Eoin Hahessy: de Valera and Mannix forged an unlikely bond that helped shape Ireland
![Eoin Hahessy: de Valera and Mannix forged an unlikely bond that helped shape Ireland Eoin Hahessy: de Valera and Mannix forged an unlikely bond that helped shape Ireland](/cms_media/module_img/6092/3046316_11_articlesmall_600940.jpg)
Daniel Mannix, the Charleville-born Archbishop of Melbourne, was swamped by well-wishers on his return by train to Cork in 1925, in contrast to five years earlier when two naval destroyers were sent to prevent his arrival during the War of Independence. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive
On August 8, 1920, in the midst of the War of Independence and just over two years before the outbreak of the Civil War, the British government sent two naval destroyers to prevent an Irish-born archbishop from landing at Queenstown, now Cobh, in Cork.
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix was on board the White Star liner, the Baltic, which had departed from America on July 31. Mannix was so close to the Irish coast that he could see the flames of huge bonfires welcoming him home. He would not land in Ireland.
A British naval officer and two detectives from Scotland Yard boarded the Baltic to serve the archbishop with two orders. One, signed by General Nevil Macready, the general officer commander in chief of the British forces in Ireland, prohibited Mannix from landing in Ireland. The other, signed by Field Marshal Henry Wilson, the chief of the imperial general staff, prohibited Mannix from visiting Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, cities with significant populations of the Irish diaspora.
![One of the 1920 orders to stop Mannix from landing in Ireland was signed by General Nevil Macready. But it was his order three months later, sending troops to Croke Park on November 21 — Bloody Sunday — that secures his memory in Irish history. Picture: Getty Images One of the 1920 orders to stop Mannix from landing in Ireland was signed by General Nevil Macready. But it was his order three months later, sending troops to Croke Park on November 21 — Bloody Sunday — that secures his memory in Irish history. Picture: Getty Images](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/6092/3046292_17_articleinline_Nevil-Macready.jpg)
Archbishop Mannix was duly arrested, taken on board the Wivern and brought to Penzance at the south western tip of England. The arrest made global headlines, and generated much mirth, perhaps best summed up by this contemporary ditty:
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As the War of Independence raged, the British government greatly feared the influence of this Cork-born cleric.
Born in Charleville, Co Cork, in 1864, Daniel Mannix has been a much-studied figure in Australian history. Visit Melbourne and a bronze statue of the cleric by sculptor Nigel Boonham stands, sentry like, outside St Patrick’s Cathedral.
![Born in Charleville Co Cork, the Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, proved a pivotal ally of Irish Republican movement in the 1920s. File picture Born in Charleville Co Cork, the Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, proved a pivotal ally of Irish Republican movement in the 1920s. File picture](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/6092/3046310_11_articleinline_awm-p01383-001.jpg)
Installed as Archbishop of Melbourne in 1917 and incumbent until his death in 1963, it is no surprise that he occupies significant real estate in Australian history. As historian Val Noone has observed, 50 years of his “religious leadership and controversial intervention on public issues spanned two World Wars, the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Civil War, the Great Depression, The Cold War and post-war immigration".
As leader of the Catholic faith in Melbourne, Mannix deployed his wit, intellect, and cunning in Australian politics — notably in Australia’s conscription debates during the First World War, and also in the 1955 Australian Labor party split, which left a deep scar on generations of Australians.
What is surprising is that an influential figure in Irish history — who created such anxiety in British government circles that a 1,100 ton naval destroyer was sent to arrest him — has received limited attention in Irish history.
In particular, the intriguing friendship between Daniel Mannix and Éamon de Valera has enjoyed little scrutiny.
As Colm Kiernan has noted on Mannix: “He promoted de Valera’s cause in and out of season and worked steadfastly for the day when de Valera would be Taoiseach in Ireland.
![Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne, Australia with Éamon De Valera, president of the Irish Republic during their visit to Boys Town. File Picture: Aral/Time Life/Getty Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne, Australia with Éamon De Valera, president of the Irish Republic during their visit to Boys Town. File Picture: Aral/Time Life/Getty](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/6092/3046274_21_articleinline_134213.jpg)
"From 1920 onwards, no one except de Valera himself played a more important role in ensuring that eventuality."
Mannix and de Valera were from vastly different backgrounds. The cleric was from a prosperous farming family, while de Valera’s family were labourers. Both had the Cork landscape in their heritage, Mannix was born there, and de Valera was educated there, at Charleville Christian Brothers School in 1896.
Prior to serving as Archbishop of Melbourne, Mannix was the president of Maynooth from 1903 to 1912 and identified by some as a ‘Castle Catholic’ owing in part to acrimony over dismissal of Professor Michael O’Hickey when he challenged the liberal allocation of dispensations from studying Irish. Patrick Pearse, the martyr of 1916, went as far as to ask if Mannix was an enemy to Irish nationalism.
Nobody then could have foreseen that Mannix would become a lifelong friend of the Irish republican leader de Valera. Their friendship extended some 50 years. Notes, letters, Christmas cards, and telegrams in the Éamon de Valera papers at University College Dublin illustrate their mutual respect and genuine friendship which began in 1912 when the president of Maynooth, gave a struggling teacher a part-time role teaching mathematics.
Between 1912 and 1920 when the friendship was renewed and deepened, Mannix was steadily converted to the cause of advanced nationalism.
“Michael, they’ve shot them,” Mannix said to the handyman of St Mary’s Church in West Melbourne, when he learned of the execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.
“It was if something had been released in him” states the author Brenda Niall — and from 1916 onwards, Mannix was certainly a more bellicose Irish nationalist.
When the British navy arrested Daniel Mannix off the coast of Cork in 1920, the archbishop was recently returned from the US where he had joined de Valera on a highly successful publicity tour. The trip was planned to garner American and international support for an independent Irish Republic outside the British empire. Mannix stood with de Valera, at series of large public meetings in the United States, most notably in Madison Square Garden, New York.
![Archbishop Daniel J Mannix pictured later in life. He died at the age of 99 in 1963. File picture Archbishop Daniel J Mannix pictured later in life. He died at the age of 99 in 1963. File picture](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/6092/3046313_11_articleinline_Daniel-Mannix.jpg)
![Archbishop Daniel Mannix was a pivotal player in the Irish Republican cause, including his support of JJ O'Kelly and (above) Fr Michael O'Flanagan during their fundraising trip to Australia in 1923. Archbishop Daniel Mannix was a pivotal player in the Irish Republican cause, including his support of JJ O'Kelly and (above) Fr Michael O'Flanagan during their fundraising trip to Australia in 1923.](https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/6092/3046304_13_articleinline_Fr._Michael_O_27Flanagan..jpg)
• Eoin Hahessy is the writer and director of the documentary,
, which charts the impact of Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising in Australia, and was broadcast previously on RTÉ and the Australian broadcaster SBS.• The at this link. The conference is part of the Government’s Decade of Centenaries Programme.
will publish a special supplement on the Civil War on Monday, June 13. University College Cork will host the Irish Civil War National Conference from June 15-18 and you can register for it