Transforming Anglo-Ireland: R. M. Smyllie and the Irish Times

Abstract

For many of the Anglo-Irish, Ireland in the newly independent Free State seemed to offer only alienation. Some chose literal exile, leaving the country for Britain, America, Europe, or the Empire. Some remained, but retreated into a kind of Pale of the mind. Others who stayed began to search for a way to integrate them selves into the new nation. Among the most eloquent voices in this last group was Robert Maire Smyllie, the editor of the Irish Times from 1934 until 1954. As an editor, writer, and political commentator, Smyllie helped to transform the principal organ of Britonism into one of Ireland's most progressive newspapers. By treating the roots of Anglo-Irish isolation?-its British connec tions, its Protestantism, even its upper middle-class status?as not merely aspects of Irishness, but as invaluable critical tools in their own right, he helped to integrate the Anglo-Irish into Ireland. Smyllie wrote with the critical distance that characterized Anglo-Ireland, but with none of its disaffection. From his perspective, the Anglo-Irish had not only the right, but also the duty to engage with what was, after all, their country too. Like any imaginary country, Anglo-Ireland has its landmarks. In his 1962 memoir West Briton, the journalist Brian Inglis list those markers as Punch, the Shelbourne Hotel, the Irish Mail train at Euston, Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Punchestown, Horse Show Week, the Kildare Street Club, the Island Golf Club, the Tatler and the Irish Times} In a similar vein, Terence de Ver? White names