Cosgrave's Concern: British Labour Impasse on the Boundary Commission 1924

Abstract

The first ever Labour government in Britain took office in February 1924. Its prime concern during its brief 10-month period in office was to stress its legitimacy and political credibility. In the Irish Free State the fledgling Cumann na nGaedheal government of W. T. Cosgrave had emerged victorious from civil war and was likewise determined to stress its legitimacy. An inordinate amount of time and energy during 1924 was spent attempting to wrestle with the final unfinished element of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty – the permanent establishment of the boundary between north and south to be determined by a Boundary Commission set up under Article 12 of the Treaty. The Labour government, determined not allow the Irish issue to re-emerge in British politics, employed a legalistic approach, which was bedeviled by Northern Ireland's obduracy in refusing to appoint a representative to the Boundary Commission. Labour referred the matter to adjudication by the Privy Council, seeking guidance on whether the British government could appoint for Ulster, whether the Commission would be valid without a northern representative and whether decisions were required to be a majority or unanimous. When the Privy Council ruled that the Commission would not be legal without a northern representative, amending legislation had to be passed in both the House of Commons and Dáil Eireann allowing Britain to appoint for Northern Ireland, after which a majority rather than unanimity would suffice. All of this, considered by many in nationalist Ireland to demonstrate prevarication, delay and bad faith on behalf of the British Labour government, caused considerable political embarrassment to Cosgrave not only from anti-Treaty republicans but also from Irish Labour and government TDs in Dáil Eireann.

Keywords:

• Labour
• Cosgrave
• MacDonald
• Craig
• Boundary Commission
• Irish Free State

Notes

1. Department of the Taoiseach Files, National Archives, Dublin TAOIS/S/1801/D, 28 January 1924.

2. House of Commons Debates, Vol. 174, 4 June 1924, col. 1258.

3. Desmond Fitzgerald Papers, UCD, P80/926(10), 26 February 1924.

4. Ibid., P80/926(11), 3 March 1924.

5. TNA, CO 739/26, Irish Free State Original Correspondence, 10 March 1924.

6. The Times, 18 March 1924 in NA, PRO 30/69/228, Ramsay MacDonald Papers, 18 March 1924.

7. TNA, HO 45/12296, Boundary Commission Correspondence, 10 April 1924.

8. Minutes of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, National Archives, Dublin, NAI/G2/2, 28 February 1924.

9. Labour Party, PLP Executive Minutes, 15 May 1924, p. 30.

10. Eoin MacNeill Papers, UCD, LA1/F/305, 14 November 1924.

11. Eoin MacNeill Papers, UCD, LA1/H/93, undated.

12. Minutes of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, National Archives, Dublin, NAI/G2/2, 14 May 1923.

13. Ibid., 10 December 1923.

14. Department of Foreign Affairs Papers, DFA/P7, National Archives, Dublin, 11 December 1923.

15. Ibid., undated.

16. Dáil Debates, Vol. 6, 18 January 1924, col. 371.

17. Dáil Debates, Vol. 6, 30 January 1924, col. 685.

18. Department of the Taoiseach, TAOIS/S/1801/D Notes of Meeting on the Conference on Boundary Commission, 28 January 1924.

19. Ibid.

20. Department of the Taoiseach, TAOIS/S/1801/R, Undertakings given by President in Regard to Boundary Commission, undated.

21. TNA, CO 739/26, Letter from Lionel Curtis to E. J. Harding, 10 March 1924.

22. Minutes of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, National Archives, Dublin, NAI/G2/3, 4 February 1924.

23. Ibid., 12 February 1924.

24. Minutes of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, National Archives, Dublin, NAI/G2/3, 12 March 1924.

25. TNA, CAB 23/47/CABINET 24(24), pp. 361–362. Cabinet Conclusions, 2 April 1924.

26. TNA, HO 246/2, Irish Boundary Commission, 8 May 1924.

27. Dáil Debates, Vol. 6, 9 April 1924, cols. 3082–3083.

28. TNA, CAB 24/166, CP 242, Cabinet Memoranda, 7 April 1924.

29. TNA, HO 267/209, J. H. Thomas speech in House of Commons, 30 April 1924, reported in Manchester Guardian, 1 May 1924.

30. TNA, HO 45/12296, J. H. Thomas oral answer in House of Commons, 5 May 1924.

31. TNA, HO 267/209, Boundary; Newspaper Cuttings, 5 May 1924.

32. TNA, CAB 24/167, CP398, Cabinet Memoranda, 14 July 1924.

33. TNA, HO 246/2, Memorandum for the Information of the Prime Minister, op. cit.

34. Dáil Debates, Vol. 7, 13 June 1924, cols. 2354–2355.

35. Ibid., col. 2614, 18 June 1924.

36. TNA, HO 45/12296, Ramsay MacDonald, Speech in the House of Commons, 4 June 1924 and House of Commons Debates, Vol. 174, 4 June 1924, cols. 1257–1258.

37. Department of the Taoiseach Files, TAOIS/S/1801/H, Letter from MacDonald to Cosgrave, 6 June 1924.

38. Ibid., Private and Personal Letter from J. H. Thomas to Cosgrave, 16 June 1924.

39. Minutes of Executive Council of the Irish Free State, National Archives, Dublin, NAI/G2/3, 10 July 1924.

40. TNA, CAB 24/168, CP 403, Joint Memorandum to Cabinet by Arthur Henderson (Home Secretary) and J. H. Thomas (Colonial Secretary), Cabinet Papers, 17 July 1924.

41. Ibid.

42. TNA, CAB 23/48, CABINET 42(24), p. 290, Cabinet Conclusions, 18 July 1924.

43. TNA, CAB 21/281, General Staff Papers; Political Situation in Ireland, 9 May 1924.

44. TNA, CAB 23/48, CABINET 44(24), Cabinet Conclusions, 30 July 1924.

45. TNA, CAB 24/168, CP 426, Report of Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 31 July 1924.

46. TNA, CAB 23/48, CABINET 45(24), Cabinet Conclusions, 30 July 1924.

47. TNA, HO 267/205, J. H. Thomas's speech in House of Commons, 31 July 1924.

48. TNA, HO 45/12296, J. H. Thomas's speech in House of Commons, 1 August 1924.

49. Dáil Debates. Vol. 8, 1 August 1924, cols. 2368–2377.

50. TNA, CAB 23/48, CABINET 46(24), p. 414, Cabinet Conclusions, 4 August 1924.

51. Minutes of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, National Archives, Dublin, NAI/G2/3, 3 August 1924.

52. TNA, CAB 23/48, CABINET 46(24), Letter from the Prime Minister to the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. Cabinet Conclusions, Appendix 1, pp. 417–418, 4 August 1924.

53. TNA, PRO 30/69/228, Ramsay MacDonald Papers, 7 August 1924.

54. Department of the Taoiseach Files, TAOIS/S/1001/J, 12 August 1924.

55. Dáil Debates, Vol. 8, 12 August 1924, col. 2483.

56. Dáil Debates, Vol. 8, 12 August 1924, cols. 2441–2495.

57. House of Commons Debates, Vol. 177, 30 September 1924, cols. 27–40.

58. Ibid., cols. 170–173, 1 October 1924.

59. J. H. Thomas Papers, UI625 213, 30 September 1924.

60. Dáil Debates, Vol. 8, 15 October 1924, cols. 2502–2509.

61. Dáil Debates, Vol. 8, 15 October 1924, col. 2532.

62. Ibid., cols. 2532–2542.

63. TNA, PRO 30/69/1433, Ramsay Macdonald Papers, 4 November 1924.

64. House of Commons Debates, Vol. 189, 8 December 1925, cols. 322–326.