Betram Windle: the Honan Bequest and the Modernisation of University College Cork, 1904-1919

Contents, Illustrations, Acknowledgements,

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 1 The EarlyYears, 1858 1904 11 2 The ‘University of Munster’and the Founding of the National University of Ireland 36 3 The Modernisation of QCC/UCC, 1905–1913 58 4 The Catholic Church and the Honan Bequest 111 5 Radical Politics, the First World War and the 1916 Rising 140 6 The Rise of Sinn Féin and the Irish Convention 172 7 The Conscription Crisis and the ‘German Plot’ 202 8 The University of Munster – Windle’s Last Hurrah 226 9 ‘Years of Harvesting’: Canada, 1920–1929 257 Notes and References 285 Bibliography 329 Index 343 Contents vii Dr Madoline O’Connell, granddaughter of Bertram Windle frontis Windle’s diary entry, 16 September 1908 87 Éamon deValera’s letter of application for the chair of Mathematical Physics, 21 May 1913 95 Windle’s diary entry, 17 November 1919 263 PICTORIAL SECTION ONE Bertram and his Aunt Florence Portrait of Bertram Windle Admiral Boyle Somerville, Windle’s first cousin Windle’s first wife, Madoline Mary Hudson Cartoon of Windle Edith Windle in Toronto Windle’s mother, Sydney Windle’s daughter, Mary Mary Windle as governess Mary Windle in 1906 Douglas Hyde and Mary Windle Mary Windle and John Horgan Mary Windle and daughter Madoline Mary Windle with Joe and Madoline Mary Windle with Ivor, Joe, and Madoline PICTORIAL SECTION TWO Academic staff of UCC in 1910 Professor Mary Ryan Professor Mary Ryan Windle in UCC presidential robes Illustrations ix Augustine Birrell Sir John O’Connell Honan Chapel Cork coat of arms Main door of Honan Chapel Interior of Cormac’s chapel, Cashel North doorway of Cormac’s chapel, Cashel One of the stations of the cross, Honan Chapel Round tower detail on interior pillar Ground plan of the Honan chapel Plan of stained glass windows in Honan Chapel Interior of Honan Chapel PICTORIAL SECTION THREE ‘Listarkin’ Wally Swertz Éamon and Sile deValera Countess Markievicz John Redmond John Dillon Sir Horace Plunkett President Windle with members of the IMA UCC Medical Building named for Windle Medical Building dissecting room An early graduation ceremony in UCC with Windle conferring Commissioners responsible for NUI statutes Professor Eoin MacNeill ‘Lacaduv’home of Mary (Windle) and John Horgan Douglas Hyde Vincent McNamara in his Ireland rugby shirt Patrick Roche wearing his Olympic shirt Mary Horgan née Windle x Illustrations xi The publication of this book owes much to the persistence of two women, and to the initiative of a former president of University College Cork, Professor Gerard Wrixon, who, nearly six years ago, asked me as head of the Department of History to find a graduate student willing to write a biography of Bertram Windle, president of QCC/UCC between 1904 and 1919. The proposal, Professor Wrixon said, had come from the daughter of Windle’s eldest daughter Mary, Dr Madoline O’Connell; born in 1915, she has had a lifelong curiosity about a grandfather she never really knew in person. Madoline wanted to support the writing of a scholarly academic study which would review comprehensively his life and times. She made a generous donation towards the publication costs of the monograph. At the time Professor Wrixon approached me, I was in a position to tell him that a thesis was being completed in the Department of History on a topic close to the subject he had in mind. In 2004, Ann Keogh – and here was the third force behind the biography project – had completed an MA entitled ‘A Study in Philanthropy: Sir Bertram Windle, Sir John O’Connell, Isabella Honan and the Building of the Honan Chapel, University College Cork’. As I am married to the author of that work, I had received many tutorials on the life and times of Windle as the thesis was being researched and written. After considering the suggestion of Madoline and Professor Wrixon, we decided to join forces and to work together on a biography. This handsomely produced monograph, a tribute to the consistently high production standards of Cork University Press, was written substantially between 2008 and 2010. As a Professor of History who has taught for thirty years at UCC, I found the research a pleasure and a refuge from the ever intensifying professional challenges posed by Acknowledgements xii Acknowledgements the changing administrative culture and ethos in the university. Turning adversity into opportunity...