British Policy and the Irish Administration, 1920–22

The political and military dimensions of the Anglo-Irish ‘troubles’ following World War I have received numerous historical treatments. The administrative history of this revolutionary period, however, has been neglected. First published in 1983, British Policy and the Irish Administration, 1920–22 fills a void for academic and popular readership of twentieth century Irish history, administrative history, and public administration in Ireland.

Beginning with the civil service reforms at Dublin Castle in the Spring of 1920, McColgan traces the history of the Irish administration in transition up to the departure of temporary British administrators in 1922. Although these progressive young civil servants from England replaced crusty, outdated officials in key positions at Dublin Castle, and initially hoped for rapprochement with ‘moderate nationalists’, the author sees British policy as essentially obliging of Ulster Unionsim. He supports this view with a study of developments at the bureaucratic level. He then exposes and explains in their political context the administrative issues surrounding the establishment of the Free State provisional government and relations between the Northern and provisional governments. He gives special focus to Michael Collins’ campaign of administrative obstruction of the North and shows how British officials balanced the various interests. McColgans’s conclusions supply a fresh appreciation of the significant role British civil servants played in settling Britain’s ‘Irish question’. He presents an original view of what was involved administrationally in the Anglo-Irish settlement of 1920–22.