Language revival and conflicting identities in the Irish Independent

Abstract

An important feature of the Irish Independent newspaper at the turn of the twentieth century was its use of a bilingual platform for the promotion of the Irish language revival movement. Having pledged its “heartiest support … to the Irish Language and Industrial Revival Movements, as to every movement for the National and material regeneration of Ireland” in its first edition (Irish Independent, January 2, 1905), it was clear from the outset that the Irish Independent would foster the core values of nationalism, economic progress and cultural revival as promoted by the “Irish-Ireland” movement. However, the Irish Independent was also aware of its vital role as the harbinger of news and information within the realm of the British Empire. In the period immediately preceding political independence, against the backdrop of the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the co-operation movement, the Irish Independent promoted the “Irish-Ireland” ideology and its related aims of language and cultural revival, while also functioning within the paradigms of the imperial regime. Through an analysis of both Irish and English language articles, along with bilingual advertisements, announcements and reports concerning the Irish-speaking districts, the role of women and the high moral tone of the nationalist movement, this article will explore the function of this bilingual forum as a voice for the emerging new Irish language community. Conflicting identities and cultural variances within the Irish Independent during this period mirror the framework created for nationalist identity, while also retaining cultural and economic links with the British Empire.

Keywords::

• newspapers
• Irish Independent
• Irish language
• revival period
• “Irish Ireland”
• imperial affiliations

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Mr Joe Breen, Dr Elizabeth Dawson, Mr Justin Furlong, Mr Felix M. Larkin and Dr Regina Uí Chollatáin for their assistance with the material referred to in this paper and also to the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences which has funded this research.

Notes

^1. “And he starts reading them out:

—Gordon, Barnfield crescent, Exeter; Redmayne of Iffley, St. Anne's on Sea: the wife of William T Redmayne of a son. How's that, eh? Wright and Flint, Vincent and Gillett to Rotha Marion daughter of Rosa and the late George Alfred Gillett, 179 Clapham road, Stockwell, Playwood and Ridsdale at St. Jude's, Kensington by the very reverend Dr Forrest, Dean of Worcester. Eh? Deaths. Bristow, at Whitehall lane, London: Carr, Stoke Newington, of gastritis and heart disease: Cockburn, at the Moat house, Chepstow … – I know that fellow says Joe, from bitter experience” (Joyce, Ulysses, 12: 220–3).

^2.Joyce, Ulysses, 12: 220–3.

^3.Maume, “Parnellite Politics and the Origins of Independent Newspapers,” 3. For biographical information on W.M. Murphy, see Morrissey, William Martin Murphy.

^4. The Northcliffe Press was the term applied to the British newspapers owned and operated by Alfred Harmsworth, who later became Lord Northcliffe. Northcliffe's Daily Mail was launched in 1896 at the price of one halfpenny and soon proved a great commercial success with a circulation of almost one million copies by 1900. See Manning, News and News Sources, 83–5.

^5. “The cheapness of the paper, and its attempt to cater for all, immediately gained a greater daily circulation for the Independent than for its nearest rival, the long surviving Freeman's Journal” (McCartney, “William Martin Murphy,” 35). The circulation of the Freeman's Journal was estimated at between 30,000 and 35,000 copies per day in 1915 while the Irish Independent claimed a circulation of over 110,000 during the same period. See Larkin, “‘The Old Woman of Prince's Street,’” 21. The Independent regularly included its circulation total alongside its masthead and introduced the custom of publishing audited sales figures.

^6. Editorial, Irish Independent, January 2, 1905.

^7. The journalist Máire de Buitléir penned a regular Irish column in the Irish Daily Independent from 1899 onwards. The Daily Independent was praised by An Claidheamh Soluis for its publication of such a column:

For some weeks past an Irish Language section has been appearing once a week in the Irish Daily Independent. Not only matter in English dealing with the movement in a highly appreciative spirit, but also short Irish articles are printed in this section. We congratulate the Independent on its enterprise which will certainly not make the paper less popular with a vast number of its readers. (“Notes,” An Claidheamh Soluis, October 21, 1899, 10 (506), quoted in Uí Chollatáin, An Claidheamh Soluis agus Fáinne an Lae, 58)

J.J. O'Kelly (“Sceilg”), Tomás Ó Máille and Piaras Béaslaí were among the contributors to the Gaelic column in the Freeman's Journal during this period. For further information see Mac Congáil, “Saothrú na Gaeilge ar Nuachtáin Náisiúnta Bhéarla.”

^8.Uí Chollatáin, Iriseoirí Pinn, 13.

^9. For further information on the Gaelic League and the Irish language revival movement during this period, see Mac Aonghusa, Ar Son na Gaeilge and McMahon, Grand Opportunity.

^10. Although he also held a full-time position in Dublin Corporation, Ó Neachtain remained as Irish editor of the Irish Independent for almost ten years, and recorded his occupation as nuaidheachtóir (journalist) in the 1911 census. 1911 census return for Eoghan Ó Neachtain, http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000097440/; for further biographical information see Ní Mhunghaile, “Ó Neachtain, Eoghan,” Dictionary of Irish Biography (http://dib.cambridge.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/quicksearch.do;jsessionid¼6741D383BF0DC5204EEC580DEEE7657C#); “Ó Neachtain, Eoghan,” Ainm.ie, http://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID = 357.

^11.Irish Independent, January 2, 1905. (unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own).

^12.An Claidheamh Soluis, March 14, 1903. For further reading on Pearse's Irish language journalism, see Uí Chollatáin, “‘The History of a Century in a Generation.’”

^13. For examples of articles dealing with education, see Irish Independent, January 6, 1905; January 10, 1905; January 11, 1905; for articles relating to the Oireachtas competitions, see June 26, 1905; August 12, 1908; for Ó Neachtain's review of Poll an Phíobaire by Pádraig Pearse, see June 5, 1906; for his review of Seán Ó Catháin's Ceachta Cainnte Gramadaigh, see August 27, 1909.

^14. See de Siúnta, Féilire na Gaedhilge, and Johnston and Ó Corráin, The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee.

^15. Editorial, Irish Independent, January 2, 1905.

^16.Irish Independent, March 4, 1905; January 16, 1905; January 23, 1905.

^17.Legg, Newspapers and Nationalism, 101.

^18. Front-page advertisement, Irish Independent, December 11, 1918.

^19. “Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.” Proclamation of the Irish Republic, 1916, quoted in Mitchell and Ó Snodaigh, Irish Political Documents, 17.

^20.Ó Conchubhair, Fin de Siècle na Gaeilge, 8.

^21. See Whelan, “‘Irish-Ireland’ and the Irish Independent.”

^22. For further information on D.P. Moran and on The Leader newspaper, see Maume, D.P. Moran, and Inglis, “Moran of the Leader.”

^23.Moran, Philosophy of Irish Ireland, 81–2.

^24. To facilitate recognition of Irish-speaking districts under the term “Gaeltacht” in the present tense, these Irish-speaking areas will be referred to as “Gaeltacht” regions for the purposes of this article. For further clarification of the development of the Gaeltacht concept and the gradual adoption of the term to describe regions where only Irish was spoken, see Ó Torna, Cruthú na Gaeltachta, chapter 2.

^25.Irish Independent, October 1, 1919.

^26.Ó Torna, Cruthú na Gaeltachta, 15.

^27. For biographical information, see “Ó Rinn, Liam,” Ainm.ie, http://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID = 106.

^28.Irish Independent, December 13, 1919.

^29. Examples of articles on economic hardship of the Gaeltacht areas include “Our Rural Slums,” May 26, 1919; “Kerry Gaoltacht. Language Revival Economics,” October 13, 1919; “Home Industries. A Pioneer in Irish Manufactures,” October 31, 1919.

^30. “The Lord Mayor of Dublin, as hon. treas.; Mrs. O'Nolan, Mr. P. O'Malley, T.D.; Mr. W. Cosgrave, T.D., T.C., and Mr. Frank Fahy, T.D., have issued an appeal on behalf of the islanders of Gorumna and Lettermullen, Connemara, who are in sore need of help. A grave outbreak of influenza has devastated that area, whole families having been attacked simultaneously, and in many instances both parents have succumbed leaving large, helpless families” (Irish Independent, April 5, 1919).

^31.Irish Independent, January 5, 1920.

^32.Irish Independent, August 11, 1919.

^33. For biographical information, see Paseta, “Markievicz, Constance Georgine”; Clarke, “Booth, Eva Selina Gore-”; O'Callaghan and Nic Dháibhéid, “MacBride, (Edith) Maud Gonne”; Luddy, “Skeffington, (Johanna) Hanna Sheehy”; Morris, “Milligan, Alice Leticia”; Coleman, “O'Farrelly, Agnes Winifred,” Dictionary of Irish Biography (http://dib.cambridge.org/).

^34.Irish Independent, May 19, 1919.

^35. See O'Brennan, “Irishwomen and Higher Education,” An Claidheamh Soluis, July 15, 1905. For biographical information, see the entry for her sister in Hourican, “O'Brennan, Elizabeth (‘Lily’).”

^36.Irish Independent, February 15, 1905.

^37. Ibid.

^38. Ibid.

^39.Irish Independent, November, 8 1919.

^40. Ibid.

^41. “Many of the present-day dances and ladies’ dresses were fruitful of terrible crime, said Rev. Father Ambrose, OFM, preaching in Wexford. There was no use, he said, in Irish Catholics talking of their country as the land of Patrick, Brigid, and Columcille while Irish girls walked the streets in suggestive and immodest fashions, and while no effort was made to end the immodest amusement provided at present-day balls” (Irish Independent, January 30, 1920).

^42.Irish Independent, January 13, 1920.

^43. “At Bow St. Court, a man and a woman, partners in the Dalton Club, situated underground in Leicester Sq., appeared to answer summonses concerning the conduct of the resort which the prosecuting solicitor described as ‘a dancing hell’, frequented by women of a certain class who were found jazzing. The solicitor described how the club, which was formed for the benefit of members of the theatrical profession and Bohemian inclined people, had for some time been under the observation of the police” (Irish Independent, January 13, 1920).

^44.Irish Independent, January 28, 1920. Other examples from the same period include “Crimeless (?) England,” January 14, 1920, and “Crime in England. A Severe Epidemic,” January 23, 1920.

^45. For further reading on intertextuality, see Fairclough, Language and Power, chapter 6.

^46.Irish Independent, November 21, 1919.

^47.Irish Independent, November 11, 1919.

^48.Ó Siadhail, Stair Dhrámaíocht na Gaeilge, 29–30.

^49.Irish Independent, May 30, 1919.

^50.Irish Independent, November 15, 1919.

^51. A prominent Gaelic Leaguer and founding member of the Folklore of Ireland Society, Fionán Mac Coluim is renowned for his collections of Irish language songs and for his contribution to Irish folklore. For further biographical information, see “Mac Coluim, Fionán,” Ainm.ie,http://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=28.

^52.Irish Independent, July 21, 1919.

^53.Irish Independent, December 16, 1919. This was echoed in the next edition in a letter signed “Observer”, who declared that: “If the young men of our city take up this matter and smoke only Irish cigarettes and tobaccos, then the protest will be in earnest … Surely it is, to put it mildly, quite silly and childish to be looking for independence with foreign cigarettes in their mouths” (Irish Independent, December 17, 1919).

^54.Irish Independent, December 6, 1919.

^55. Advertisement for Bournville Cocoa, Irish Independent, November 24, 1915.

^56.Ó Conchubhair, Fin de Siècle na Gaeilge, 55.

^57.Potter, Newspapers and Empire in Ireland and Britain, 13.

^58.McCartney, “William Martin Murphy,” 34.

^59.Maume, “Irish Independent and Empire,” 136.

^60. Ibid., 142.

^61. Ibid., 139.

^62.Irish Independent, January 13, 1920.

^63.Irish Independent, November 11, 1919.

^64.Irish Independent, November 12, 1919.

^65. “The Very Rev. P.J. Fitzgerald, Adm., Killarney, presided. He said that owing to the kind attentions of the champion of small nations they were prevented from holding this legitimate gathering where they intended. The main object of these gatherings was to promote the Irish language, foster Irish music, songs and games, and thus to rescue the soul of the nation from the imminent danger of becoming a creature of English formation and manufacture (applause)” (Irish Independent, June 10, 1919).

^66.Irish Independent, March 18, 1919.

^67.Irish Independent, December 29, 1919.

^68. “Rev. R. Fleming, C.C., who proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, said he wished to propose a vote of thanks to Mr. Lloyd George, who did more for the Irish language than hundreds of speeches and exhortations when he said that Ireland was not a nation because the people of Ireland did not speak the Irish language” (Irish Independent, September 17, 1919).

^69.Irish Independent, August 4, 1919.

^70.Irish Independent, August 2, 1920.

^71.Irish Independent, November 29, 1919. This announcement was issued in Irish only without any English translation.

^72.Irish Independent, July 5, 1919.

^73.Irish Independent, January 8, 1920.

^74.Horgan, Irish Media, 2.

^75.Uí Chollatáin, “Crossing Boundaries,” 52–3.