Timothy Smiddy was an Irish

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...

 academic, economist, and diplomat. He is best known as 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...

's first Ambassador/overseas Minister, serving as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to the United States of America for 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...

 from 1924 to 1929.

Personal life

Timothy "Audo" Smiddy was born in Kilbarry, Co. Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

, the son of William Smiddy and Honora Mahony. He was educated at St. Finbarr's College Cork, before attending University College Cork, graduating with a B.A. (1905) and an M.A. (1907). Later he attended universities in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. At one point, he considered the priesthood. However in 1900, he married Lillian "Muddie" O'Connell, also from Cork city. They had six children including five daughters Pearl (Binnie), Muriel, Cecil, Ita and Ethna, and a son Sarsfield.

Role in Independence

A contemporary and friend of Michael Collins

Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...

, the Irish revolutionary, Smiddy was appointed by Collins to be his Economic Adviser to Plenipotentiaries for the Treaty Negotiations from October to December 1921 following the War of Independence. This was at a time when Michael Collins was the Minister for Finance in the putative Republic.

Professor of Economics, UCC

Smiddy was first and foremost an academic and an economist. In the College at Cork in the newly constituted National University of Ireland

National University of Ireland

The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...

, which replaced the Royal University of Ireland

Royal University of Ireland

The Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the University Education Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A Royal Charter was issued on April 27, 1880 and examinations were opened to candidates irrespective of...

, Smiddy was holder of the Professorship of Economics and Commerce. He served in this post from 1903 to 1924, one of only six to have held the post since the formation of the Department of Mental and Moral Science at the College in 1849. In 1952, he was awarded the Honorary Degree of DEconSc by University College, Cork.

Minister Plenipotentiary

Smiddy was initially appointed as the Irish Free State's Representative in Washington in 1922. Following representations by the Free State's government to London and Washington, and in particular to tackle the problem of anti-Treaty propaganda, this role was officially recognised in 1924. From then until 1929, Smiddy served as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to the United States of America for the Irish Free State.

Smiddy's appointment represented not only the establishment of Ireland's first formal diplomatic relations with another country since independence, but also the first attempt by any British dominion or colony to appoint what would these days be regarded as an Ambassador to a third country. The appointment was also a significant development in the domestic affairs of Ireland, as it was "part of an overall campaign to discredit Republican attacks on the integrity of the Free State and to strengthen the new state's position by formally demonstrating its essential independence from the United Kingdom."

Later life

Smiddy also served as High Commissioner to London (1929–30) and was a member of the Tariff Commission (1930–33) and then became chairman of the Commission on Agriculture (1939–1945). Thereafter, he served on various Boards, and was head of Combined Purchasing Section at the Department of Local Government and Public Health from 1933 to 1945. He was also Director of the Irish Central Bank.

Throughout the late 1930s and the 1940s, Smiddy advised the de Valera government on economic matters. In particular, he was instrumental in bringing about a universal child allowance. He died in 1962.