Stephen Gwynn

Stephen Gwynn
Member of Parliament forGalway Borough
In office 3 November 1906–14 December 1918
Preceded by	Charles Ramsay Devlin
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	13 February 1864 St Columba's College, Dublin
Died	11 June 1950(1950-06-11)(aged 86) Terenure,Dublin
Political party	Irish Parliamentary Party(before 1919) Irish Centre Party (1919) Irish Dominion League(1919)
Alma mater	Brasenose College, Oxford
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1915-1919
Rank	Captain
Unit	Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) Connaught Rangers
Battles/wars	First World War
Awards	Legion of Honour(1915)

Stephen Lucius Gwynn(13 February 1864 – 11 June 1950) was anIrishjournalist, biographer, author, poet andProtestant Nationalistpolitician. As a member of theIrish Parliamentary Partyhe representedGalway cityas its Member of Parliament from 1906 to 1918. He served as aBritish Armyofficer in France duringWorld War Iand was a prominent proponent of Irish involvement in the Allied war effort.He founded theIrish Centre Partyin 1919, but his moderate nationalism was eclipsed by the growing popularity ofSinn Féin.

Family background

Stephen Gwynn was born inSaint Columba's CollegeinRathfarnham,southCounty Dublin,where his fatherJohn Gwynn(1827–1917), a biblical scholar andChurch of Irelandclergyman, was warden. His mother Lucy Josephine (1840–1907) was the daughter of theIrish nationalistWilliam Smith O'Brien.Stephen was the eldest of ten children (eight brothers and two sisters). Shortly after his birth the family moved toRameltoninCounty Donegalto the parish where his father had been appointed parson; he later became Regius Professor of Divinity atTrinity College Dublin.

Early years

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

Professional life

After graduating Gwynn spent ten years from 1886 tutoring as a schoolmaster, for a time in France, which created a lifelong interest in French culture, as expressed in hisPraise 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 theIrish 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 aby-election in November 1906he won a seat forGalway Borough,which he represented as a member of theIrish Parliamentary Partyuntil 1918. During this period he was active in theGaelic Leagueand was one of the few Irish MPs to have close links to the Irish literary revival. Along withJoseph Maunsel HoneandGeorge Robertshe founded the Dublin publishing house of Maunsel and 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 thethird Home Rule Bill,Gwynn at the request of his party leaderJohn RedmondwroteThe case for Home Rule(1911) and was in charge of much of the party's official publicity and its replies to criticism fromSinn Féin.

Great War

On the outbreak ofWorld War Iin August 1914 Gwynn strongly supported Redmond's encouragement of Irish nationalists and theIrish National Volunteersto support theAlliedand British war effort by enlisting inIrish regimentsof theIrish 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 fifty, enlisted in January 1915 with the7th Leinster Regimentin the16th (Irish) Division.In July he was commissioned as a captain in the 6th (Service) Battalion,Connaught Rangersand served with them on theWestern FrontatMessines,theSommeand elsewhere.

He was one of five Irish Nationalist MPs who enlisted and served in the army, the others beingJ. L. Esmonde,Willie Redmond,William RedmondandD. D. Sheehan,as well as former MPTom 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 calledBattle songs for the Irish Brigade(1915). Gwynn was made a chevalier of theLégion d'honneurin July 1915.

In 1916 he was appointed to theDardanelles Commission.

Recalled to Ireland in late 1917 to participate in theIrish Conventionchaired bySir Horace Plunkett,he sided with the Redmondite faction of the Irish Party in supporting a compromise with thesouthern unionistsin 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 theConscription Crisis of 1918,though as a member of the Irish Recruiting Council he continued to support voluntary recruitment, encountering intense opposition led bySinn Féin.

Latter years

Stephen Gwynn formed theIrish Centre Partyin 1919 and stood unsuccessfully as anIndependent NationalistforDublin Universityin the Decembergeneral elections.The party merged with Plunkett'sIrish Dominion Leagueto 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 theAnglo-Irish WarandIrish Civil Warincreasingly sidelined Gwynn's brand of moderate cultural nationalism. Although he supported the newly emergent nation he equally condemned some of the excesses, such as theburning of housesbelonging toFree Statesenators.

Gwynn's personal life also became complicated at this stage and around 1920, he had a romantic association with married artistGrace Henrywho was perhaps the best known female artist in Ireland at the time. During this period Gwynn and Grace went travelling in France and Italy and at various stages in his life Henry painted portraits of Gwynn including a very distinguished looking Gwynn in his late 60s or early 70s. Their relationship contributed significantly to the separation of Henry from her artist husbandPaul Henryin 1930.

During the 1920s, Gwynn also devoted himself to writing, covering political events as Irish correspondent toThe ObserverandThe Times.Later in his career he wrote some substantial works, and together with his sonDenis Gwynn(The Life of John Redmond,1932) did much to shape the retrospective image and self-justification of John Redmond. In the mid-1930s he authored three books with a connecting theme of fishing with the artistRoy Beddingtonserving as illustrator:The Happy Fisherman(1936),From River to River(1937), andTwo in a Valley(1938).In a review inThe Guardianof the latter work, critic Gilbert Thomas wrote:

'Two in a Valley'—a handsome quarto—is the sketch-book of a successfully 'atmospheric' artist in black and white. Mr. Gwynn's accompanying letterpress, setting down the impressions of a comparative stranger in the Coln Valley, is slight, and sometimes, quite irrelevantly, he follows a red herring—or more precisely a trout! But even when most discursive he is good company... He brings both freshness and penetration of observation to the Cotswold scene, where as much as anywhere on our island, the works of Nature and man are one.

Stephen Gwynn was awarded an honorary D.Litt. by theNational University of Irelandin 1940, and a Litt.D. by theUniversity of Dublinin 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 11 June 1950 at his home inTerenure,Dublin and was buried at Tallaght cemetery, southCounty Dublin.

Family

Stephen Gwynn married his cousin Mary Louisa (d. 1941), daughter of Revd. James Gwynn. She later converted toCatholicism.They had three sons and two daughters who were brought up in her religion, of whomAubrey(1892–1983) became a Jesuit priest and professor of medieval history atUniversity College Dublin.Their second sonDenis Rolleston(1893–1971) was professor of modern Irish history atUniversity College, Cork.

Stephen Gwynn's brotherEdward John(1868–1941) became provost of Trinity College and another brotherRobin (Robert Malcolm)became its senior dean. His sisterLucy Gwynnwas the first woman registrar of Trinity. A third brother,Charles,had a successful career in the British Army and retired as a Major General. Younger brothersLuciusandJackwere noted cricketers.

Photographs

• 
  Stephen Gwynn as a baby, with his parents John and Lucy Gwynn, 1864
• 
  Stephen and his brother Edward as boys, c.1874
• 
  Stephen Gwynn as MP, c. 1906
• 
  Stephen Gwynn with his family, 1906

Works

• Memorials of an Eighteenth Century Painter (James Northcote)(1898)
• Highways and Byways in Donegal and Antrim(1899)
• Tennyson(1899)
• The decay of Sensibility(1900)
• The Old Knowledge(1901)
• The Queen's Chronicler(1901) (collection of poems)
• Today and Tomorrow in Ireland(1903)
• Henry Grattanand his Times(1904; reissued 1971)
• The Masters of English Literature(1904)
• Thomas Moore(1905)
• The fair hills of Ireland(1906; second edition 1914)
• A Holiday in Connemara(1909)
• Robert Emmet:a historical romance(1909)
• The case for Home Rule(1911) (introduction byJohn Redmond)
• Beautiful Ireland: Pictured by Alexander Williams;described by Stephen Gwynn (1911)
• Battle Songs for the Irish Brigade(1915), (collected, withTom Kettle)
• "A memoir of the author" inMabel Dearmer,Letters from a field hospital. With a memoir of the author by Stephen Gwynn.(1915)
• For Second Reading: Attempts to Please(1918)
• John Redmond's last years(1919)
• The Irish Situation(1921)
• History of Ireland(1923)
• Collected poems(1923)
• Ireland(1924)
• Experiences of a Literary Man(autobiography) (1926)
• In Praise of France(1927)
• The Scholar's Treasury: a Book of Irish Poetry(1927)
• The Charm of Ireland(1927)
• Captain Scott(1929)
• The Letters and Friendships of SirCecil Spring Rice(1929)
• Ulster, Munster, Leinster(1930)
• Burgundy; with chapters on the Jura and Savoy(1930)
• The Life ofMary Kingsley(1930; reissued 1932), for which Gwynn was awarded theJames Tait Black Memorial Prize
• SirWalter Scott(1930)
• The Life ofHorace Walpole(1932)
• The life and friendship ofDean Swift(1933)
• The Charm of Ireland(revised edition) (1934)
• Oliver Goldsmith(1935)
• Ireland in Ten Days(1935)
• Irish Literature and Drama in the English Language(1936)
• The Happy Fisherman(1936),
• From River to River(1937)
• Two in a Valley(1938)
• Dublin Old and New(1938)
• Robert Louis Stevenson(1939)
• Salute to Valour(1941)
• Aftermath(1946)
• Memories of Enjoyment(1946)

Biographical sources

• "Gwynn, Stephen Lucius".Thom's Irish Who's Who.Dublin:Alexander Thom and Son Ltd.1923. p.100– viaWikisource.
• Biography inThe long Gestation, Irish Nationalist life 1891–1918P. 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
• Spiritually Hyphenated: Stephen Gwynn and his Family Background,Roger Gwynn, Acre Press (2019)

External links

• Works by Stephen GwynnatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Stephen GwynnatInternet Archive
• Hansard1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Stephen Lucius Gwynn
• Department of the Taoiseach: Irish Soldiers in the First World War