In the 1920s there were developments in the direction of setting up a School of Political Economy and Commerce, into which environment JJ took steps to evolve. To this end he attended a course in London School of Economics, for which he sought expenses at the November 21 1921 Board Meeting. This application was deferred until Dec 3, when he was re-appointed as Assistant to Professor Goligher (Ancient History and Classical Archaeology), while also receiving a slice of a supplementary grant, of which £60 went to Professor Bastable towards the new School of Political Economy and Commerce, and also £30 to JJ for work in this new School, as well as £5 to JJ for work in the History department.

(I have not discovered any indication that JJ while in LSE had any interaction with the Treaty negotiations which were then going on.)

As prospective input to the discussions on the supplementary grant, the Junior Fellows produced a report, from a drafting committee consisting of Canning, Luce and JJ. This was set up on a motion of JJ, seconded by Alton, at the meeting on Nov 27 1921, and reported on Dec 5, the report being adopted by the Junior Fellows, but apparently the Board had already on Dec 3 done the carve-up, so this work was in vain.

This series of three Junior Fellows meetings in November and December were in fact all one meeting with adjournments. They covered a series of issues, including the problem of how to simplify the electoral procedure of Junior Fellows to the Board, and the role of Fellows in Honours teaching. These do not seem to have reached the Board. On can sense reformer frustration.

The Board on Dec 10 passed a resolution supporting the Treaty, for publication in the Press. They noted however that there was nothing in the Treaty about the £30,000 annual State grant which they were receiving from the British Government. Lloyd George is reported to have said that it had escaped his memory, but that he was sure that the majority in 'Southern Ireland' would deal impartially with the 'minority'.

The November-December 1921 Junior Fellows meetings did in the end surface at the Board on Jan 14 1922 in the form of a call for a 'living wage'. On Feb 6, with JJ present, the Junior Fellows indicated support for the teaching of Irish, and this was accepted by the Board on Feb 15. During this time the Provost was still dealing with HAL Fisher in London and with the Government of Southern Ireland. On advice from Fisher it was decided to submit a memorandum to the Provisional Government.

On April 29 1922 Sir Robert Tate wrote a letter disbanding the Officers Training Corps, and transferring its property to the College. They enjoyed a farewell dinner on June 10. This however was not the only quasi-political stirring; there was also a proposal came up from the students to form a Representative Council; a Constitution was submitted. The proposal was signed by 29 people, mostly students, but among the names was that of JJ. The students knew to go to him in support of progressive causes. Despite his support (or perhaps because of it, given his 'enfant terrible' status!) the proposal was rejected by the Board.

On June 10 1922 Goligher was re-elected as the Junior Fellows' representative on the Board. JJ being close to him must have had some insight into what was going on.

On Dec 20 1922 the Provost met with Bonar Law; this must have been in connection with the aftermath of the Treaty, and the question of the £30,000 grant.

On Feb 2 1923 LJD Richardson submitted his name as a candidate for the Albert Kahn Fellowship, initiating the nominating procedure which went via the University of London.

There were early indications of trouble in dealing with the Free State, expressed in Board memoranda sent to the Irish and British governments (April 6 1923), followed by a letter from Baldwin postponing a decision. Then in June came a letter from the Prime Minister promising £20,000 as a one-off transitional payment.

On June 27 1923 there came a letter of thanks from Cardinal Gaspari, Secretary of State to the Pope, to Marquis MacSweeny, thanking him for donating a complete set of Hermathena to the Vatican library. Presumably the Marquis sent this on the the Board for its edification. I put this in here because there is elsewhere correspondence on record between JJ and the Marquis, who fulfilled a diplomatic role in Italy on behalf of the Free State.

Dr Goligher, to whom JJ was an assistant, was on May 24 1924 re-nominated to the Chair of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology, and on June 21 JJ was confirmed as his assistant. Goligher represented the Junior Fellows on the Board.

On October 18 1924 JJ is mentioned as being the Tutor of a Junior Exhibition winner one TRF Case. In 1925 after a long lapse the Board got around to implementing its May 1920 decision to set up a School of Commerce (the 'Political Economy' label seems to have been dropped). On Jan 31 they offered a lectureship to GA Duncan, and initiated enquiries regarding other possible lecturers. There was set up a School Committee consisting of the Provost, Vice-Provost, Senior Lecturer, with Good, Bastable, Goligher, Godfrey and Waterhouse. It is noteworthy that JJ, who was now 35, was not included, though presumably he had some input via Goligher. His efforts to achieve economic status via his trip to LSE had not fully matured, despite the publication of his book 'Groundwork in Economics'. His initial field work in the economic domain, which took the form of a study of agricultural production in France during the war, in 1916, did not count either, nor did his Barrington Lecture field-work. It is evident here that there was a culture-gap between the College vision of a School of Commerce and JJ's vision which contained strong linkages with the real world, and an emphasis on agriculture.

On Feb 14 1925 there is a curious note relating to the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship: 'the Vice-Chancellor will sign the nomination papers for the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship if the Board can recommend a suitable candidate. No action is to be taken in the matter of a person who claimed that he had obtained certain diplomas by long study and success of the various exams held in TCD.' It is not clear who this was they were trying to block. Then on Feb 21 they recommend SJB Richardson for nomination by the VC.

On March 14 1925 appointments were finally made to the School of Commerce: JJ did however after all get a lectureship on economics, CE Maxwell on economic history, John Cooke on commercial geography; there were lectures in French, German, Spanish etc, and TS Broderick lectured on statistical methods. The new School of Commerce seems to be taking shape credibly. The tasks carried an additional salary of £50 per annum.

The Commerce School Committee has Bastable as the Professor, with Duncan and JJ as his Assistants. Bastable is also the Regius Professor of Laws. The syllabus remains basically that of the pre-1920 Diploma; it shows no sign that JJ's efforts to promote the co-operative principle in commerce, via his Barrington Lectures and via his work with the Dublin University Co-operative Society, have had any success. There remains however a nod in this direction, in the form of the Recess Committee Report, which had been on the syllabus since the beginning of the Diploma in 1906.

On June 6 1925 WE Thrift became the representative of the Junior Fellows on the Board. During this period the Junior Fellows met rarely; they did not appear to have an active reporting procedure between their rare meetings and the Board.

Then on Nov 14 1925 there is a Report of the Appointments Committee, of which it has been earlier noted that JJ was the Secretary. From this report it becomes clear that this Committee was not about appointments within the College, but about appointments for graduates to jobs outside, a precursor of the current Careers Office. This reflects credit on JJ's concern for students. There is much emphasis however on appointments in the imperial system: Africa, India, the RAF etc, but there are moves to develop contact with the Banks in Ireland, and an out-station in Belfast is projected.

During 1925 the Junior Fellows met twice, JJ being present on neither occasion. They rubber-stamped an ordinance expanding the powers of the vice-Provost, and were concerned about the scholars' stipends.

In 1926 there is a brief note about the Albert Kahn Travelling Fellowship, with the indication that applications go to the University of London, but no name is mentioned. Presumably this is an indication that the TCD Board was opting out of the process, and applicants deal directly with UL.

Then on March 19 1926 there is a minute '...as the Government is desirous that Mr Joseph Johnston should be free to devote as much time as possible to the work of the Profiteering (sic) Tribunal and to the investigations incidental to it, and the Minister for Finance has agreed to pay deputies for him next term, he is allowed to take advantage of this arrangement next Trinity term.' Thus we have a further example of JJ's concern with, and availability for the solution of, problems of the outside world.

There is a further reference on April 24 1926, in which leave of absence is confirmed for Trinity Term, with the School Committee to decide about a substitute. He was also granted a further fortnight in 1926, and one in January 1927, to take up a Rockefeller Fellowship for Economic Research in Europe.

I am indebted to Dr Darwin Stapleton of the Rockefeller Archive Center for supplying some background to this episode. He did the work in Dublin and in Paris, and the topic was "the 'spread' between prices received by the farmer and prices paid by the consumer in different European countries, and the arrangements for marketing agricultural produce in certain of these countries". Names of sources in France given in the application were Casiot, Auge-Laribe, Rist, Tardy, Toussaint and Patier. The Fellowship lasted from 22/8/26 to 21/8/27 and carried a stipend of $1800 with $1200 expenses.

From the foregoing he seems that he must have produced a Report, but I have not located it. I have enquired further with Dr Stapleton. If we find it we will consider analysing it under the 'Albert Kahn' thread, as it would appear to be a follower of his 1916 episode in France, or else perhaps under the 'Seanad / Public Service' thread, as JJ used French material from his Rockefeller Fellowship in support of the arguments for a National Economic Council which he made in his Addendum to the 1926 Prices Tribunal Report. There was however a paper in the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society in 1927 which was based on the Rockefeller work, and this perhaps counts as the Report.

I return now to the Board minutes, where I continue to note only the items which I can identify as pertinent to JJ's career. In June 1926 JJ was asked to confirm in writing his acceptance of the conditions attached to the Rockefeller Fellowship, which he did. On Dec 4 1926 there is a reference to JB Smyth OBE as lecturer in Business Organisation in the School of Commerce, to which environment JJ aspired. In 1927 there was reference to an Albert Kahn nomination, with a recommendation of Feb 3 for Alfred Plummer.

During 1926 the Junior Fellows under EJ Gwynn's chairmanship met only once to rubber-stamp revised election of fellows procedures.

On March 30 1927 Cathcart's death was noted, and EJ Gwynn was co-opted as Senior Fellow. On May 27 WE Thrift was re-elected as a Junior Fellow's representative, on the proposition of KC Bailey and seconded by JM Henry; this was the science lobby at work. Goligher remains as the other JF representative, and presumably as JJ's window into Board politics. He had been constrained to hitch his wagon to the declining classics star, which made his battle to get recognition in economics all the more difficult.

Then on June 18, there is a reference to Goligher 'resigning his pupils on the recommendation of the Board', and 'withdrawing from the discussion after making a statement'. He would appear to have been in trouble, so that JJ's insight into the Board became dimmed. During all this time the Seanad was beckoning, and JJ was actively popularising economic thinking on the Barrington trail. In College politics he was visibly becoming sidelined.

On July 12 1927 the Board passed a vote of condolence to Cosgrave and the widow on the death of Kevin O'Higgins.

Then with the death of Provost Bernard on Aug 31 the statutory electoral procedure was implemented: the Board proposed 3 names to the Governor General, with a covering letter sent to Cosgrave. The names were EJ Qwynn, Robert Russell and WE Thrift; the latter was then co-opted to Senior Fellow status replacing Bernard. On October 5 EJ Gwynn was 'duly elected Provost by the authority of the Crown in the IFS'.

During this period there was evidence of creeping imposition of Board domination of affairs over which its jurisdiction was open to question. For example, on May 15 1926 the College Historical Society sought to send a deputation to argue the case that the wording of their motions need not be subject to Board approval. This was rejected, with the note that the Hist themselves had proposed the arrangement, and the Board had accepted it with reluctance. One can only marvel at such obtuse conservative logic. Then on October 29 1927 the election of Dr Bell to the Chair of the DU Co-op Society was 'approved'. Why should it matter who was Chairman of the Co-op? When JJ was Chairman, from its foundation in 1913, no such approval was sought or given, just approval of the existence of the co-op, and its use of College space.

Then towards the end of 1927 the problem of the decline of the School of Agriculture was addressed. A committee was set up on Oct 8 1927, consisting of Culverwell, Joly and Thrift, to consider whether to maintain it. On November 12 they declined an invitation from the Department of Agriculture to send someone to the World Dairy Congress. Then into this situation of crisis and decline comes a White Knight in the form of a letter from Dr Coffey, President of UCD, which was referred to the above committee. They considered it, and the Board accepted what was in effect a friendly co-operative deal, in the context of the move out to the Albert College in Glasnevin (now DCU) from the old College of Science buildings in Merrion Square (now Government Buildings). TCD and UCD had shared CoS resources for engineering and agricultural science. After the move, TCD Agriculture students would take their 3rd and 4th years on the Albert College UCD campus. This was accepted and appears to have worked well for some decades.

*(Had JJ a hand in setting this up, via his Plunkett House contacts?)

Returning now to student affairs, on Dec 8 1927 it was recorded that Prof GA Duncan, with Miss Beckett and Miss Stone, held a meeting to consider setting up a Students Union, for the promotion of international intercourse.

*(Was this a resurrection of JJ's earlier attempt to form a Representative Council, in a new guise?)

No meeting of the Junior Fellows took place in 1927; Gwynn had been promoted to Senior Fellow, and his successor failed to convene one.

Little noteworthy happened in 1928. GA Duncan was confirmed as lecturer in economics, and appointed as Assistant to Prof Bastable on June 30. Extern students were admitted to the School of Agriculture (Oct 6). On May 26 Lord Birkenhead agreed to give the address at the Burke bicentenary; this reflected the continuing Unionist politics of the TCD Board. Birkenhead, then FE (Galloper) Smith, along with Balfour and Carson, master-minded the Tory support for the April 1914 Larne gun-running from Germany, the event which introduced the gun to Irish affairs after 2 generation of relatively peaceful and constitutional Home Rule politics. Perpetrators of what Asquith described as a 'treasonable conspiracy' ended up in the Cabinet, some with peerages. The TCD Board by inviting Birkenhead in effect gave blessing to what had amounted to a Tory coup d'etat. I wonder to what extent this was a conscious statement, rather than an instinctive act?

The Junior Fellows in 1928 met twice, JJ being present the second time, when they proposed a minor amendment to a Board Ordinance regarding recognition of other universities. At the first meeting on January 19 JJ though not present was elected as Junior Fellows representative on the Lectures Committee, on the proposition of Thrift. There does not appear to be anything on record about what the Lectures Committee did, but presumably it dealt with routine matters like scheduling etc. To propose someone in their absence for a routine task suggests a hostile act.

The way in which the Board in 1929 attempted to set up the School of Economics and Political Science would suggest a conscious move to block the aspirations of JJ, whose vision in this direction was becoming increasingly explicit, and whose public profile was expanding. On February 2 the Board asked Bastable what requirements should be imposed on candidates for Fellowship in Economics and Political Science, for a competition by examination to be held in 1930. They were here reverting to the old examination procedure, and aspiring to impose a strong theoretical bias, in direct opposition to the type of experience that JJ had been acquiring, via his work on Government commissions, with Plunkett House, and with the Barrington Lectures, confirming, in the eyes of the Board, his 'enfant terrible' status.

On March 16 it was recommended that the principal subject of the examination should be Economic Theory, including History of Theories, this being testable by examination. Political Science should be regarded as a subordinate subject. The Fellow so elected should be fit for the Chair in Political Economy.

On June 15 1929 JJ was selected to represent TCD at the Conference of the Institute of Public Administration in Edinburgh, on July 26-29. They paid his fare but not his hotel expenses. This could have been a coded message.

The Junior Fellows met twice in 1929, on June 20 and December 2. Fraser is now the chairman. They made a stand on the issue of keeping tutorships for Fellows, suggesting an application procedure. JJ was present at the first meeting. He was now living in Dundalk and commuting. A sub-committee was set up to consider improvements in the tutorial system.

In 1930 on February 12 it was noted that three candidates for Fellowship in Economics had presented themselves: JW Nisbet from Glasgow, Alfred Plummer from London (earlier he had been an Albert Kahn candidate) and GJ Walker (Oxon). Two external examiners were selected, along with Bastable; one was Pigou, a world-figure. The externs declined to act; two other were asked, Bowley and Clapham. The exam took place in May, there were 3 papers, Principles, Currency and Economic Organisation, Governmental Functions. The examiners reports were read on June 14, after which the episode sunk without trace. One can read into these events a sense of culture-shock. The world had moved on.

On December 6 1930 GE Smyth was elected to the Commerce School Committee, in lieu of Goligher who had resigned. (Goligher? Ancient History and Classical Archaeology? What was he doing on the Commerce School Committee? Was this the dead hand of Classics Rule, or was he reflecting the influence of JJ pushing from below?)

There was no Junior Fellows meeting in 1930. This particular political forum was during these years practically moribund. Contact with the Board was presumably done on a personal basis via the Junior Fellows representatives.

The post-Bastable scene did not clarify until 1932.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999