Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to Joseph Devlin, 8 August 1916

Foo, Bar; Bar, Foo

Letter from Andrew Philip Magill to Joseph Devlin, 8 August 1916

1 8th August, 1916. Dear Mr. Devlin, I am desired by Mr. Duke to say that Mr. Samuel
forwarded to him your letter relative to the case of
Michael McConville who was elected Petty Sessions Clerk
of Crossmaglen. Mr Duke has made enquiries into the
matter and finds Mr McConville was appointed on
probation for six months and then called up to
undergo an examination as to his general knowledge of
his duties as Petty Sessions Clerk. As he complained
of being nervous at the examination, the Registrar of
Petty Sessions Clerks had Mr. McConville before him and
went over each question and answer with him. Mr. McConville
was very ignorant of his duties generally and, apparently,
had taken no trouble to acquaint himself with his work as
a Petty Sessions Clerk. The Registrar of Petty Sessions
Clerks was unable to recommend that the appointment should
be finally approved, and Mr. McConville sent in his
resignation of the post. in these circumstances, Mr. Duke
does not feel that he can interfere in the matter. Yours faithfully, (Sd.) A.P.M. Joseph Devlin, Esq., M.P.,
House of Commons

This letter was written by Andrew Philip Magill (1871 – 1941), the private secretary to the chief secretary for Ireland on behalf of Henry Edward Duke (1855-1939), chief secretary for Ireland. Magill was a civil servant and held the position of private secretary for successive chief secretaries for Ireland until his transfer to the Northern Irish Civil Service in 1921. The letter was sent to Joseph Devlin (1871 – 1934), an influential Home Rule MP and grandmaster of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. In the aftermath of the Easter Rising, Devlin supported the proposed temporary partition of Ireland but the scheme collapsed. The letter concerns the appointment of Michael McConville as Petty Sessions Clerk of Crossmaglen. Magill writes that when called up to examination McConville was ignorant of his duties generally and had taken no trouble to acquaint himself with the work, therefore the chief secretary felt that he could not interfere in the matter of McConville’s resignation.

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How to cite

Letters 1916, published by the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Vienna, 2026 (https://letters1916static.github.io/letters1916-static/item__2469.html)