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Jack White (labour unionist)
Encyclopedia
Captain
James Robert "Jack" White DSO
(1879–1946) was one of the co-founders of the Irish Citizen Army
.
, County Antrim
, Ireland
. An only son, he initially followed in the footsteps of his father, Sir George Stuart White, being educated at Winchester College
, a private school in England, and later at Sandhurst Military Academy. At the age of eighteen, White saw service with the 1st Gordon Highlanders in the Boer War
in South Africa
. He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order
, The London Gazette of 2 July 1901 in its DSO citation reporting, "James Robert White, Lieutenant, The Gordon Highlanders. For having, when taken prisoner, owing to mistaking advancing Boers for British troops, and stripped, escaped from custody and run six miles, warning Colonel de Lisle, and advancing with him to relief of Major Sladen's force".
White started to develop a dislike for the British ruling class
es while in South Africa. It is said that at the battle of Doorknop he was one of the first to go over the top. Looking back he saw one 17-year-old youth shivering with fright in the trench. An officer cried "shoot him". White is said to have aimed his pistol at the officer and replied "Do so and I'll shoot you".
Between 1901 and 1905, he served as aide-de-camp to his father who was then Governor of Gibraltar
, and it was here that he met Mercedes 'Dollie' Mosley, the daughter of a Gibraltar
business family and a Roman Catholic. Despite family objections on both sides (the Whites were Anglican), the couple married. White continued his military service in India
and Scotland
.
(then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire), lived in a Tolstoyan
commune in England and then travelled and worked in Canada
.
Arriving back in Ireland he found Sir Edward Carson's campaign against Home Rule was beginning. This was the time when the Ulster Volunteers was created to threaten war against the British government if Ireland was granted any measure of self-rule.
Jack organised one of the first Protestant pro-Home Rule meetings, in Ballymoney
, to rally Protestant opinion against the Unionist Party
and against what he described as its "bigotry and stagnation", that associated Ulster Protestants with conservatism
. Another speaker at that meeting, and coming from the same sort of social background, was Sir Roger Casement
.
As a result of the Ballymoney meeting White was invited to Dublin. Here he met James Connolly
and was converted to socialism
. Very impressed by the great struggle to win trade union
recognition and resist the attacks of William Martin Murphy
and his confederates, he offered his services to the ITGWU at Liberty Hall
. He spoke on union platforms with people such as Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
, Bill Haywood
of the Industrial Workers of the World
, and Connolly.
and gangs in pay of the employers. This proposal to create a Citizen Army, drilled by him, was enthusiastically accepted. Its very appearance, as White recollected, "put manners on the police".
He later put his services at the disposal of the Irish Volunteers, believing that a stand had to be taken against British rule by a large body of armed people. He went to Derry
where there was a brigade of Volunteers who were largely ex-British Army like himself. But he was shaken by the sectarian attitudes he found. When he tried to reason with them and make the case for workers' unity they dismissed his case as merely sticking up for his own, i.e. Protestants.
When Connolly was sentenced to death after the 1916 rising, White rushed to South Wales and tried to bring the miners out on strike to save his life. For his attempts, he was given three months imprisonment. Transferred from Swansea to Pentonville the day before Casement’s death, Jack White was within earshot of the next morning’s hanging.
he was left in the political wilderness. He moved towards the newly founded Communist Party, however he had his doubts about them and never joined. He returned to England
and became involved with Sylvia Pankhurst's
anti-parliamentary communist group, the Workers Socialist Federation
.
In 1934, a special convention was held in Athlone which was attended by 200 former Irish Republican Army
(IRA) volunteers and a number of prominent socialists, Communists and trade unionists. It resolved that a Republican Congress
be formed. This was a movement, based on workers and small farmers, that was well to the left of the IRA. White joined immediately and organised a Dublin branch composed solely of ex-British servicemen.
The Congress later split between those who stood for class independence, those who fought only for the Workers Republic, and those - led by the Communists - who firstly wanted an alliance with Fianna Fáil
to reunite the country. After the bulk of the first group walked out (many of them later joining the Labour Party
) White remained in the depleted organisation.
as a medic with the Red Cross. Here he made contact with the anarchist CNT-FAI
. Impressed by the social revolution that had unfolded in Spain, White was further attracted to the anarchist cause due to his own latent anti-Stalinism. Never at home with the Communist left in Ireland, he wrote the short pamphlet The Meaning of Anarchy that explained the background to the May '37 street battle
and struggle in Barcelona between the anarchists and Communists. Returning to London from Spain, he worked with Spain and the World, a pro-libertarian propaganda group active in Britain in support of the Spanish anarchists. While in London, he met his second wife, Noreen Shanahan, the daughter of an Irish government official. They had three children, Anthony, Alan and Derrick
. He had had one child, a daughter Ave, from his first marriage with the Gibraltarian Dolly Mosley.
"Jack White was unlucky in marriage; he was married twice, both to middle-class devoted Catholic women. His arguments with his wives are infamous and renowned. It was an unfortunate and contradictory side to his troubled life that he never found a proper soul mate; a Protestant looking for the nationalist Catholic wife who could temper his aristocratic background; he was a military captain to the end. These were his personal failures. The only thing is that he admitted them and criticised himself for them."
, Jack having inherited it from his mother after her death in 1935. His return was undoubtedly prompted by the practicalities of having to provide for his new family. White received a regular income from the rent and sale of the lands attached to the estate; supplemented by occasional income from journalistic efforts. Despite the relative isolation of Broughshane, he remained in regular contact with his political associates, although the outbreak of World War II
paralysed any real work.
White made a final and brief reappearance in public life during the 1945 General Election campaign. Proposing himself as a 'republican socialist' candidate for the Antrim constituency, he convened a meeting at the local Orange Hall in Broughshane to outline his view. A witness to the proceeding, recorded that White 'commanded a rich vocabulary of language' directed at a plethora of targets that included Hitler
, the Pope
, Lord Brookborough
and Éamon de Valera
. However, noted the reporter, White reserved particular contempt for the 'Orange Order
and the Unionist Party
for the control they exercised over coercion through the Special Powers Act
.'
White worked with a Liverpool-Irish anarchist, Matt Kavanagh, on a survey of Irish labour history in relation to anarchism. In 1946 White died from cancer in a Belfast
nursing home. After a private ceremony, he was buried in the White family plot in the First Presbyterian Church in Broughshane
. His family, ashamed of Jack's revolutionary politics, destroyed all his papers, including a study of the Cork Harbour 'Soviet' of 1921.
Despite his list of achievements he is considered somewhat of a forgotten figure in Irish history and republicanism.
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
James Robert "Jack" White DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
(1879–1946) was one of the co-founders of the Irish Citizen Army
Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army , or ICA, was a small group of trained trade union volunteers established in Dublin for the defence of worker’s demonstrations from the police. It was formed by James Larkin and Jack White. Other prominent members included James Connolly, Seán O'Casey, Constance Markievicz,...
.
Early life
Jack White was born in 1879, at Whitehall, in BroughshaneBroughshane
Broughshane is a village within the Borough of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is northeast of Ballymena and north of Antrim, on the A42 road. It had a population of 2,364 at the 2001 Census....
, County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. An only son, he initially followed in the footsteps of his father, Sir George Stuart White, being educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
, a private school in England, and later at Sandhurst Military Academy. At the age of eighteen, White saw service with the 1st Gordon Highlanders in the Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, The London Gazette of 2 July 1901 in its DSO citation reporting, "James Robert White, Lieutenant, The Gordon Highlanders. For having, when taken prisoner, owing to mistaking advancing Boers for British troops, and stripped, escaped from custody and run six miles, warning Colonel de Lisle, and advancing with him to relief of Major Sladen's force".
White started to develop a dislike for the British ruling class
Ruling class
The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society....
es while in South Africa. It is said that at the battle of Doorknop he was one of the first to go over the top. Looking back he saw one 17-year-old youth shivering with fright in the trench. An officer cried "shoot him". White is said to have aimed his pistol at the officer and replied "Do so and I'll shoot you".
Between 1901 and 1905, he served as aide-de-camp to his father who was then Governor of Gibraltar
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
, and it was here that he met Mercedes 'Dollie' Mosley, the daughter of a Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
business family and a Roman Catholic. Despite family objections on both sides (the Whites were Anglican), the couple married. White continued his military service in 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...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Departure from the Army and return to Ireland
White resigned his commission in 1907 citing disaffection with the army and its role. During the next number of years White travelled to BohemiaBohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
(then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire), lived in a Tolstoyan
Tolstoyan
The Tolstoyan movement is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy . Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mount....
commune in England and then travelled and worked in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Arriving back in Ireland he found Sir Edward Carson's campaign against Home Rule was beginning. This was the time when the Ulster Volunteers was created to threaten war against the British government if Ireland was granted any measure of self-rule.
Jack organised one of the first Protestant pro-Home Rule meetings, in Ballymoney
Ballymoney
Ballymoney is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,021 people in the 2001 Census. It is currently served by Ballymoney Borough Council....
, to rally Protestant opinion against the Unionist Party
Unionist Party
-United Kingdom:In the United Kingdom the term "unionist' may indicate support for either;* the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England or,* the 1800 Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain....
and against what he described as its "bigotry and stagnation", that associated Ulster Protestants with conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
. Another speaker at that meeting, and coming from the same sort of social background, was Sir Roger Casement
Roger Casement
Roger David Casement —Sir Roger Casement CMG between 1911 and shortly before his execution for treason, when he was stripped of his British honours—was an Irish patriot, poet, revolutionary, and nationalist....
.
As a result of the Ballymoney meeting White was invited to Dublin. Here he met James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
and was converted to socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. Very impressed by the great struggle to win trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
recognition and resist the attacks of William Martin Murphy
William Martin Murphy
William Martin Murphy was an Irish nationalist journalist, businessman and politician. A Member of Parliament representing Dublin from 1885 to 1892, he was dubbed 'William Murder Murphy' among Dublin workers and the press due to the Dublin Lockout of 1913...
and his confederates, he offered his services to the ITGWU at Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall
Liberty Hall , in Dublin, Ireland is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union...
. He spoke on union platforms with people such as Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Skeffington from Bailieborough, County Cavan, was an Irish suffragist, pacifist and writer. He was a friend and schoolmate of James Joyce, Oliver St John Gogarty, Tom Kettle, and Conor Cruise O'Brien's father, Frank O'Brien...
, Bill Haywood
Bill Haywood
William Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...
of the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
, and Connolly.
The Irish Citizens Army
In 1913, he put forward the idea of a workers militia to protect picket lines from assaults by the Dublin Metropolitan PoliceDublin Metropolitan Police
The Dublin Metropolitan Police was the police force of Dublin, Ireland, from 1836 to 1925, when it amalgamated into the new Garda Síochána.-19th century:...
and gangs in pay of the employers. This proposal to create a Citizen Army, drilled by him, was enthusiastically accepted. Its very appearance, as White recollected, "put manners on the police".
He later put his services at the disposal of the Irish Volunteers, believing that a stand had to be taken against British rule by a large body of armed people. He went to Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
where there was a brigade of Volunteers who were largely ex-British Army like himself. But he was shaken by the sectarian attitudes he found. When he tried to reason with them and make the case for workers' unity they dismissed his case as merely sticking up for his own, i.e. Protestants.
When Connolly was sentenced to death after the 1916 rising, White rushed to South Wales and tried to bring the miners out on strike to save his life. For his attempts, he was given three months imprisonment. Transferred from Swansea to Pentonville the day before Casement’s death, Jack White was within earshot of the next morning’s hanging.
The Republican Congress
When he returned during the Irish War of IndependenceIrish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
he was left in the political wilderness. He moved towards the newly founded Communist Party, however he had his doubts about them and never joined. He returned to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and became involved with Sylvia Pankhurst's
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English campaigner for the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom. She was for a time a prominent left communist who then devoted herself to the cause of anti-fascism.-Early life:...
anti-parliamentary communist group, the Workers Socialist Federation
Workers Socialist Federation
The Workers' Socialist Federation was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. Under many different names, it gradually broadened its politics from a focus on women's suffrage to eventually become a left communist grouping....
.
In 1934, a special convention was held in Athlone which was attended by 200 former Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
(IRA) volunteers and a number of prominent socialists, Communists and trade unionists. It resolved that a Republican Congress
Republican Congress
The Republican Congress was an Irish republican political organisation founded in 1934, when left-wing republicans left the Irish Republican Army. The Congress was led by such IRA veterans as Peadar O'Donnell, Frank Ryan and George Gilmore. It was a socialist organisation and was dedicated to a...
be formed. This was a movement, based on workers and small farmers, that was well to the left of the IRA. White joined immediately and organised a Dublin branch composed solely of ex-British servicemen.
The Congress later split between those who stood for class independence, those who fought only for the Workers Republic, and those - led by the Communists - who firstly wanted an alliance with Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...
to reunite the country. After the bulk of the first group walked out (many of them later joining the Labour Party
Labour Party (Ireland)
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...
) White remained in the depleted organisation.
The Spanish Civil War
In the late 1930s, he went to Spain during the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
as a medic with the Red Cross. Here he made contact with the anarchist CNT-FAI
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
. Impressed by the social revolution that had unfolded in Spain, White was further attracted to the anarchist cause due to his own latent anti-Stalinism. Never at home with the Communist left in Ireland, he wrote the short pamphlet The Meaning of Anarchy that explained the background to the May '37 street battle
Barcelona May Days
Barcelona May Days were a period of civil violence in Catalonia, between May 3 and May 8, 1937, when factions on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War engaged each other in street battles in the city of Barcelona.Clashes began when units of the Assault Guard – under the...
and struggle in Barcelona between the anarchists and Communists. Returning to London from Spain, he worked with Spain and the World, a pro-libertarian propaganda group active in Britain in support of the Spanish anarchists. While in London, he met his second wife, Noreen Shanahan, the daughter of an Irish government official. They had three children, Anthony, Alan and Derrick
Derrick White (politician)
Derrick O'Clancy White was a writer and political activist originally from Dublin who was a parliamentary candidate initially for the Scottish National Party and then latterly for the Scottish Socialist Party in the Lothians.-Early life:...
. He had had one child, a daughter Ave, from his first marriage with the Gibraltarian Dolly Mosley.
"Jack White was unlucky in marriage; he was married twice, both to middle-class devoted Catholic women. His arguments with his wives are infamous and renowned. It was an unfortunate and contradictory side to his troubled life that he never found a proper soul mate; a Protestant looking for the nationalist Catholic wife who could temper his aristocratic background; he was a military captain to the end. These were his personal failures. The only thing is that he admitted them and criticised himself for them."
Later Years and Death
In 1938 they returned to White Hall in BroughshaneBroughshane
Broughshane is a village within the Borough of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is northeast of Ballymena and north of Antrim, on the A42 road. It had a population of 2,364 at the 2001 Census....
, Jack having inherited it from his mother after her death in 1935. His return was undoubtedly prompted by the practicalities of having to provide for his new family. White received a regular income from the rent and sale of the lands attached to the estate; supplemented by occasional income from journalistic efforts. Despite the relative isolation of Broughshane, he remained in regular contact with his political associates, although the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
paralysed any real work.
White made a final and brief reappearance in public life during the 1945 General Election campaign. Proposing himself as a 'republican socialist' candidate for the Antrim constituency, he convened a meeting at the local Orange Hall in Broughshane to outline his view. A witness to the proceeding, recorded that White 'commanded a rich vocabulary of language' directed at a plethora of targets that included Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, the Pope
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
, Lord Brookborough
Basil Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough
Basil Stanlake Brooke, 1st Viscount Brookeborough, Bt, KG, CBE, MC, PC, HML was an Ulster Unionist politician who became the third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in 1943 and held office until 1963....
and Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
. However, noted the reporter, White reserved particular contempt for the 'Orange Order
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
and the Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
for the control they exercised over coercion through the Special Powers Act
Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922
The Civil Authorities Act 1922, often referred to simply as the Special Powers Act, was an Act passed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland shortly after the establishment of Northern Ireland, and in the context of violent conflict over the issue of the partition of Ireland...
.'
White worked with a Liverpool-Irish anarchist, Matt Kavanagh, on a survey of Irish labour history in relation to anarchism. In 1946 White died from cancer in a Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
nursing home. After a private ceremony, he was buried in the White family plot in the First Presbyterian Church in Broughshane
Broughshane
Broughshane is a village within the Borough of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is northeast of Ballymena and north of Antrim, on the A42 road. It had a population of 2,364 at the 2001 Census....
. His family, ashamed of Jack's revolutionary politics, destroyed all his papers, including a study of the Cork Harbour 'Soviet' of 1921.
Despite his list of achievements he is considered somewhat of a forgotten figure in Irish history and republicanism.
See also
- Anarchism in IrelandAnarchism in IrelandIrish anarchism has little historical tradition before the 1970s, and as a movement it only really developed from the late 1990s – although one organisation, the Workers Solidarity Movement has had a continuous existence since 1984...
- Notable Recipients of the Distinguished Service Order
Further reading
- J. R. White A rebel in Barcelona: Jack White's first Spanish impressions CNT-AIT Boletin de Informacion. No. 15, November 11, 1936. This article was reproduced from KSL No 14, March 1998. The KSL is the Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, an anarchist library. It is also republished by Ciaran Crossey on the website Ireland and the Spanish Civil War.