R. Barry O’Brien

Life
1864-1918 [Richard Barry O’Brien]; b. 7 March, Kilrush, Co. Clare; ed. priv. and at St. Laurence O’Toole Prep. School, Dublin, and at the Catholic University, Dublin; Irish bar, Michaelmas 1874, and English bar, 1875; initially in sympathy with the Fenian party, he switched to constitutional politics under influence of Gladstone; sponsored for Home Government Association by Isaac Butt, Nov. 1871; participated in attended Home Rule conference, Rotunda (Dublin),, 1873; sponsored by Isaac Butt; contrib. “Irish Wrongs and English Remedies” to Nineteenth Century (ed. James Knowles), at Gladstone’s behest; sometime ed. of The Speaker (London);

elected chairman London Gaelic League 1892-1906, and President 1906-11; loyal Parnellite and unpaid secretary to Parnell, and later his biographer in a much-praised work (2 vols. 1898) - which, however, passes over the O’Shea divorce; his other works include Irish Land Question and English Public Opinion (1879); Fifty Years of Irish History (2 vols., 1883-85); Lord Russell of Killowen (1901); Studies in Irish History [2nd series] (1906); ed. Two Centuries of Irish History (1888); The Autobiography of Wolfe Tone (893); and Speeches of John Redmond (1910); acted for John MacBride in separation proceedings with Maud Gonne; O’Brien had an address at 100 Sinclair Rd., W. Kensington, London. JMC DIB DIH FDA

 Life of Parnell: ‘I do not think that it is any part of my duty as Parnell’s biographer to enter into the details of his liaison with Mrs O’Shea. I have only to deal with the subject as it affects his public career, and when I have stated that he lived maritally with Mrs O’Shea I feel that I have done all that may reasonably be expected of me’ (Parnell, ii, 163; quoted in Frank Callanan, “R. Barry O’Brien”, in Dictionary of Irish Biography, RIA 2009 - online; see further extracts, infra).

 

Works
Politics & History
  • The Irish Land Question and English Public Opinion from 1829 to 1869 (1879).
  • The Parliamentary History of the Irish Land Question from 1829 to 1869 and the Origins and Results of the Ulster Custom (London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle & Co. 1880).
  • Fifty Years of Concessions to Ireland,1831-1881 (London: Sampson, Low 1883) [see details].
  • Irish Wrongs and English Remedies, with Other Essays (London: Kegan Paul, Trench 1887).
  • A Hundred Years of Irish History (London: Isbister 1902), 172pp. [see details]; Do. (NY: Pitman 1911).
  • England’s Title in Ireland (London: Fisher Unwin 1905).
  • Dublin Castle and the Irish People (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner 1909), 443pp.

See also O’Brien’s essay, ‘A “Unionist” Case for Home Rule’, in Handbook of Home Rule, ed. James Bryce (London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. 1887) [see copy in RICORSO Library > History - as attached.
Biography
  • Thomas Drummond: Under-Secretary in Ireland 1835-1840: Life and Letters (London: Kegan Paul 1889), viii, 401pp., ill. [port., pls.]
  • The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell 1846-1891, 2 vols. (London: Smith, Elder 1898), 405pp. and Do. [another edn.] (London & Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson [1910]).
  • The Life of Lord Russell of Killowen (London: Smith, Elder 1901; rep. 1902), 405pp.; another edn. (Nelson 1909), 384pp.
Edited work
  • ed., Autobiography of Wolfe Tone, 2 vols. (London: Fisher Unwin 1893).
  • ed., Speeches of John Redmond MP (London: Fisher Unwin 1910).
Memoirs
  • Irish Memories (London: Fisher Unwin 1904), 241pp. [King Brian; Shane O’Neil; Hugh O’Neil at Clonmel; Sarsfield; Cramona; Fontenoy; John Keogh; Wolfe Tone; Curran; Five times arraigned for treason; Irish history and Irish politics; The political situation.]
For Children

Ireland, ed. R. Barry O’Brien [The Children's Study] (London: T. Fisher Unwin 1897), viii, 330pp. [see details].

Bibliographical details
Fifty Years of Concessions to Ireland, 1831-1881, by R. Barry O’Brien of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law author of The Parliamentary History of the Irish Land Question, in two volumes [2 vols.] (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington 1883-85), Vol. II, 485pp. [Only Vol. II is available online at 24.05.2024.] CONTENTS: VOL. 1. The National Education System; Parliamentary Reform; The Tithe Commutation Act of 1838; The Poor-law, 1838; The Municipal Reform Act, 1840. VOL 2. The Encumbered Estates Act; The Irish Reform Act of 1868; The Irish Church Act, 1869; The Irish Land Act, 1870; The Intermediate Education Act, 1878; The Royal University, 1879; The Land Act, 1881.

CONTENTS of Vol. II: Book IV: The Unencumbered Act. Chap. I: The Peace After Limerick [1]; Chap. II: Landlords and Tenants in Ireland from the Accession of Queen Anne to the Death of George II [24]; Chap. III: The Whiteboys [56]; Chap. IV: 1800-1835 [88]; Chap. V: 1835-1849 [114]. Book VII: The Reform Act of 1868 [153]; Book VIII: The Irish Church Act, 1869. Chap. I: The “Irish Church” [173]; Chap. II: The Church Question in Parliament between 1838 and 1865 [206]; Chap. III: Fenianism [210]; Chap. IV: The Church Question in Parliament between 1865 and 1869 [233]. Book IX: The Irish Land Act, 1870. Chap. I: The Land Question in Ireland between 1850 and 1860 [249]; Chap. II: The Land Question in Ireland between 1850 and 1860 [278]; Chap. III: The Land Question in Ireland between 1860 and 1870 [291]; The Land Question in Ireland between 1860 and 1870 [304]. Book X: The Intermediate Education Act, 1878. Chap. I: Protestant Intermediate Schools [313]; Chap. II: Catholic Intermediate Schools [320]; Chap. III: Lord Cairn’s Act [324]. Book XI: The Royal University, 1879 [333]. Book XII: The Land Act, 1881. Chap. I: The Land Question in Parliament between 1870 and 1879 []; Chap. II: Mr. Parnell [351]; Chap. III: The Land League [362]; Chap. IV: The Gladstone Ministry [375]; Chap. V: The Land Law Bill [396]; Conclusion [417]; Note: Thomas Drummond [“A Sketch of the Political Career of Thomas Drummond”, pp.429-54; Appendices, 457ff.: A: The Normans in Ireland; B: The Tudors in Ireland; C: William III; D: The Diocesan Free Schools; D: Decrees of the Council of Thurles in Reference to the National Schools, 1850; E: The Treaty of Limerick.]

Ireland, ed. R. Barry O’Brien [The Children’s Study] (London: T. Fisher Unwin 1897), viii, 330pp. [28 chaps. from St. Patrick to Death of Daniel O’Connell], 330pp.; Index, p.322ff., folding map. [Series. incls. Mrs Oliphant, Scotland; Mary C. Rowsell, France; Alice Zimmern, Old Tales from Greece.] CONTENTS: Chaps I-XVII: St. Patrick; Brian Boru; The Normans; Edward Bruce; The First Earl of Desmond; Art MacMurrough; The Tudors; The Geraldines; Submission of the Irish Chiefs - the Protestant Reformation; Shane O’Neil; Desmond and Fitzmaurice; O’Donnell and O’Neil; The Stuarts; Ulster Rebellion - Owen Roe O’Neil; Oliver Cromwell; The Jacobite War; Sarsfield; Dark Days; The House of Hanover; Henry Grattan; Wolfe Tone; The Destruction of the Irish Parliament; O’Connell - Catholic Emancipation; The Tithe War; Thomas Drummond; The Repeal Movement; Famine - the Death of O’Connell. Preface: Some months ago, Mr. Fisher Unwin placed a MS. in my hands to edit and prepare for the Press. The editing has, to a large extent, resulted in a re-writing and re-arrangement. The book in its present form does not, of course, pretend to the dignity of a history. It is rather a very elementary sketch which may, perhaps, stimulate the reader to take up worthier works on the subject. The plan which has been adopted is to group the facts of each period, so far as possible, around some central figure, for assuredly the pleasantest way to read history is to read it in biography. [...]’ (p.[v].)

A Hundred Years of Irish History (London: Isbister 1902), 172pp. Contents: Prefatory [”... originally delivered as a lecture before the Irish Literary Society, London”, p.[7]]; Introduction [”My dear O’Brien ...; 10-50]; A Hundred Years of Irish History, pp.51-139; Notes I-XX, incl. extracts from Lecky [as infra], et. al. extract from J. S. Mill, England and Ireland [1868, pp.6-9 as Note XX, p.168ff.] (See extracts - as infra.)

Index of works available at Internet Archive with inks supplied by Clare County Library

A Hundred Years of Irish history, with an introduction by John E. Redmond (London: Isbister 1902), 172pp. [online]

 Fifty years of concessions to Ireland, 1831-1881, 2 vols. (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington 1883), Vol. II [online]

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Commentary
W. P. Ryan, The Irish Literary Revival (1894), R. Barry O’Brien, acting ed. of The Speaker; a lawyer; ‘devotion to rigid fact and an aversion to the play of fancy are among his strong points. [111] Mr O’Brien would choke up the sparkling, leaping mountain rill of Celtic fancy with forbidding boulders and skeletons which he calls the materials of history. He would crush Celtic Ireland under a cairn of law-books, and then go forth in good faith to tell the outside world of an Irish literary revival’ [112]; wrote a column on ‘The Best Hundred Irish Books’, in Freeman’s Journal. [112].

Dominic Daly, The Young Douglas Hyde, 1974): ‘On the 13 Feb. 1891, Hyde was by chance taken to the first meeting of the Irish Literary Society, with Crook - his host - and Barry O’Brien, Rolleston, Yeats, et al.’ (p.150.)

James Fairhall, James Joyce and The Question of History (Cambridge UP 1993): ‘R. Barry O’Brien’s biography ([C. S. Parnell,] 1898), which appeared less than a decade after his death, codified what several historians have called “the Parnell myth”. Quotes: ‘The fight went on, and not a ray of hope shone upon Parnell’s path. In Ireland the Fenians rallied everywhere to his standard, but the whole power of the Church was used to crush him. In June he married Mrs. O’Shea, and a few weeks later “young” Mr. Gray, of the Freeman’s Journal, seized upon the marriage as a pretext for going over to the enemy, because it was against the law of the Catholic Church to marry a divorced woman. But Parnell, amid all reverses, never lost heart [...] He [...] continued to traverse the country, cheering his followers, and showing a bold front to his foes.’ (pp.340-41).

Frank Callanan, “R. Barry O’Brien”, in Dictionary of Irish Biography (RIA 2009).

[...] O’Brien’s writings played a significant part in the massive evangelisation of English opinion that attended the Liberal–Nationalist alliance. He tutored Charles Russell (q.v.) (whose biography he later wrote) on Irish history in preparation for Russell’s great set-piece address to the special commission in April 1889. He was one of several figures from the world of journalism close to C. S. Parnell (q.v.).
[...]
Barry O’Brien’s sense of Parnell’s relations with the Fenians was almost as nuancé as Parnell’s own; the intersection of parliamentary nationalism and Fenianism was a subject on which O’Brien wrote with authority. In his exchanges with Sir Charles Russell during the special commission, Barry O’Brien sparred with a disconcerted Russell, asserting that The Times’s case in relation to the leadership of the Land League had a substantial element of truth: while the Land League was not a separatist movement, it was ‘bossed by separatists’ (Russell, 243–50).
 Althoughhe had acquired a settled and influential position in English journalism and public affairs, O’Brien continued to regard English policy in Ireland with pronounced scepticism; his forthrightness on the subject was perhaps what particularly attracted political attention in England. He once complained to a cabinet minister: “No Irishman ever gets anything from you till he goes to you with the head of a landlord in one hand and the tail of a cow in the other.”’ (Lady Gregory’s Diaries, 136). 
—Available online.

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A Hundred Years of Irish History (London: Isbister 1902)

In 1825 the Duke of York said in the House of Lords: “I will resist the Catholic [71] claims, whatever may be my situation in life. So help me God!”

And this royal blockhead represented the public opinion of England. His speech, we are told, was printed in letters of gold, and circulated throughout the country. Writing of the year 1827, Sir George Cornewall Lewis says:

”At this moment the breach between Great Britain and Ireland was wider than at any time since the Union ; and the prospect of a tranquil settlement seemed more remote than ever. Ireland was becoming stubborn, insulting and disaffected; Great Britain more intolerant, active, and oppressive.”

The one great man who led the opposition of the English people to the Catholic claims was Sir R. Peel — the model English statesman of the nineteenth century. Let [72] us see what were the reasons on which he founded his resistance to the Catholic demands. In 1827 he said in the House of Commons: “I cannot consent to widen the door to the Roman Catholics. I cannot consent to give them civil rights and privileges equal to those possessed by their Protestant fellow-countrymen.”

And pray why? What, think you, were the reasons which Sir Robert Peel gave for refusing to give the Catholics “equal rights” with their Protestant fellow-countrymen?

Because, he said, in effect — and the argument is extremely interesting, taken in connection with what is now going on in another part of the world — because “there are 4,000,000 Catholics to 800,000 Protestants” (these were Peel's figures), and, therefore, if “equal rights” be given [73] to the Catholics, they will have a “preponderating” influence in the State. [n.] And what were these 4,000,000 Catholics whom Sir Robert Peel would not admit to “equal rights” with their Protestant fellow-countrymen? They were not the settlers of an hour; they were not financial mushrooms ; they had not rushed into the country to work gold mines, and bolt with the profits ; they were, on the contrary, the representatives of the old race, and the old religion — men whose fathers had owned the land before the shadow of an Anglo-Saxon had darkened it — yet, forsooth, they were not to have a voice in the government of the nation lest they might exercise — a “preponderating “influence.”

But what was happening in Ireland, while this fooling was going on in England? [74] Daniel O’Connell had appeared on the scene. In 1824 he founded the Catholic Association. The people rushed into it. It spread all over the land. It became, in truth, a provisional government, more powerful than the Government of England.7 The country was drifting into rebellion.8 Not only was the whole civil population south of the Boyne disaffected, but the Catholic soldiers in the English army could not be trusted, “Three-fourths of the soldiers of Ireland,” said The Times, “are Catholics. Even the greater part of the Highland regiments belong to Ireland, and have been inoculated with the feelings of those among whom they live.”

So it was, the Irish soldiers could not be trusted. O’Connell himself tells us how, as he walked through the streets of Ennis in 1828 — soldiers lining the way — a young [75] sergeant stepped out of the ranks, and coming up to him, said, “I know that I have broken discipline, I know that I shall be punished, but I care not what may happen, I shall grasp the hand of the father of my country.”

In Waterford the Irish soldiers flung their caps in the air, and cheered for O’Connell. “If we are asked to fire on the people,” they said, “we know what we will do ; there are two ways of firing : we can fire into the people, and we can fire over them. We know the way we will fire.” In Limerick an Irish regiment attacked an English regiment, and a fierce encounter ensued.

[...]

Note VI in the Appendix gives ‘Extracts from Sir Robert Peel’s speeches and letters on the Irish question between 1813 and 1829’ (p.149-55);
—A Hundred Years of Irish History (1902), pp.70-74; available online.

References
Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington: University of America 1904); gives extracts from ‘Introduction’ to Tone’s Autobiography (‘Capture of Wolfe Tone’); Life of Parnell; biog., b. Kilrush, Co. Clare, 1847; ed. Catholic Univ., Dublin; Irish Bar, 1874; English bar, 1875; The Irish Land Question and English Public Opinion; The Parliamentary History of the Irish Land Question; Fifty Years of Concessions and English Remedies; Thomas Drummond’s Life and Letters; Irish Wrongs and English Remedies; Life of Charles Stewart Parnell; The Life of Lord Russell of Killowen; ed. with intro. Autobiography of Wolfe Tone; founder member of Irish Lit. Soc, and chairman.

Frank O’Connor, Book of Ireland (London: Collins 1959, &c.), gives an extract from his The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell the description of the Ennis meeting introducing the Boycott policy of the Land League for any who ‘bids for a farm from which his neighbour has been evicted’, ‘isolate him from his kind as if he were a leper of old - you must show him your detestation of the crime he has committed, and you may depend upon it that there will be no man so full of avarice, so lost to shame, as to dare the public opinion of all right-thinking men and to transgress your unwritten code of law.’

Seamus Deane, gen. ed., The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (Derry: Field Day 1991), Vol. 2; selects The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell (1898) [312-20], in the course of which Barry remonstrates with Parnell for his language regarding Gladstone whom he reminds him he called ‘a grand old spider’ [317]; O’Brien had many conversations with Parnell in 1890-91, and his book therefore documents Parnell’s attitude to constitutional politics and physical force, as well as his wariness of English politicians [‘It is a mistake to negotiate with an Englishman. He knows the business better than you do’, 316], and his underestimate of the effect of his divorce, 312; Sigerson dedicated his Bards of the Gael and Gall (1907) to Hyde and the historian and Parnellite O’Brien, 728; Lionel Johnson’s “’Ninety-Eight” is dedicated to O’Brien, 747; the lines in Joyce, ‘ ‘twas Irish humour, quick and dry, / Flung quicklime into Parnell’s eye’, an event at Castlecomer, summer 1891, related in O’Brien, 771n.; 369, BIOG [see Life, supra].

Belfast Public Library holds, Coercion or Redress (1881); Dublin Castle and the Irish People (1909, 1912); Fifty Years of Concessions in Ireland 1831-1887 (1890); Home Rule Manual (1890); Hundred Years of Irish History (1902, 1991); In Memory of Fontenoy (1905); Irish Memories (1904); Irish Wrongs and English Remedies (1887); Life of Charles Stewart Parnell (1897); Life of Lord Russell Killowen (1901); The Parliamentary History of the Irish Land Question 1821-1869 (1880); Studies in Irish History 1603-1649 (1906); Thomas Drummond (1889); ed., Two Centuries of Irish History, 1691-1870 (1907) [see under Sigerson]; ed. The Irish Nuns at Ypres (1916).

University of Ulster Library, Morris Collection, holds The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell (c.1910 edn.).

 

Notes
James Joyce held a copy of The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell (London & Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson [1910]), in his Trieste Library. (See Richard Ellmann, The Consciousness of James Joyce, Faber, p.121 [Appendix].

John MacBride, when charged with indecency by his wife Maud Gonne, consulted with the leading nationalist lawyer Barry O’Brien, who attempted to mediate between the parties in the interest of the nationalist cause. (See Anthony Jordan, The Yeats Gonne MacBride Triangle, Westport 2000, passim.).

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