Days in the life: Reading the Michael Collins Diaries 1918-1922 , livre ebook

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Collins's diaries are not the diaries many people might be expecting. Published here for the very first time, they are pocket appointment bookscum- to-do lists, the working diaries of someone in the midst of the extraordinary times he was central to, but also the diaries of an everyday life, with dental appointments to endure and football matches to enjoy. In short accessible illustrated chapters the life of one of the great leaders of Ireland is revealed. Michael Collins (1890-1922), was born in Co. Cork, he was a staff captain in the GPO in 1916, and emerged as a leading figure during his internment in Frongoch camp. As the Director of Organisation with the Irish Volunteers, he masterminded their campaign in the Anglo-Irish war (1919-21). Having signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, in 1922 he became chairman of the Provisional Government and commander-in-chief of the National Army. He was killed in an ambush in Co. Cork on 22 August 1922.

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Histoire

Military history

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Publié par	Royal Irish Academy
Date de parution	21 août 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781802050059
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0900€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

DAYS IN THE LIFE
READING THE
MICHAEL COLLINS
DIARIES
1918-1922
BY
ANNE DOLAN AND WILLIAM MURPHY
Days in the life: reading the Michael Collins diaries, 1918-1922
First published 2022 Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2 www.ria.ie
Published in partnership with the National Archives, Ireland. www.nationalarchives.ie
National Archives and the authors
ISBN 978-1-80205-003-5 (HB)
ISBN 978-1-80205-004-2 (pdf)
ISBN 978-1-80205-005-9 (epub)
All rights reserved. The material in this publication is protected by copyright law. Except as may be permitted by law, no part of the material may be reproduced (including by storage in a retrieval system) or transmitted in any form or by any means; adapted; rented or lent without the written permission of the copyright owners or a licence permitting restricted copying in Ireland issued by the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency CLG, 63 Patrick Street, D n Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, A96 WF25.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Designed by New Graphic Proofread by Liz Evers Printed in Italy by Printer Trento Printed on Munken Lynx Rough annd Munken White 120gsm and 300gsm which is FSC-C020637, PEFC PEFC/05-33-99 certified.
Royal Irish Academy is a member of Publishing Ireland, the Irish book publishers association
5 4 3 2 1
We want to try to offset the environmental impacts of carbon produced during the production of our books and journals. This year we will plant 45 trees with Easy Treesie (Crann Project, CHY13698).
Published with support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Programme, and the Office of Public Works.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Timeline
Reading the Michael Collins diaries
The diaries
A diary-shaped life
Absences
Family
Election excitement
Association
Murdered by the English today
Keeping his secrets
A taxi from Lincoln
Prisoners
Private lives
The GAA
The money
Clergy
Worked all Day Cleared all arrears
The Big Fella at the ballet
London
The truce
Coming together, coming apart
Without hope of unity
Taking over Generally
Endnotes
Acknowledgements
FOREWORD
In November 2021, the Michael Collins Diaries 1918-1922, were officially loaned to the National Archives by the family of the late Liam Collins, a nephew of Michael Collins, and his wife Betty, of Clonakilty, County Cork. The handover of the diaries took place at Woodfield near Clonakilty, the ancestral home of Michael Collins, a place he loved and returned to throughout his short life.
This deposit, in the context of the State s Decade of Centenaries 1912-1923 Commemorations Programme, was hugely significant for the National Archives. It not only recognised the statutory role of the National Archives in preserving and protecting the memory of the State in the form of its written records but it also recognised the substantial contribution made by Michael Collins to the emergence of the Irish Free State from 1916 to his death in 1922.
One of our most historical collections are the early D il ireann papers which offer important insight into Ireland s revolutionary period 1918-1923. Amongst these records are those of the then Minister of Finance, Michael Collins. These papers, from formal correspondence, internal memos, hastily written notes, receipts and accounts, demonstrate a man not only committed to his country and its pursuit of independence but also an exacting, precise and decisive man conscious of the huge responsibility he carried in his many positions, from Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government to Commander in Chief of the National Army.
We were delighted therefore that the Collins family deposited these important diaries in the National Archives. We were equally delighted when Anne Dolan and William Murphy, biographers of Michael Collins, agreed to come on board as authors of a book that would explore and respond to the diaries in the overall context of the life of Michael Collins.
The authors do not seek to offer answers or unlock previous mysteries, rather they gently walk us through recurring themes, moments, people, found in the diary entries, opening up possibilities, making connections or offering interpretations based on their knowledge and insight into the man and this period in our history.
This book, based on new primary source material and coming in the year of the centenary of the death of Michael Collins in August 1922, has been a labour of love for many; those of us in the National Archives, the authors, William and Anne, and the Collins family. We hope that it will allow people to understand a little more of this extraordinary man and this complex period in the life of the nation.
Orlaith McBride Director, National Archives
TIMELINE 1890 16 October Collins born at Woodfield, Clonakilty, County Cork 1906 Summer Moved to London to work for the Post Office Savings Bank 1908 c . Joined Sinn F in 1909 July Became secretary of the Geraldines GAA Club November Joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) 1914 January (c.) Irish Volunteers founded in London and Collins joined 1916 January (c.) Military Services Act passed and Collins moved to Dublin 1916 24 April Joined the Easter Rising, based at GPO May Deported and interned at Stafford and then Frongoch Camp December Released from Frongoch Camp 1917 14 February Appointed paid secretary of the Irish National Aid & Volunteer Dependents Fund (INA&VDF) June Became a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB 25 September Thomas Ashe died on hunger strike: Collins became secretary of the Supreme Council of the IRB 25-26 October Sinn F in rd Fheis, Collins elected to the Executive 27 October Became director of organisation of the Irish Volunteers 1918 March Became adjutant general of Irish Volunteers 2 April Arrested at Dublin, relating to a speech at Legga, Co. Longford 20 April Instructed while in Sligo Gaol to give bail 1918 May Became a member of Sinn F in Standing Committee (SFSC) 6 July Ceased to be secretary of INA&VDF 19 September SFSC confirmed Collins as candidate for South Cork December Returned for South Cork unopposed at General Election 1919 21 January D il ireann met for the first time 22 January Became minister of home affairs, D il cabinet 3 February Participated in rescue of amon de Valera from Lincoln prison 2 April Collins appointed secretary for finance, D il cabinet May/June Harry Boland and de Valera departed for USA May (c.) Collins replaced Boland as president of the IRB mid-year Appointed director of intelligence of Irish Volunteers 30 July Shootings of DMP officers by The Squad began September D il loan launched 1920 9 August Restoration of Order in Ireland Act September D il loan closed 21 November Bloody Sunday 23 December Government of Ireland Act became law; de Valera returned to Dublin 1921 13 May Elected to southern parliament unopposed for Cork 24 May Elected to northern parliament for South Armagh 11 July The truce came into force 14 September Appointed a plenipotentiary to Anglo-Irish Conference 6 December Signed Anglo-Irish Agreement (The Treaty) 19 December Addressed D il ireann, defending the Treaty 1922 c.1 January Collins and Kitty Kiernan became engaged 7 January D il ireann approved the Treaty 9 January The anti-Treaty party withdrew from D il ireann 10 January Appointed minister for finance (D il cabinet) 14 January Became chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State 16 January Took over Dublin Castle 21 January First Craig-Collins Pact signed March Made a series of speeches defending the Treaty 30 March Second Craig-Collins Pact signed 20 May Signed pre-election pact with de Valera 14 June Collins made speech in Cork seen as breaking the pact 16 June Irish Free State Constitution published, General Election held, and Collins re-elected TD 22 June Sir Henry Wilson killed in London 28 June Civil War began 5 July Republican forces in Dublin surrendered and the fighting moved beyond the city 12 July Collins appointed Commander-in-Chief of the army at head of three-man War Council 22 August Collins killed at B al na mBl th, County Cork
READING THE MICHAEL COLLINS DIARIES
The pages are not blank. In his diaries, Michael Collins chose to write particular words, on particular days. Usually, though not always, the words are identifiable. That has not ensured that their meaning is clear, at least not to us. Almost certainly each meant something then, to him, though even he will have been confused, have cursed his own hand, or have forgotten the intended import of a phrase after a time. Which goes to make them the more intimately his.
Of course, he has not made it easy. These diaries that put structure on his days, are simultaneously without structure, without a form that makes them readily accessible to us on the outside. In thousands of letters and notes, he tended to impose an order-managing and organising, hectoring and reproving-but these diaries are words in the midst of things. They are radically different to other sources on Michael Collins. They bring us nearer, closer than ever maybe, to the bustle of his life.
Consequently, this book is not another life of Michael Collins. It is, instead, a journey into the ravel of a source. It might have been a different book if he had left us contemplative diaries of the type historians use when they claim to see their subject s soul, but these are gnomic, cryptic, appointment books and demand a different approach. In the challenge of their form, he makes us look again.
His diaries change the angle of vision on Collins and the wider revolution. These little books, which ordered out his individual days, at once speed time up and slow it down. It is as if someone is showing us a newsreel, often too fast and then suddenly too slow. Amidst a maelstrom of work and effort come moments in stunning freeze-fram