George A. Birmingham was the

pen PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

name of James Owen Hannay (16 July 1865 – 2 February 1950), Irish clergyman and prolific

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

.Taylor, Brian (1995). ''The Life and Writings of James Owen Hannay (George Birmingham) 1865-1950.'' (Studies in British Literature). Edwin Mellen Press, . He was active in the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...

, but strained his relations with

Irish nationalists Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

by supporting

Robert Lindsay Crawford Robert Lindsay Crawford (Lindsay Crawford) (1868–1945) was an Irish Protestant politician and journalist who shifted in his loyalties from Unionism and the Orange Order to the Irish Free State. He was a co-founder of the Independent Orange Or ...

in his opposition to clerical control of education.

Protestant Churchman and Gaelic Leaguer

Hannay was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and educated at

Methodist College Belfast Methodist College Belfast (MCB), locally known as Methody, is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in Belfast, located at the foot of the Malone Road, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1865 by the Methodist Church in Ireland and is one of e ...

from 1883 to 1884 before attending

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. He was ordained in 1889 as a Church of Ireland (Anglican) minister and from 1904 served as rector of Holy Trinity Church, Westport in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

. Participation in language revival activities in Mayo and defence of the

in the ''Church of Ireland Gazette'' led to Hannay being co-opted onto the League's national executive body in December 1904. His personal network of Irish Irelanders included

President

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...

and the principal ideologue of the emergent

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

movement, ''United Irishman'' editor

Arthur Griffith Arthur Joseph Griffith (; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that produced the 1921 Anglo-Irish Trea ...

. They were sympathetic to Hannay desire for a "union of the two Irish democracies", Catholic in the south and Protestant in the north. In the north, in

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

, he saw a potential ally in Lindsay Crawford, Grand Master of the new

Independent Orange Order The Independent Loyal Orange Institution is an offshoot of the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organisation based in Northern Ireland. Initially pro-labour and supportive of tenant rights and land reform, over time it moved to a mo ...

. He regarded the breakaway Order, like the Gaelic League as "profoundly democratic in spirit" and independent of "the rich and the patronage of the great".J.O. Hannay to Lindsay Crawford, 29 May 1905, Lindsay Crawford Papers, National Library of Ireland, Ms.11,415 Hannay's defence of Crawford's opposition to the clerical control of education in Ireland, however, strained his relations with Irish nationalists, and it was a position that had little support in their own church. The ''

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

Gazette'' dubbed Crawford "the solitary champion of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

in the

Synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

". Hannay withdrew from the

in the wake of ongoing protests about the tour of his successful play '' General John Regan''.

Later career

Hannay became rector of Kildare parish from 1918 to 1920, and after serving as chaplain to the

Viceroy of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

, he joined the British ambassadorial team in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1922. He returned to officiate at

Mells, Somerset Mells is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, near the town of Frome. Vobster The parish includes the village of Vobster, which had a coal mine of the same name on the Somerset coalfield and a quarry, both of which are now disused. ...

from 1924 to 1934, after which he was appointed

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of Holy Trinity Church in the London suburb of

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

where he served from 1934 to his death in 1950.

Sailing

James Hannay enjoyed sailing, and was taught the rudiments by his father and grandfather in Belfast. When he was based in Westport, his financial success of his writing enabled him to purchase a boat. He bought a Dublin Bay Water Wag. In recognition of Hannay, the Water Wag Club of Dun Laoghaire returned to Westport and Clew Bay in 2016. In the frontispiece of his book ''The Inviolable Sanctuary'' George A. Birmingham includes a picture of the Water Wag.

Publications

*'' The Seething Pot'' (1905) *''Hyacinth'' (1906) *''Benedict Kavanagh'' (1907) *''The Northern Iron'' (1907) *''The Bad Times'' (1908) *''Spanish Gold'' (1908) *''The Search Party'' (1909) *''Lalage's Lovers'' (1911) *''The Major's Niece'' (1911) *''The Simpkins Plot'' (1911) *''The Inviolable Sanctuary'' (1911) **Also published under the title ''Priscilla's Spies'' *''The Red Hand of Ulster'' (1912) *''Do'' (1913) *'' General John Regan: A Play in Three Acts'' (1913) *''The Adventures of Dr. Whitty'' (1913) *''Connaught to Chicago '' (1914) lso printed as ''From Dublin to Chicago''*''The Lost Tribes'' (1914) *''Gossamer'' (1915) *''Minnie's Bishop and Other Stories'' (1915) *''The Island Mystery'' (1918) *''Our Casualty'' (1919) *''Up the Rebels!'' (1919) *''Inisheeny'' (1920) *''Good Conduct'' (1920) *''Lady Bountiful'' (1921) *''The Lost Lawyer'' (1921) *''The Great-Grandmother'' (1922) *''A Public Scandal'' (1922) *''Fed Up'' (1923) *''Found Money'' (1923) *''King Tommy'' (1923) *''Send for Dr Grady'' (1923) *''The Grand Duchess'' (1924) *''Bindon Parva'' (1925) *''The Gun-Runners'' (1925) *''Goodly Pearls'' (1926) *''The Smuggler's Cave'' (1926) *''Lady of the Abbey'' (1926) *''Now You Tell One: Stories of Irish Wit & Humour'' (1927) *''Fidgets'' (1927) *''Ships and Sealing Wax'' (1927) *''Elizabeth and the Archdeacon'' (1928) *''The Runaways'' (1928) *''The Major's Candlesticks'' (1929) *''Murder Most Foul!'' (1929) *''The Hymn Tune Mystery'' (1930) *''Wild Justice'' (1930) *''The Silver-Gilt Standard'' (1932) *''Angel's Adventure'' (1933) *''Two Fools'' (1934) *''Love or Money'' (1935) *''Millicent's Corner'' (1935) *''Daphne's Fishing'' (1937) *''Mrs. Miller's Aunt'' (1937) *''Magilligan Strand'' (1938) *''Appeasement'' (1939) *''Miss Maitland's Spy'' (1940) *''The Search for Susie'' (1941) *''Over the Border'' (1942) *''Poor Sir Edward'' (1943) *''Lieutenant Commander'' (1944) *''Good Intentions'' (1945) *''The Piccadilly Lady'' (1946) *''Golden Apple'' (1947) *''A Sea Battle'' (1948) *''Laura's Bishop'' (1949) *''Two Scamps'' (1950)

Other works

*''The Spirit and Origin of Christian Monasticism'' (1903) from his

Donnellan Lectures The Donnellan Lectures are a lecture series at Trinity College Dublin, instituted in 1794. The lectures were originally given under the auspices of the School of Hebrew, Biblical and Theological Studies. But since 1987 they have been run on a trien ...

*''The Wisdom of the Desert'' (1904) *''Irishmen All'' (1913) *''The Lighter Side of Irish Life'' (1911) *''Golden Sayings from George A. Birmingham'' (1915) *''Recollections of Sir Jonah Barrington'' (1918) *''A Padre in France'' (1918) *''An Irishman Looks at His World'' (1918) *''A Wayfarer in Hungary'' (1925) *''Spillikins: Essays'' (1926) *''Can You Answer This? A Question Book '' (1927) *''Do you Know Your History? A History Questions Book'' (1928) *''Pleasant Places'' (1934)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham, George A. 1865 births 1950 deaths Irish language activists 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights Irish male dramatists and playwrights People from Westport, County Mayo Writers from Belfast 20th-century Irish Anglican priests Irish male novelists People educated at Methodist College Belfast Christian clergy from Belfast 20th-century Irish male writers Irish satirists Irish satirical novelists 20th-century pseudonymous writers 1910s in Irish comedy 1920s in Irish comedy 1930s in Irish comedy 1940s in Irish comedy