Thomás Flynn, Thomas J. Devine (1862 -1941), and The Election of the Snows: The North Roscommon By-Election of 1917
Published by the author; copes from Trinity Books, Carrick-on-Shannon and The Reading Room, Carrick-on-Shannon, €12. For further information: ring 086 067 5283
On February 6, the result of the North Roscommon Bye-Election of 1917 was announced as follows: Count Plunkett 3,022; Thomas J. Devine 1,708; Jasper Tully 687. While Count Plunkett went on to be an important figure in Irish affairs, Thomas J. Devine slipped back into relative obscurity.
In this monograph, the author provides an account of his life and especially his involvement in the crucial by-election in 1917.
From a farming background, Thomas J. Devine was born at Clarkwood, Co. Sligo, on November 16, 1862. As a young man he went to Minnesota in the US. On returning to Ireland he established a grocery and auctioneering business in Boyle, Co Roscommon. He entered local politics when he was elected a member of the Boyle Town Commissioners in 1899.
At his first meeting he supported a housing scheme to build 40 houses for families who were living in wretched conditions. After failing to be elected to Roscommon County Council he was co-opted to it in 1906 and again in 1914.
The North Roscommon seat became vacant following the death of James J. O’Kelly, MP, in December 1916. A skilled public speaker, Thomas Devine at that time was president of the North Roscommon branch of the United Irish League, County Vice-President of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and a member of the Roscommon County Council.
In a convention attended by members of those organisations and the Catholic clergy of the constituency he was chosen to contest the forthcoming by-election in the interests of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
The ebullient Jasper Tully, editor of the Roscommon Herald and the third candidate, provided some merriment throughout the campaign.
No one campaigned more strenuously for Count Plunkett than Fr Michael O’Flanagan.
Already well-known because of his support for some of his parishioners in their dispute with the Congested Districts Board about turbury rights, he was accused by Tully of causing trouble in every parish in which he served.
Devine did not escape Tully’s caustic comment that he had supported every increase in salary that came before the County Council, and claimed that if elected to parliament his policy would continue along those same lines.
The by-election was of crucial importance to the Irish Parliamentary Party and to Sinn Féin, the former were determined to vindicate their claim to still have the support of the people, the latter needed to show that they had popular support.
The election was conducted during inclement weather with heavy snowfalls which made the holding of meetings and canvassing well-nigh impossible. Some of the widows of the executed leaders following the Easter Rising campaigned for Count Plunkett.
Traditionally the Catholic clergy were strong supporters of the Irish Parliamentary Party but in this election, while the senior and elderly priests remained loyal to the Party, the younger priests favoured Count Plunkett.
Count Plunkett and his sons were active in the Rising. Yet on the hustings the Count claimed that he was unaware of what was happening during Easter Week.
Perhaps this was one reason for the acerbic comment by the contemporary editor of the Irish Catholic on the result of the by-election. He described the Count as ‘an anti-clerical with a papal title’ and ‘a government place holder as Director of the National Museum’ and concluded: ‘To us it seems probable that the Count’s capacity for practical usefulness was greater in the museum than it will ever be in parliament’.
In setting the scene for the by-election Tomás Flynn provides nuggets of Thomas J. Devine’s family history and that of other families in North Connaught, which adds further interest to an already interesting book.