From Dublin Castle to Stormont: The Memoirs of Andrew Philip Magill, 1913-1925 (Irish Narrative Series) - Softcover

Magill, Charles W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1859183441 ISBN 13: 9781859183441

Publisher: Cork University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This previously unpublished memoir of a senior civil servant based in Dublin, London and Belfast gives invaluable and unique insight into the conflicts associated with Home Rule, revolution and partition.
A.P. Magill (1871-1941) was born in Dublin of mixed Ulster and Swiss descent. After a varied career in the Irish civil service, he moved to the Ministry of Home Affairs in Northern Ireland before resigning prematurely in 1925. As private secretary to Augustine Birrell, the Chief Secretary whose resignation was prompted by the 1916 Rising, Magill was well placed to observe the often bizarre workings of the pre-revolutionary Irish administration. His subsequent postings in Dublin and Belfast likewise made him an invaluable witness of conflicts associated with revolution and partition. Magill's unpublished memoirs provide unique insights into the problems and personalities he encountered as a senior civil official. They are also entertaining, anecdotal, and bristling with unexpected information about prominent politicians and administrators. These selections for the troubled period between 1913 and 1925 edited by Magill's great-nephew, recreate the atmosphere and color of the revolutionary period from a revealing but unfamiliar perspective.

About this title

About the Author

Charles W. Magill is the great-nephew of A. P. Magill and formerly editor-in-chief and publishing director of the Readers Digest in Canada.

Review

"As chance would have it, [Magill] was in Dublin during the 1916 Easter rebellion and thus in a position to comment on what he had seen, heard and felt durin ght ecourse of the rebellion and in the days and weeks that followed...Magil is an articulate, witty, humane and anything but disinterested observer of the events that he describes. In these memoirs, he offers us an account that is entertaining due to the lively and often anecdotal manner in which his observations are recorded, fascinating because of the variety of interesting people and events he describes, and significant given the unique perspective he brings in relation to developments in this crucial period in Irish history and Anglo-Irish relations." (History)

Edition details

• Publisher: Cork University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1859183441
• ISBN 13: 9781859183441
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96