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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
Henry Edward Duke, 1st Lord Merrivale, is one of the forgotten men of Anglo-Irish relations. Duke’s chief secretaryship of Ireland has been eclipsed by that of his tragic predecessor, Augustine Birrell; and he has generally been regarded as a mere caretaker, a stop-gap chief secretary, who, in the words of The Times obituarist, showed neither ‘imagination’ nor ‘breadth of view’, and had ‘no appreciation of the Irish psychology’. If he is remembered at all, it is for his lapsus linguae at the opening of the Irish convention on 25 July 1917 when he declared, to an astonished audience, ‘Gentlemen, one thing I have learned in the course of my experience, never despair of the republic’.
1 Henry Edward Duke (1855–1939); journalist; called to bar, 1885; Q.C., 1899; unionist M.P. Plymouth, 1900–06, 1910–18 (with a majority of 1 from Dec. 1910); a highly successful advocate; P.C., 1915; chief secretary for Ireland, 1916–18; lord justice of appeal with title of baron Merrivale, 1918–19; president, probate, divorce and admiralty division, high court, 1919–33. There is no biography of Duke, though one was evidently planned in 1940 by F. E. Hodgson and Ralph V. Gusack (see Gusack to A. P. Magill, 3 Jan. 1940, Bodl., MS Eng. lett., c 213, f. 171). There is a sympathetic account of his life by lord Sankey in D.N.B.
2 For Birrell see Ó Broin, Leon, The chief secretary: Augustine Birrell in Ireland (London, 1969).Google Scholar
3 The Times, 22 May 1939; but Duke found a rather unexpected champion in Maurice Healy, K.C., nephew of T. M. Healy, who wrote to The Times denying that Duke lacked imagination or understanding, and adding that his uncle said there were three good chief secretaries of Ireland : Gerald Balfour, George Wyndham, and Duke (The Times, 24 May 1939).
4 McDowell, R.B., The Irish convention 1917–1918 (London, 1970), pp 103–4.Google Scholar
5 Duke took up office on 3 Aug. 1916, leaving on 4 May 1918; his successor was Edward Shortt, who was in turn replaced by Ian Mac-Pherson on 13 Jan. 1919; Sir Hamar Greenwood, the last chief secretary, took up his appointment on 12 Apr. 1920 ( Hughes, J.L.J., ‘The chief secretaries of Ireland’ in I.H.S., 8, no. 29 (Mar. 1952), pp 59–72.Google Scholar
6 We are grateful to lord Merrivale for kindly permitting us to make use of the papers of his grandfather which are in his care. For permission to quote from crown copyright documents we thank the controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. For access to private papers, we are indebted to the former Beaverbrook library and the House of Lords Record Office (Bonar Law and Lloyd George MSS); the Bodleian library (Asquith MSS and miscellaneous correspondence of A. P. Magill); the Plunkett foundation (Plunkett MSS); Lord Southborough (Southborough MSS) Mr Martin Gilbert and G. & T. Publications Ltd (Churchill MSS). Dr John Turner generously placed his unpublished work on Lloyd George’s advisers and Irish policy at our disposal, and Professor Oliver MacDonagh made helpful comments on an earlier version of the article.
7 Hansard 5 (commons), lxxxii, 2309–2310 (25 May 1916).
8 Hansard 5 (commons), lxxxiv, 2137–2147 (31 July 1916).
9 Asquith to Margot Asquith, 14 May 1916 ( Spender, J.A. and Asquith, Cyril, Life of Herbert Henry Asquith, Lord Oxford and Asquith, 2 vols, London, 1932), 2, 216 Google Scholar; Jenkins, Roy, Asquith (London, 1964), p. 397 Google Scholar; Lady Scott’s diary, 2 May 1916 ( Kennet, Lady, Self-portrait of an artist, London 1949), p. 141.Google Scholar
10 Asquith to Lloyd George, 22 May 1916 ( Owen, Frank, Tempestuous Journey London, 1954, p. 312).Google Scholar
11 Gwynn, Denis, The life of John Redmond (London, 1932), pp 522–3.Google Scholar Margot Asquith had less faith in Duke; on 2 Aug. 1916 she implored Lloyd George to ensure that Lord Wimborne was restored to the viceroyalty : ‘I never worry Henry when he is [as] tired [as] he is now, but no more fatal thing than Duke without a Lb [eral] home rule viceroy can I imagine ! !’ (Margot Asquith to Lloyd George (House of Lords Record Onice (hereafter cited as H.L.R.O.), Lloyd George MSS, E 2/24/2).
12 Contemporary notes by a unionist member of the cabinet contain details of these discussions; the notes were revealed in confidence, and we are not at liberty to disclose information which would identify their author, or their present location.
13 Duke to Law, 31 May 1915 (H.L.R.O., Bonar Law MSS, 50/3/75).
14 A. P. Magill to R. V Gusack, 18 Jan. 1940 (Bodl., MS Eng. lett. c. 213, f. 174).
15 Hansard 5 (commons), lxxxiv, 2147 ’(31 July 1916).
16 Ibid., col. 2152.
17 Gwynn, , Redmond, pp 528–9.Google Scholar
18 Duke to Law, 21 Sept. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Bonar Law MSS, 63/c/42).
19 Headlam, Maurice, Irish reminiscences (London, 1947), p. 70.Google Scholar
20 SirRobinson, Henry, Memories wise and otherwise (London, 1923), p. 247 Google Scholar; Robinson was vice-president of the Irish local government board; created a baronet in 1920; for an itinerary of a tour of the west, southwest and north of Ireland which Duke made in Sept. 1916 to ‘find out the realities of the station’ see Duke to Asquith, 3 Sept. 1916 (Bodl., MS Asquith 17, f. 67).
21 Royal commission on the rebellion in Ireland [Cd. 8297], 1916, p. 4.
22 Ó Broin, , The chief secretary, p. 189.Google Scholar
23 McDowell, , Ir administration, pp 29–32.Google Scholar
24 Memorandum by chief secretary, G.T. 2137, 27 Sept. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/27); for treasury reaction to Duke’s earnestness see Headlam, , Ir. reminiscences, pp 192–3Google Scholar; a treasury official remarked that, whereas Birrell had been a cynic, and had assessed Irish complaints at their true value, ‘Duke seems to swallow them all’
25 Walter Long to Duke, 8 Aug. 1916, and Stamfordham to Duke, 17 Aug. 1916 (Merrivale MSS); Townshend, C., The British campaign in Ireland, 1919–1921 : the development of political and military policies (London, 1975), p. 5 Google Scholar; memorandum of Duke, 8 Aug. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Law MSS, 63/c/36).
26 McDowell, , Ir. administration, pp 292–3.Google Scholar
27 Wimborne to Duke, 16 Sept. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
28 Duke to Lloyd George, 27 Dec. 1916 (Beaverbrook library, Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/4); for other examples of ‘Castle’ patronage see Wimborne to Duke, 1 Sept. 1916 (Merrivale MSS), Duke to Bonham Carter, 11 Sept., 15 Oct., 1916 (Bodl., Asquith MSS, 45, f. 22; 17, f. 109).
29 Roskill, S., Hankey: man of secrets (London, 1970), 2, 407.Google Scholar
30 McDowell, , Ir. administration, p. 62.Google Scholar
31 Wimborne to Asquith, 2 Aug. 19116 (Bodl., Asquith MSS, 37, f. 113).
32 Wimborne to Duke, 7 Aug. 1916; Duke to Wimborne, 7 Aug. 1916 (Bodl., Asquith MSS, 44, ff 146–8).
33 Long to Duke, 8 Aug. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
34 Note of a verbal agreement between Duke and Wimborne, 7 Aug. 1916 (Bodl., Asquith MSS, 44 ff 146–8).
35 Addison, Christopher, Four and a half years (London, 1934), 2, 404.Google Scholar
36 A. P. Magill to Ralph V. Cusack, Jan. 1940 (Bodl., MS Eng. lett., c. 213, ff 174–9).
37 Asquith to the king, 6 Oct. 1916 (P.R.O., Cab. 41/37/34).
38 E.g., Albinia Brodrick to Alice Stop ford Green, 5 Aug. 1916, intercepted by military intelligence and marked ‘M.I.5.G.3., 110593 of 9/8/16’, and Cardinal Logue to the archbishop of St Louis, 13 Feb. 1918 (Merrivale MSS). For a brief description of British intelligence in Ireland in 1916, and Duke’s opinion of the service, see Giolla Choille, B. Mac, Intelligence notes, 1913–16 (Dublin, 1966), pp xix-xx.Google Scholar Duke and Wimborne both wished to bring the censor ‘directly under the civil administration’, to which in Sept. 1916 Asquith concurred (Wimborne to Duke, 16 Sept. 1916, Merrivale MSS).
39 G. W Russell to ‘Mrs Philimore’ [Phillimore, Lucy], 28 July 1916 Google Scholar (Merrivale MSS), intercepted by military intelligence, and despite the spelling of ‘Mrs Philimore’ in the typed transcript, almost certainly the wife of the hon. Robert Phillimore; both she and her husband were socialists.
40 Major Ivor Price, senior military intelligence officer attached to Dublin Castle.
41 Widow of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, a journalist, who was summarily executed on the orders of Captain J. C. Bowen-Colthurst, an Irishman serving in the Royal Irish Rifles; Bowen-Colthurst was subsequently court-martialled, pronounced ‘guilty but insane’, and detained in Broadmoor.
42 Cabinet memorandum by Duke, N.D. (printed 5 Sept. 1916), copy in the Lloyd George MSS (H.L.R.O., E 9/4/2); see also Asquith to Duke, 28 Aug. 1916, and Lord Grey of Fallodon to Duke, 29 Aug. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
43 Long to Duke, 5 Sept. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
44 Duke to Lloyd George, 2 Oct. 1917 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/36); see also G. W. Russell to ‘Mrs Philimore’ 28 July 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
45 Ó Broin, , Dublin Castle and the 1916 rising (Dublin, 1966), p. 120.Google Scholar
46 W.C. 163, 14 Jun. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 23/3); see also memorandum by Duke, G.T. 1027, 12 Jun. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/16); some 150 prisoners were amnestied (Hansard 5 (commons), xcviii, 701).
47 Lyons, F.S.L., Ireland since the famine (London, 1971), p. 386.Google Scholar
48 Townshend, , British campaign in Ireland, p. 5.Google Scholar
49 Memorandum by Duke, G.T 1261, 3 July 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 23 /3).
50 Duke to Lloyd George, 6 Oct., 2 Nov. 1917 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/38, 40).
51 Memorandum by Duke, G.T. 3798, 3 Mar. 1918 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/43).
52 Letter by Healy, Maurice in The Times, 24 May 1939.Google Scholar
53 The Times, 22 May 1939; Phillips, Alison, The revolution in Ireland, 1906–1923 (2nd ed., London, 1926), p. 115 Google Scholar; for a bruising encounter between Duke and Mahon see Roskill, , Hankey, pp 406–7.Google Scholar
54 Duke to Asquith, 28 Aug. 1916 (Bodl., Asquith MSS, 17, f. 59); see also Maxwell to Duke, 26 Aug. 1916, Wimborne to Duke, 28 Aug. 1916, and Asquith to Duke, 31 Aug. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
55 SirArthur, George, General Sir John Maxwell (London, 1932), pp 288–9.Google Scholar
56 Memorandum by Duke, Sept. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, E 9/4/2).
57 Phillips, , Revolution in Ireland, p. 114.Google Scholar
58 Martial law was first introduced in Dublin on easter Monday, 27 Apr. 1916, and in the rest of the country the following day (Hansard 5 (commons) lxxi, 2510); it was not in fact repealed after 1916, but Duke was at pains to point out that ‘the proclamation did not bring a state of martial law, but it notified to his majesty’s subjects in Ireland that a condition of things existed in which they might be dealt with outside the law. That state of things passed away when the time of the insurrection passed’ (ibid., xc, 1794, 26 Feb. 1917). He shortly afterwards claimed, in response to appeals by Irish nationalist M.P.s to repeal martial law, that ‘what is called martial law has not during my tenure of office been in use in Ireland’, but the existing state of affairs was being continued because ‘a proclamation . . declaring martial law not to be in force might be misunderstood by people … If by a proclamation that there is no martial law people are to be led into acts of violence or insurrection in Ireland on the supposition that there is not power in the hands of the government under the existing law, apart from what is called martial law, to deal with matters of that kind, I think they might have cause of complaint that they were told that there was no martial law in existence’; to which J. Swift MacNeill M.P replied, not without justification, ‘that is too good altogether’ (ibid., xci, 1842–3, 20 Mar. 1917).
59 Asquith to the king, 19 Oct. 1916 (P.R.O., Cab 41/37/36). Wimborne agreed with Duke about Maxwell; see Ó Broin, , The chief secretary, pp 200–01,Google Scholar and Wimborne to Duke, 16 Sept. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
60 Redmond to Asquith, 30 Nov. 1916 (Merrivale MSS); Redmond’s letter was circulated as a cabinet paper on 1 Dec. 1916 (P.R.O., Cab. 37/160/31).
61 W.C. 14, 21 Dec. 1916 (P.R.O., Cab. 23/1); a memorandum by Duke on the internees is in an appendix to the minutes of this meeting; see also Duke to Lloyd George, 20 Dec. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/2).
62 T. P. O’Connor to Duke, 21 Dec. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
63 Hansard 5 (commons), Ixxxviii, 1763–653 21 Dec. 1916.
64 Duke to Lloyd George, 26 Dec. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/3).
65 Lyons, , Ireland since the famine, p. 386.Google Scholar
66 Memorandum by Duke, G.T. 2137, 27 Sept. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/27); Duke made a vigorous defence of his policy on 23 Oct. 1917 (Hansard 5 (commons), xcviii, 696–718).
67 SirPlunkett, Horace, The Irish convention: confidential report to his majesty the king by the chairman (1918), pp 40–41.Google Scholar
68 Hansard 5 (commons), xcviii, 712–13; Duke alsa overrode the press censor concerning an article in the Freeman’s Journal severely critical of the Irish administration (ibid., cols 713–14).
69 G.T. 2173, ι Oct. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/37); see also G.T. 2227, 6 Oct. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/28).
70 Duke to Lloyd George, 6 Oct. 1917 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/38); see also same to same, 1 Oct. 1917 (F 37/4/35).
71 Townshend, , British campaign in Ireland, p. 5.Google Scholar
72 Plunkett, , Irish convention: confidential report, p. 41 Google Scholar
73 W.C. 186, 14 July 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 23/3).
74 Memorandum by Duke, G.T. 1990, 8 Aug. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/25).
75 Memorandum by Duke, G.T 3798, 3 Mar. 1918 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/43); Townshend, , British campaign in Ireland, pp 7–8.Google Scholar
76 Duke to Lloyd George, 22 Mar. 1918 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/47); see also memorandum by Duke, G.T. 4004, 22 Mar. 1918 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/46).
77 Hansard 5 (commons), lxxxiv, 2145, 2147 (31 July 1916).
78 On his elevation to the cabinet Duke was required to resign his seat and seek reelection; he was elected unopposed. The extract is from a speech of 15 July 1916 ; Duke to Bonham Carter, 20 July, enclosing cutting from Devon and Exeter Gazette, 15 July 1916 (Bodl., Asquith MSS, 37, ff 112, 115).
79 Long played a key part in the sabotaging of the 1916 Lloyd George negotiations, and he seems to have regarded himself as Duke’s unofficial adviser on Irish affairs; see e.g. his letter to Duke concerning appointments to the Irish administration, and the release of internees (25 Aug. 1916, Merrivale MSS). In Apr 1918 he chaired a committee to prepare a draft of a home rule bill, and after the first meeting he was asked to draft a bill himself, consulting his committee only on certain points of difference; in Oct. 1919 he chaired a committee which drafted the 1920 Government of Ireland Bill.
80 Long to Duke, 8 Aug. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
81 See e.g. his speech of 18 Oct. 1916 (Hansard 5 (commons) lxxxvi, 607–8).
82 Duke to Lloyd George, 13 Dec. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/1).
83 C. P Scott to Lloyd George, 4 Mar. 1917 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 45/2/6).
84 Lloyd George to Duke, 9 May 1917, and Duke to Lloyd George, same date (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/23, 25); Report of the proceedings of the Irish convention [Cd. 9019], H.C. 1918, pp 50–51; Addison, , Four and a half years, 2, 367.Google Scholar
85 Lyons, , Ireland since the famine, pp 384–5.Google Scholar
86 A. P. Magill to R. V. Cusack, 18 Jan. 1940 (Bodl., MS Eng. lett, c. 213, f. 178).
87 Plunkett, , Irish convention: confidential report, p. 5.Google Scholar
88 Walter Long’s fear that Duke might become chairman of the convention was unfounded (see Long to Carson, 26 Jun. 1917, Marjoribanks, Edward and Colvin, Ian, The life of lord Carson [3 vols, London, 1932–1936], 3, 294)Google Scholar; but Duke may have had some inclination for the task (William M. Murphy to lord Southborough, 19 Apr. 1918, South-borough MSS).
89 McDowell, , Ir convention, p. 68.Google Scholar
90 W.C. 280, 22 Nov. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 23/4).
91 Memorandum by Duke, G.T. 2690, 20 Nov. 1917 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/32).
92 Memorandum by Duke, G.T 3668, 19 Feb. 1918 (copy in Bodl., MS Eng. hist., c. 696/2/514).
93 Lyons, , Ireland since the famine, pp 282–3.Google Scholar
94 Memorandum by Duke, G.T. 2137, 27 Sept. 1916 (P.R.O., Gab. 24/27); see also his memoranda G.T. 1596, 2 Aug. 19117 (P.R.O., Gab. 24/21) and G.T. 2081, 19 Sept. 1917 (P.R.O., Gab. 24/26).
95 W.G. 381 A, 3 Apr. 1918 (P.R.O., Cab. 23/14). The Representation of the People Act became law in 1918. It conceded manhood suffrage, giving the vote also to women over the age of 30, if either themselves or their husbands were qualified on the local government franchise by owning or occupying land or premises of an annual value of £5. Two million men and six million women were thus added to the register. The Irish electorate rose from 701,475 to 1,936,673; about two-thirds of ithose on the 1918 register would vote for the first time. Murphy, J.A., Ireland in the twentieth century, (Dublin, 1975), pp 4–5.Google Scholar
96 G.T. 2137, 27 Sept. 1916 (P.R.O., Cab. 24/27).
97 G.T. 3668, 19 Feb. 1918 (Bodl., MS Eng. hist. c. 696/2/514).
98 Wimborne to Churchill, 17 Oct. 1917 (Churchill papers, 2/90).
99 Plunkett’s diary, 5 Oct. 1917 (Plunkett foundation, Plunkett papers).
100 Adams to Lloyd George, 23 Feb. 1918 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F/63/2/13); for Harmsworth’s interest in Irish matters, see Pound, Reginald and Harmsworth, Geoffrey, Northcliffe (London, 1959), pp 501, 615.Google Scholar
101 Lloyd George to Carson, 19 Feb. 1918 ( Marjoribanks, and Colvin, , Carson, 3, 327).Google Scholar
102 A majority of the convention, 66 members in all, including 10 southern unionists and 45 nationalists, agreed upon a scheme of Irish self-government on 5 Apr. 1916 ( Buckland, PJ., Irish unionism: the Anglo-Irish and the new Ireland, 1886–1922 (Dublin 1972), p. 127).Google Scholar
103 Duke to Lloyd George, 22 Mar. 1918 (H.L.RJO., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/47).
104 Memorandum by Duke, (5?) Sept. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, E 9/4/2 and P.R.O., Gab. 37/155/8), Wimborne was in full agreement with Duke; Ó Broin, , The chief secretary, p. 201.Google Scholar
105 Law to Duke, 11 Sept. 1916 (Merrivale MSS); see also correspondence between Duke and Law, 21, 27, 28 Sept. 1916 (H.L.R.O., Bonar Law MSS, 63/c/42–44); on 16 Sept. 1916 Wimborne reported to Duke that Asquith had ‘personally no desire to try the experiment’ (Merrivale MSS).
106 Lloyd George to Duke, 26 Jan. 1917 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/8).
107 Duke to Lloyd George, 30 Jan. 1917 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/10). Duke calculated that about 134,000 men had joined the armed forces from Ireland since the war began, and that about 161,000 remained available. Wimborne in 1916 put the number available at about 100,000; Wimborne to Duke, 16 Sept. 1916 (Merrivale MSS).
108 Ward, Alan J., ‘Lloyd George and the 1918 Irish conscription crisis’ in Hist. Jn., 17, no. 1 (1974), pp 107–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
109 Ibid., p. 110.
110 These arguments are in memoranda by Duke, G.T 4052, 2133, 27 Mar. and 4 Apr 1918 (P.R.O., Gab. 24/46, 47), and in W.G. 375, 376, and 381A, 27, 28 Mar., 3 Apr. 1918 (Gab. 23/4,5).
111 Ward, , ‘Lloyd George and Irish conscription’, loc. cit., p. 113.Google Scholar
112 Memorandum by Duke, G.T. 4218, 13 Apr. 1918 (P.R.O., Gab. 24/48).
113 The committee consisted of Long, Duke, Curzon, Barnes, Smuts, Austen Chamberlain, C. Addison, Fisher, Hewart, and Cave; members of the war cabinet were ex officio members. Records of the committee’s deliberations are in P.R.O., Cab. 27/46; see also Middlemas, K. (ed.), Thomas Jones: Whitehall diary (London, 1971), 3, 2–11.Google Scholar
114 Ward, , ‘Lloyd George and Irish conscription’, loc. cit., pp 115–18Google Scholar; in the end, the cabinet was obliged to follow one of Duke’s suggestions and launch a voluntary recruiting campaign (W.C. 408A, 10 May 1918, P.R.O., Cab. 23/14; Ward, loc. cit., pp 121–7). About 10,000 volunteers were produced; about 101,000 troops were tied down in Ireland.
115 Duke to Lloyd George, 16 Apr. 1918 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/51).
116 On 25 Apr. 1918 Christopher Addison noted in his diary : ‘I had a walk round the park with the P.M. yesterday morning . . The result of our deliberations was that it was thought wise to ask Shortt to be chief secretary in place of Duke, who is tired out’ ( Addison, , Four and a half years, 2, 519).Google Scholar
117 A. P. Magill to William Sutherland, 2 May 1918 (H.L.R.O., Lloyd George MSS, F 37/4/52). The problem was that ‘Mr Duke will be sworn in as a lord justice of appeal tomorrow. Mr Shortt has to be appointed (1) chief secretary, (2) keeper of the privy seal, (3) a member of the Irish privy council, and cannot, I believe, act formally as chief secretary until he takes the oaths of office’.
118 Robinson, , Memories, p. 247.Google Scholar
119 Plunkett, , Irish convention: confidential report, p. 41.Google Scholar
120 Duke to A. P. Magill, 7 Jan. 1934 (Bodl, MS Eng. lett, c. 213, f. 170).
121 Robinson, op. cit., p. 246.
122 professor J. Lee argues that ‘the direction of the electoral tide had become clear in February 1917 when Count Plunkett comfortably won North Roscommon’, and denies that there was a ‘waning of Sinn Fein support immediately prior to the conscription threat’ (The modernisation of Irish society, 1848–1918 (Dublin, 1973), pp 157–60); but the subject needs further investigation.
123 Even Sir Henry Robinson was moved to admit that ‘one looks back at Duke’s time in Ireland with a melancholy pleasure, as it was our last glimpse of life in Ireland when people could pursue their avocations without dread of the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the arrow that flieth by day’ (Memories, p. 259).
