James McNeill

James McNeill (27 March 1869 – 12 December 1938) was an Irish colonial administrator, politician, and diplomat, who served as the first High Commissioner to London and second Governor-General of the Irish Free State.

Early life and colonial service One of five children born to Archibald McNeill, a Roman Catholic working-class "baker, sailor and merchant", and his wife, Rosetta (née McAuley) McNeill, James was the brother of nationalist leader Eoin MacNeill.

McNeill was educated at Belvedere College, before preparing for the entrance examinations to the Indian Civil Service at Blackrock College. He was successful in 1888; and after a period at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he went to India in 1890. He rose to become Commissioner of the Central Division of the Bombay Presidency and was an additional member of the Imperial Legislative Council. He retired in 1914 upon reaching pension age.

Career in Ireland During the Easter Rising in 1916, McNeill was arrested and jailed by the British Dublin Castle administration.

In office, McNeill clashed with the King's Private Secretary when he insisted on following the constitutional advice of his Irish ministers, rather than that of Buckingham Palace, in procedures relating to the receipt of Letters of Credence accrediting ambassadors to the King in Ireland. He also refused to attend ceremonies in Trinity College, Dublin, when some elements in the college tried to ensure that the old British national anthem God Save the King was played, rather than the new Irish anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann.

When Éamon de Valera was nominated as President of the Executive Council in 1932, McNeill opted to travel to Leinster House, the parliament buildings, to appoint de Valera, rather than to require that he go to the Viceregal Lodge, the Governor-General's residence and the former seat of British Lords Lieutenant, to avoid embarrassing de Valera, who was a republican.

The Constitution Committee meeting at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. James McNeill is seated fourth from the right.

However, McNeill's tact was not reciprocated by de Valera's government, and some of its ministers sought to humiliate McNeill as the King's representative by withdrawing the Irish Army's band from playing at functions he attended and demanding he withdraw invitations to visitors to meet him. In one notorious incident in April, two ministers, Seán T. O'Kelly (a future President of Ireland) and Frank Aiken, publicly walked out of a diplomatic function when McNeill, there as the guest of the French ambassador, arrived. In a fury, McNeill wrote to de Valera demanding an apology for this treatment. When none was forthcoming, apart from an ambiguous message from de Valera that could be interpreted as partially blaming McNeill for attending functions at which ministers would be present, he published his correspondence with de Valera, even though de Valera had formally advised him not to do so. De Valera then demanded that George V dismiss McNeill.

The King engineered a compromise, whereby de Valera withdrew his dismissal request and McNeill, who was due to retire at the end of 1932, would push forward his retirement date by a month or so. McNeill, at the King's request, resigned on 1 November 1932.

Death

James McNeill died in 1938 at the age of 69 in London. His widow Josephine was appointed Minister to the Hague by Seán MacBride, Minister for External Affairs in the coalition government of 1948. He is buried in Kilbarrack Cemetery.