by Hugh Thomson). Dublin: Maunsel, 1906.
  • A Holiday in Connemara. London: Methuen, 1909.
  • The Famous Cities of Ireland (illustrated by Hugh Thomson). Dublin & London: Maunsel 1915.
  • Duffer’s Luck. Edinburgh & London: Blackwood, 1924.
  • Ireland, Its places of beauty, entertainment, sport, and historic association. London: G.G. Harrap, 1927; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1928.[1]
  • In Praise of France. London: Nisbet, 1927.
  • Burgundy. London: G.G. Harrap, 1930.
  • Ireland in Ten Days. London: G.G. Harrap, 1935.
  • Dublin" Old and new. Dublin: Browne & Nolan / London: G.G. Harrap, 1938
    • New York: Macmillan, 1938.[1]
  • The Happy Fisherman (illustrated by Roy Beddington). London: Country Life, 1936).
  • River to River. London: Country Life, 1937.
  • Two in a Valley. London: Rich & Cowan, 1938.

Beautiful Ireland[]

  • Leinster (with photos by Alexander Williams). London: Blackie, 1911.
  • Ulster (with photos by Alexander Williams). London: Blackie, 1911.
  • Munster (with photos by Alexander Williams). London: Blackie, 1912.
  • Connaught (with photos by Alexander Williams). London: Blackie, 1912.
  • Beautiful Ireland: Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Connaught (with photos by Alexander Williams). London: Gresham, 1912.[1]

Edited[]

  • Charlotte Grace O’Brien, Selections from her Writings and Correspondence. Dublin: Maunsel, 1909.
  • Battle Songs for the Irish Brigade (edited with Tom Kettle). Dublin: Maunsel, 1915.[1]
  • Scattering Branches: Tributes to the memory of W.B. Yeats. London & New York: Macmillan, 1940.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Ricorso..[2]

See also[]

References[]

  • Thom’s Directory – Irish who’s who (1923)
  • Biography in The long Gestation, Irish Nationalist life 1891-1918 P. Maume (1999), pp. 229–230
  • A Dictionary of Irish History since 1800, D. J. Hickey & J. E. Doherty, Gill & MacMillan (1980)
  • A Dictionary of Irish Biography, 3rd ed. Henry Boylan (1998)
  • Oxford Directory of Biographies (2004), vol.24

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Search results = au:Steven Gwynn, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 24, 2017.
  2. ↑ Works, Stephen Gwynn (1864-1950), Ricorso. Web, Jan. 24, 2017.

External links[]

Poems
Prose
Books
Etc.


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