Patrick MacGill (24 December 1889 – 22 November 1963) was an Irish

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

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 ...

, known as "The Navvy Poet" because he had worked as a

navvy Navvy, a Clipping (morphology), clipping of navigator (United Kingdom, UK) or navigational engineer (United States, US), is particularly applied to describe the manual Laborer, labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasional ...

before he began writing.

Personal life

MacGill was born in

Glenties Glenties () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is situated where two glens meet, north-west of the Bluestack Mountains, near the confluence of two rivers. Glenties is the largest centre of population in the parish of Iniskeel. Glenties ha ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

. A statue in his honour is on the bridge where the main street crosses the river in Glenties. He had three children, Christine, Patricia and Sheila MacGill. He died in Florida aged 73 and was buried in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...

Military service

During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, MacGill served with the

London Irish Rifles The London Irish Rifles (LIR) was a reserve infantry regiment and then company of the British Army. The unit's final incarnation was as D (London Irish Rifles) Company, the London Regiment. On 1 April 2022 soldiers in the company transferred t ...

(1/18th Battalion, The London Regiment) and was wounded at the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used Chemical weapons in World War I, ...

on 28 October 1915. He was recruited into military intelligence, and wrote for MI 7b between 1916 and the Armistice in 1918. MacGill wrote a memoir-type novel called ''Children of the Dead End''.

Legacy

In early 2008, a docu-drama starring

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born October 31, 1946) is an Irish actor. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television. He came to the attention of inte ...

was made about the life of Patrick MacGill, which was released in Ireland in 2009 as ''Child of the Dead End''. One of the film's locations was the boathouse of Edinburgh Canal Society at

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on the Union Canal, and one of its rowing boats. An annual literary event, the Patrick MacGill Festival, is held in Glenties in his honour.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Children of the Dead End: The Autobiography of a Navvy'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1914; Edinburgh: Birlinn 2000, Edinburgh : Birlinn Limited, 2022, *''The Rat-Pit'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1915; London: Caliban 1982) *''The Amateur Army'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1915) *''The Red Horizon'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1916) *''The Great Push: An Episode in the Great War'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1916; Edinburgh: Birlinn 2000) *''The Brown Brethren'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1917) *

s John O’Gorman S, or s, is the nineteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, the alphabets of other western Languages of Europe, European languages and other latin alphabets worldwide. Its name in English is Eng ...

''The Dough-Boys'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1919) *''The Diggers: The Australians in France'', foreword by W. M. Hughes, Australian PM (London: Herbert Jenkins 1919) *''Glenmornan'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1919; London: Caliban 1983) *''Maureen'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1920) *''Fear!'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1921) *''Lanty Hanlon: A Comedy of Irish Life'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1922) *''Moleskin Joe'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1923; London: Caliban 1983) *''The Carpenter of Orra'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1924) *''Sid Puddiefoot'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1926) *''Una Cassidy'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1928) *''Tulliver’s Mill'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1934) *''The Glen of Carra'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1934) *''The House at the World's End'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1935) *''Helen Spenser'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1937)

Poetry

*''Gleanings from a Navvy's Scrapbook'' (Derry: Derry Journal 1910) *''Songs of a Navvy'' (Windsor: P. MacGill 1911) *''Songs of the Dead End'' (London: Year Book Press 1912) *''Soldier Songs'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1917) *''Songs of Donegal'' (London: Herbert Jenkins 1921) *''The Navvy Poet: Collected Poetry of Patrick MacGill'' (London: Caliban 1984) ongs of Donegal; Songs of the Dead End; Soldier Songs

Plays

*''Moleskin Joe'' (1921) *'' Suspense: A Play in Three Acts'' (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1930)

Adaptations, tributes, and related works

Irish fiddle player Gráinne Brady released an album titled ''The Road Across the Hills'' in 2019 to accompany ''Children of the Dead End''.

References

External links

MacGill Summer School
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macgill, Patrick Irish poets 1889 births 1963 deaths Military personnel from County Donegal People from Glenties Irish people of World War I British Army personnel of World War I London Irish Rifles soldiers 20th-century Irish poets Proletarian literature Writers from County Donegal Territorial Force soldiers