Alexander McCabe ( ga, Alasdar Mac Cába; 5 June 1886 – 31 May 1972) was an Irish

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

(later

Cumann na nGaedheal Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party. Origins In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...

) politician.

Early life

He was born in Keash,

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the loc ...

in 1886. He was educated at

Summerhill College Summerhill College (aka The College of the Immaculate Conception) is a Roman Catholic voluntary secondary school for boys located in the town of Sligo in northwest Ireland. History The school was founded in 1857 by then- Bishop of Elphin, Dr ...

, Sligo. He won a scholarship to

St Patrick's College of Education St Patrick's College ( ga, Coláiste Phádraig), often known as St Pat's, was a third level institution in Ireland, the leading function of which was as the country's largest primary teacher training college, which had at one time up to 2,000 s ...

Drumcondra, Dublin Drumcondra () is a residential area and inner suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is administered by Dublin City Council. The River Tolka and the Royal Canal flow through the area. History The village of Drumcondra was the central ...

, and later obtained a diploma from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. He was appointed headmaster of Drumnagranchy national school, County Sligo in 1907. He joined the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

in 1913.

Politics

He was elected as a

MP for the constituency of Sligo South at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...

and instead assembled at the

Mansion House A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property la ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

as a revolutionary parliament called

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland r ...

, though McCabe did not attend as he was in prison in Lincoln Gaol. At the

1921 Irish elections Two elections in Ireland took place in 1921, as a result of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to establish the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The election was used by Irish Republicans as th ...

, he was re-elected for Sligo–Mayo East. He supported the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

and voted in favour of it. He was again re-elected for Sligo–Mayo East at the 1922 general election, this time as pro-Treaty Sinn Féin

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms s ...

(TD). During the Treaty debate he asserted that the counties of Ulster which comprised "Northern Ireland" could never be incorporated into an Irish Republic while the British Empire was what it was. At the 1923 general election, he was elected as a

TD for Leitrim–Sligo. He resigned from Cumann na nGaedheal in 1924 because of dissatisfaction with government attitude to certain army officers and joined the National Party led by Joseph McGrath. He resigned his Dáil seat on 30 October 1924 along with several other TDs, and the resulting by-election on 11 March 1925 was won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate

Martin Roddy Martin Roddy (9 December 1883 – 8 January 1948) was an Irish politician, newspaper editor and company director. Early and personal life Roddy was born on 9 December 1883 at Kilmacowen, County Sligo, the eldest son among at least four sons an ...

. He did not stand for public office again and returned to his post as a schoolteacher. In the 1930s he was involved with the short-lived but widely followed

Irish Christian Front The Irish Christian Front (ICF) was a Catholic organisation that existed from August 1936 to October 1937. The organisation was founded with the intention of showing support and raising funds for the Nationalist faction of the Spanish Civil War. ...

, serving as the organisation's secretary and announcing its creation to the public on 22 August 1936. He was also a member of the

Blueshirts The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, then Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, but best known by the nickname the Blueshirts ( ga, Na Léinte Gorma), was a paramilitary organisation in the Irish Free State, founded ...

during this period and the later the Irish Friends of Germany (later known as the 'National Club') during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, a would-be Nazi Collaborator group in the event Germany invaded Ireland. McCabe chaired their meetings, denied the group was a

fifth column A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...

and expressed the belief that a German victory would lead to a

United Ireland United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...

. He was interned in 1940–1941 because of his pro-German sympathies, which he claimed resulted from the desire to ''‘see the very life-blood squeezed out of England’''.

After politics

In 1935 he co-founded the Educational Building Society (EBS) with

Thomas J. O'Connell Thomas Joseph O'Connell (21 November 1882 – 22 June 1969) was an Irish Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from 1927 to 1932. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1922 to 1932. He was a Senator for the Cultura ...

. He retired from teaching in the 1940s and became the full-time managing director of the EBS.

Sources

* Todd Andrews (1979), ''Dublin Made Me''. * Robert Fisk (1983), ''In Time of War''.

References

Gallery

File:Alec McCabe.jpg, McCabe in 1918 File:Piece 207-142; Alexander McCabe (1922).pdf, page=4, alt=British Army military intelligence file for Alexander McCabe, British Army military intelligence file for Alexander McCabe {{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Alexander 1886 births 1972 deaths Cumann na nGaedheal TDs Early Sinn Féin TDs Irish anti-communists Irish far-right politicians Irish fascists Members of the 1st Dáil Members of the 2nd Dáil Members of the 3rd Dáil Members of the 4th Dáil Members of the Blueshirts Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Sligo constituencies (1801–1922) Politicians imprisoned during the Irish revolutionary period UK MPs 1918–1922 Alumni of St Patrick's College, Dublin Alumni of University College Dublin People educated at Summerhill College