Antony MacDonnell, 1st Baron MacDonnell of Swinford

Antony Patrick MacDonnell, 1st Baron MacDonnell GCSI

Order of the Star of India

The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...

, KCVO

Royal Victorian Order

The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...

, PC (I)

Privy Council of Ireland

The Privy Council of Ireland was an institution of the Kingdom of Ireland until 31 December 1800 and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801-1922...

(7 March 1844 – 9 June 1925), known as Sir Antony MacDonnell between 1893 and 1908, was an Irish-born British civil servant, much involved in the administration of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He was Permanent Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1902–1908); Member of the Council of India

Council of India

The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India.The original Council of India was established by the Regulating Act of 1773 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor-General at Fort William...

(1902); Privy Councillor (1902); Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh

United Provinces of Agra and Oudh

The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh was a province of India under the British Raj, which existed from 1902 to 1947; the official name was shortened by the Government of India Act 1935 to United Provinces, by which the province had been commonly known, and by which name it was also a province of...

(1895–1901); Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

(1893–1895); Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces

Central Provinces

The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur....

(1890–1893); Chief Commissioner of Burma (1889–1890); Home Secretary to the Central Government of India

India

(1886–1889); Secretary to the Government of Bengal

Bengal

and the Bengal Legislative Council.

Early life

MacDonnell was born at Palmfiled House, Carracastle, Shragh, County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

on 7 March 1844, to Mark Garvey MacDonnell (1807–1889) and his wife Bedelia (née O'Hara). A talented scholar, he was educated at Summerhill College, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, and at the age of fifteen enrolled at Queen's College Galway (now known as the National University of Ireland, Galway

National University of Ireland, Galway

The National University of Ireland, Galway is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland...

). His main area of study was the field of modern languages, and he graduated with the degree of B.A. in 1864, winning the Peel Gold Medal. Little is known of MacDonnell's early life, as he left no memoirs nor any letters. He participated in the Literary & Debating Society (then known as the Literary and Scientific Society) at Queen's College, holding the office of vice-auditor for the 1863–1864 session; indeed he was referred to by one of his professors as the finest debater he had ever seen. On leaving university in 1864, MacDonnell successfully sat the entrance examination for the Indian Civil Service, and was posted to Bengal, arriving in Calcutta in November 1865.

India

On arrival in India, MacDonnell served initially in various districts of Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

and Bengal

Bengal

, and on the basis of his experiences in the Bengal Famine of 1873–4, he wrote his first book, Food-Grain Supply and Famine Relief in Bihar and Bengal, published in 1876. He was appointed Accountant-General to the Provincial Government at Calcutta in 1881, and later Revenue Secretary of the province. In 1886, Lord Dufferin appointed him Home Secretary to the Central Government of India; two years later, he was created Companion of the Star of India

Order of the Star of India

(C.S.I.). In 1889, he became Chief Commissioner of Burma; in 1890, Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces

Central Provinces

; and in 1893, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, becoming a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council. In 1893 he was also appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India

Order of the Star of India

(KCSI).

In 1895, MacDonnell became Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Provinces ann Oudh (later known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh

United Provinces of Agra and Oudh

). Here, in 1896, he was once again faced with famine; his efforts in the management of the famine were recognised when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Star of India (GCSI) in 1898. In that same year, the viceroy, Lord Elgin

Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin

Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, 13th Earl of Kincardine, KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC , known as Lord Bruce until 1863, was a British statesman who served as Viceroy of India from 1894 to 1899.-Background and education:...

, requested that MacDonnell again take charge of Bengal as Lieutenant-Governor, an offer he declined due to fatigue and the frail health of his wife. He became President of the Indian Famine Commission in 1901. In that year, due to his own ill-health and that of his wife, he resigned office and left India to return to London.

MacDonnell was appointed to the Privy Council

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

in 1902, and also obtained an appointment to the Council of India. It was expected that he would be appointed Governor of Bombay in that year, but instead opted to accept an offer from George Wyndham

George Wyndham

George Wyndham PC was a British Conservative politician, man of letters, noted for his elegance, and one of The Souls.-Background and education:...

, Chief Secretary for Ireland

Chief Secretary for Ireland

The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...

, to become Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Ireland, the administrative head of the Irish Government.

MacDonnell is acknowledged as one of the ablest men to work in the Indian Civil Service, particularly in dealing with famine relief. His polices on the management of famine conditions are credited with preventing the loss of million of lives. His concern for the rights of tenants and smallholders led to the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885, a piece of progressive legislation which protected tenant farmers from rack-rents and arbitrary eviction; a similar measure was introduced to the Northwest Provinces during his lieutenant-governorship there. However it would appear that MacDonnell was not liked within the upper echelons of the service he came to occupy. His position had been achieved through intellectual ability and dedication to each task set before him, yet he was looked down upon as his background was certainly not that of a 'gentleman,' lacking the familial connections of this contemporaries. He did, however, have a powerful friend in Lord Curzon the Viceroy. Curzon admired MacDonnell's tenacious capabilities when faced with drastic problems, qualities that were gravely lacking within Curzon himself. A further insight on MacDonnell's isolation was Curzon's somewhat cutting reference to MacDonnell as "singularly lacking any human emotion." Nevertheless Sir Antony MacDonnell rose to some of the highest civilian offices within the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

. His strength and tenacity earned MacDonnell the soubriquet "The Bengal Tiger"; a colleague observed: "If Antony and another are cast away in an open boat and only one of them can live, it will not be Antony who is eaten."

Under-Secretary for Ireland

MacDonnell was known to be sympathetic to the cause of Irish Home Rule, and his return to London elicited an offer to join his brother, Dr Mark Anthony MacDonnell, in the House of Commons as an independent nationalist. Competing for his attention, however, was a recommendation by Lord Lansdowne

Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne

Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC was a British politician and Irish peer who served successively as the fifth Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India, Secretary of State for War, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs...

, his former superior as Viceroy of India, to the Chief Secretary for Ireland

Chief Secretary for Ireland

that MacDonnell be offered the position of Permanent Under-Secretary for Ireland, the administrative head of the Irish government. MacDonnell, who retained a patriotic wish to serve the interests of his native country, entered into lengthy negotiations with Lansdowne and the Chief Secretary, George Wyndham, regarding the terms under which he would accept the position; he was not content to occupy the traditional role of an administrative civil servant, with little input into the formulation of policy. He eventually accepted the office of Under-Secretary, on the explicit understanding that he would be given "adequate opportunities of influencing the policy and acts of the administration".

MacDonnell's choice to return to head the Irish administration was surprising for several reasons. The position and authority that MacDonnell enjoyed in India was greater than any he could hope to hold as Under-Secretary in Ireland. Additionally, the Government in London was in the hands of the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

; MacDonnell was a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

and a Catholic. The decision to offer the role to MacDonnell may have had its origins in the Conservative policy of "killing Home Rule with kindness". It is clear that MacDonnell saw his role as far more significant than that of an administrative functionary. At the time of his appointment as Under-Secretary, he was also given a seat on the Council of India, to provide an alternative should his time in Ireland fail to meet his expectations. His commitment to Ireland, however, had become clear by 1903, in which year he was offered a return to India as Governor of Bombay; King Edward VII

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...

intervened to persuade MacDonnell that he was needed more in Ireland than in India.

MacDonnell's early years as Under-Secretary were a success. The Conservative Chief Secretary, Wyndham, was supportive of constructive steps to reform systems of land tenure in Ireland, and the 1902 Land Conference

Land Conference

The Land Conference was a successful conciliatory negotiation held in the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland between 20 December 1902 and 4 January 1903. In a short period it produced a unanimously agreed report recommending an amiable solution to the long waged land war between tenant farmers and...

resulted in the Wyndham Land Act of 1903, which allowed tenants to buy their holdings from landlords through a system of state-provided loans. Plans for reform of the Dublin Castle administration were also brought forward. Following on from these administrative reforms, MacDonnell entered more politically dangerous territory, by collaborating with several liberal landlords led by the Fourth Earl of Dunraven in drawing up a plan for the devolution of some governmental authority from the Westminster parliament to an elected council in Dublin, albeit in a manner consistent with the Act of Union 1800

Act of Union 1800

The Acts of Union 1800 describe two complementary Acts, namely:* the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and...

. The landowners involved formed a group known as the Irish Reform Association

Irish Reform Association

The Irish Reform Association was an attempt to introduce limited devolved self-government to Ireland by a group of reform oriented Irish unionist land owners who proposed to initially adopt something less than full Home Rule...

, and published the outline of the scheme in a 1904 manifesto; Lord Dunraven requested that MacDonnell formulate the plan in greater detail. Understanding that he had the support of the new Lord Lieutenant, Lord Dudley

William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley

William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, KP, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, KStJ, PC, TD, DL , styled Viscount Ednam before 1885, was a British Conservative politician...

, as well as Wyndham, MacDonnell proceeded to draft a document on Dublin Castle notepaper which constituted a second devolution manifesto, and sent it to Dunraven, who had it published.

It quickly became publicly known that MacDonnell had assisted the Irish Reform Association in the drafting of the scheme. This enraged Ulster Unionist interests, who had in any event been suspicious of MacDonnell due to his known sympathies toward Home Rule. The events precipitated a political crisis; Wyndham repudiated the scheme in a letter to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

, but by March 1905, due to repeated Unionist attacks, his position as Chief Secretary had become untenable and he was forced to resign from Cabinet. He was replaced by Walter Long, a strong unionist. MacDonnell was formally censured by the Cabinet for exceeding his powers, but remained in office. Although unable to defend himself in parliament, many aristocratic associates from his service in India remained favorably disposed towards him and defended his position. He was also helped by the fact, known among prominent government figures, that he enjoyed the strong support of King Edward VII, to whom he was quite close.

On the fall of the Balfour government in 1905, James Bryce

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce OM, GCVO, PC, FRS, FBA was a British academic, jurist, historian and Liberal politician.-Background and education:...

replaced Long as Chief Secretary for Ireland in the new Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

administration. Bryce relied heavily on MacDonnell, as did his successor, Augustine Birrell

Augustine Birrell

Augustine Birrell PC, KC was an English politician, barrister, academic and author. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916, resigning in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Rising.-Early life:...

, who was appointed in 1907, and together they drafted a new devolution scheme, known as the Irish Councils Bill, which sought to initiate a committee of Irish M.P.'s to deal with legislation relating purely to Ireland. The initiative was unsuccessful, failing to secure the support of a majority of Irish Nationalist MPs

Irish Parliamentary Party

The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...

.

MacDonnell's latter years in office were less eventful. One of the most colourful incidents of his later career was the crisis surrounding the theft of the regalia of the Order of St. Patrick

Order of St. Patrick

The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by George III. The regular creation of knights of Saint Patrick lasted until 1921, when most of Ireland became independent as the Irish Free State...

, known popularly as the "Irish Crown Jewels

Irish Crown Jewels

The Crown Jewels of Ireland were heavily jewelled insignia of the Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick. They were worn by the sovereign at the installation of knights of that order, the Irish equivalent of the English Order of the Garter and the Scottish Order of the Thistle...

", from the Office of Arms in Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...

shortly before a royal visit to Ireland in 1907. His relationship with Birrell was never comfortable, and, frustrated by the lack of progress towards a workable scheme of devolution for Ireland, he resigned his post in July 1908, at the age of 64. He was a delegate for the Southern Unionists during the 1917-18 Irish Convention

Irish Convention

The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...

.

MacDonnell was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order

Royal Victorian Order

(KCVO) in 1903, and on his retirement from office in 1908 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron MacDonnell, of Swinford

Swinford

Swinford, historically called Swineford , is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is surrounded by the settlements of Midfield, Meelick, Culmore, Cloonaghboy, Killasser and other villages. It is on the N5 road, located 18 km from Ireland West Airport Knock...

in the County of Mayo (a town close to his birthplace).

Retirement

MacDonnell retired to London and withdrew in large part from public life. His contributions to the House of Lords tended to focus on Irish and Indian matters. He served as Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service between 1912 and 1914, and as a member of the Irish Convention of 1917–18. He accepted only two company directorships - of the Midland Great Western Railway Company, and the National Bank, of which he became vice-chairman. On the creation of the Irish Free State

Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...

in 1921, he was offered a seat in the new Senate, which he declined "with much regret".

In retirement, he retained his strong interest in matters of Irish land reform. He returned to his alma mater, by then known as University College Galway, in 1911, to address the Literary and Debating Society of which he had been a distinguished officer in his student days. After a speech setting out a proposal for a workable solution to Irish agrarian demands, he finished with the patriotic lines: "Oh brave young men, my pride, my hope, my promise/It is on you my heart is set/In manliness, in kindliness, in justice,/To make Ireland a nation yet."

Family

Lord MacDonnell married Henrietta MacDonell, daughter of Ewen MacDonell, chief of the Keppoch branch

Clan MacDonald of Keppoch

Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, also known as Clan Ranald of Lochaber, is a Scottish clan and a branch of Clan Donald.-History:The MacDonalds of Keppoch are descended from Alistair Carrach Macdonald who was a younger son of Good John of Islay, Lord of the Isles, 6th chief of Clan Donald and his second...

of the clan Macdonald

Clan Donald

Clan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...

in 1878. They had one child, the Hon. Anne MacDonnell. MacDonnell died after a brief illness at his home in London on 9 June 1925, aged 81. Leaving no male heir, his barony became extinct at his death. A statue of MacDonnell by Sir George Frampton was erected at Lucknow

Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

by the Talukdars of Oudh in 1907.

Titles

1844–1888: Antony MacDonnell
1888–1893: Antony MacDonnell, CSI
1893–1898: Sir Antony MacDonnell, KCSI
1898–1902: Sir Antony MacDonnell, GCSI
1902–1903: Sir Antony MacDonnell, GCSI, PC
1903–1908: Sir Antony MacDonnell, GCSI, KCVO, PC
1908–1925: The Right Honourable the Lord MacDonnell of Swinford, GCSI, KCVO, PC

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.