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General Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready, 1st Baronet, (7 May 1862 – 9 January 1946), known affectionately as Make-Ready (close to the correct pronunciation of his name), was a British Army officer. He served in senior staff appointments in the First World War and was the last British military commander in Ireland, and also served for two years as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis in London.
He was promoted major-general in October, and in November he took direct command of troops deployed to deal with a possible miners' strike, in the Rhondda in South Wales,Dangerfield, George, (2012) The Strange Death of Liberal England Serif: London pg.202 insisting that his troops remained subordinate both to the police and to the Home Office and not answerable to the panicking local . This policy probably helped to avert serious unrest in 1910 and again in a similar situation in 1912. A civil CB was added to his military CB in 1911 and, in 1912 he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB). After the Curragh incident in Ireland in March 1914, Macready was made general officer commanding (GOC) Belfast District and was nominated as military governor-designate of Belfast in the event of civil war breaking out, something averted by the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.
In December 1915, Macready was warned by Special Branch of the impending violence and Irish nationalist volunteer recruitment in Ireland, and from March 1916 was receiving warnings from daily police reports. At the War Office, civil servants as late as 10 April 1916, still believed there was no cause for concern in Ireland:
Macready advised General Maxwell (whose courts-martial sentenced several of the Easter Rising's leaders to be executed) not to delay, and not to be afraid of overstepping authority.Charles Townshend, Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion, (London 2006), p.271. He was promoted lieutenant-general in June 1916 (although he was already temporarily in that rank).
Macready was an enthusiastic proponent of the employment of female labour to free men to go to the front. He also abolished the compulsory maintenance of moustaches by the Army's officers and other ranks, and immediately shaved off his own, which he had hated.http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89099963852;view=1up;seq=295 Annals of an Active Life, pp. 258–259.
During the final stages of the Battle of Passchendaele, Macready warned (4 October 1917) that the BEF could be kept up to strength if it suffered no more than a further 50,000 casualties before the end of the year, but the total exceeded this. The BEF suffered an alarming rise in drunkenness, desertions and psychological disorders; reports were gathered of soldiers returning from the front grumbling about "the waste of life" at Ypres.Woodward, 1998, pp.148–9
In September 1918 Macready was promoted full general and appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG). He had been mentioned in despatches four times during the war, been made a Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur of France (1915), and a member of the Order of the Crown of Belgium, the Order of the Crown of Italy, and the Order of the Sacred Treasures of Japan.Debrett's Peerage, Baronage, Knightage (106th edition 2000)
In April 1920, Macready was sent to succeed Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Shaw in command of the troops in Ireland as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) British forces operating in the counter-insurgency role against the Irish Republican Army in the Irish War of Independence (alongside Hamar Greenwood as the new Chief Secretary). He later stated in his memoirs that only loyalty to his "old Chief" Lord French (still lord lieutenant of Ireland at the time, although largely stripped of executive power in the spring of 1920) made him accept.
Macready and Greenwood insisted on restoring proper authority, which was lax and enfeebled. Macready was experienced at crisis management.C Townshend, "The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence" (Penguin 2014) He demanded a higher pension than his predecessor and an increase in "table money" (entertainment expenses) from £500 to £1,400 as well as £5,000 "disturbance allowance". He was unimpressed by the administrative chaos in Dublin and the "crass stupidity which is so often found among police officers who have not been carefully selected". Nevertheless, he was a good and dynamic commander, increasing morale, improving policy and securing additional troops and equipment. He refused to also take command of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), however, which reduced coordination between the police and Army. Major-General Hugh Tudor, a distinguished artilleryman, was appointed Police Advisor in May 1920, then Chief of Police in November 1920.Jeffery 2006, p261-2
A month after taking up official duties, Macready came to London to demand eight extra battalions of infantry and 234 motor vehicles. Sir Henry Wilson only learned of the request the evening before the Cabinet meeting and thought Macready "a vain ass" for not seeking his advice first. The cabinet agreed on 11 May 1920 to supply the vehicles and as far as possible the extra technical personnel requested, but on Wilson's advice agreed only to hold the extra battalions "in readiness".Jeffery 2006, p262-3 In July an argument with Catholic Archbishop Gilmartin, led him to exclaim that men could not be tried in Tuam, because nobody was willing to come forward for Jury service, "the people at least indifferent"."Irish Catholic" newspaper, 31 July 1920.
With the army stretched very thinly by the deployment of two extra divisions to Iraq, and the threatened coal strike in September 1920, Macready warned that the planned withdrawal of ten battalions would make peacekeeping in Ireland impossible (unless the Army was given a free hand to conduct purely military operations, which the politicians did not want) and large portions of the RIC would probably change sides.Jeffery 2006, p261-6
Macready and Wilson became increasingly concerned that Tudor, with the connivance of Lloyd George, who loved to drop hints to that effect, was operating an unofficial policy of killing IRA men in reprisal for the deaths of pro-Crown forces. However, Macready also told Wilson that the Army was arranging "accidents" for suspected IRA men, but did not tell the politicians as he did not want them "talked and joked about after dinner by Cabinet Ministers".Jeffery 2006, p265-6 Commenting on official reprisals, Macready stated that such actions "must have a deterrent effect on those who may be detailed for future outrages."
The new "Auxies" were following the bad example set by the local Irish police, the RIC, who had begun a process of reprisal killings for IRA attacks, which gave Macready considerable cause for concern.Townshend, p.163"the RIC are not out of hand but are systematically left to reprise their officers."Sir Mark Sturgis' Diary, 1 & 5 Oct 1920, NA PRO 30/59/1. In Macready's view, shooting of suspects and dumping of bodies in the Liffey represented unavoidable "reprisals" for the death of a policeman.House of Commons Debates, 20 October 1920, cited in Townshend, "The Republic", p.167. By 28 August, Macready knew that civil war was inevitable; as a consequence he would not tell the victims of the Lismore bombings not to resist.Macready to Henry Wilson, Imperial War Museum HHW 2/2A. He was worried that release of political prisoners would anger the police; hanging became a matter of credibility. He rejected calls to spare the life of a young medical student, Kevin Barry, caught red-handed in the murders of several soldiers as young or younger than Barry was, in Dublin.R.F.Foster, "W.B.Yeats: A Life", 2 vols (Oxford 2003), vol II, p.181, Townshend, pp.195–7. Macready recruited Major Ormonde Winter, an intelligence expert, as head of police detectives, to train sergeants to build networks; but it was probably too slow a decision, and too little too late to win the war.B Maye, "Arthur Griffith" (Dublin 1997), p.149, cited in Townshend, p.109 The Barry case was thoroughly investigated at Macroom Station by Lt Crake of C company, of whom Macready thought well.O' Donohue, "No Other Law", p.266.
On 23 December 1920, Irish Home Rule became law. Macready attended a special conference on 29 December along with Wilson, Tudor and Sir John Anderson, head of the Civil Service in Dublin, at which they all advised that no truce should be allowed for elections to the planned Dublin Parliament, and that at least four months of martial law would be required to "break the Terror".Townshend, p.224. The date for the elections was therefore set for May 1921. In accordance with Wilson and Macready's wishes, martial law was extended over the rest of Munster (Counties County Waterford and County Clare) and part of Leinster (Counties County Kilkenny and County Wexford).Jeffery 2006, p267-9 Macready felt under a great deal of pressure. The officer class were not prepared and contemptuous of the enemy's intelligence network; they did not take the need to adapt to gathering seriously.Townshend, p.225
The Irish War of Independence reached a climax in the first half of 1921, with deaths of pro-Crown forces running at approximately double the rate of those in the second half of 1920 but with the IRA running desperately short of funds and ammunition and later described by one of its leaders Michael Collins as "dead beat" and within "six weeks of defeat".Jeffery 2006, p270-1 Macready backed a policy of "deterrent effects" against the IRA; houses were ordered to be destroyed, tenants evicted to remove those who shot at patrols. The British were slowly getting the upper hand.Jeffery 2006, p271-3
In April 1921, the cabinet decided to withdraw four of Macready's 51 battalions to meet the possible Triple Alliance strike. Macready believed Ireland could be suppressed in the summer of 1921 with the elections out of the way, not least as troops would otherwise need to be replaced after the strain of guerrilla war. In May 1921, Lloyd George announced a surge of manpower; but Macready was concerned about low morale, and lack of specific training. An extra seventeen battalions were sent in June and July, bringing British strength up to 60,000, but the politicians drew back from the brink and opened secret talks with James Craig and Éamon de Valera (who had been born in New York of Spanish descent and whom Macready called Wilson's "Cuban Jew compatriot").Jeffery 2006, p271-3 The policy of Official Reprisals proved counter-productive and was abandoned on 3 June 1921. Macready had no answer to the attacks on soft Unionist targets.Jeffery 2006, p273-4
Macready was instrumental in negotiating the truce in July 1921, although he suggested, perhaps in jest, that the entire Irish Dáil could be arrested whilst in session.Jeffery 2006, p273-4 He suffered the irritation of being found in contempt of court for refusing to obey an order of habeas corpus in the Joseph Egan case; R. (Egan) v Macready 1921 1 I.R. 265 but the Truce rendered the matter academic. Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty and creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, he withdrew the troops without great incident before the onset of the Irish Civil War.Garde v. Strickland (Apr 1921) – the case in which the court decided that the Crown may have used excessive force in enforcing the Restoration of Order Act .
They concluded that the Four Courts was a centre of "seditious activity". On 24 June the Cabinet ordered an assault for 25 June, to be carried out by the Army. Macready, commander-in-chief, was in disagreement; Macready argued that escalation of violence would only unite the two factions of IRA and alienate the moderates.Cabinet Conclusions, 11.30 a.m. meeting, 25 June 1922, CAB, 21/255. London pressed Dublin to use the Free State Army to end the occupation of the Four Courts, giving an ultimatum for the rebels to leave on 28 June.Liam Deasy said later the Civil War was the "greatest tragedy in Irish history". 380 – poll of Army Census, 1902. In the event it was agreed with Richard Mulcahy that they should receive two 18-pounder field guns."Portrait of a Revolutionary" (London 2000). These were used to pound the Four Courts garrison into surrender but they missed; the officers were so inexperienced that Emmet Dalton, the Chief of Staff required artillery training from Macready's men.Michael Hopkinson, "Green against Green", pp. 116-17. Macready retired on 1 March 1923 and was created a baronet. He had been sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1920.
He briefly returned to police service during the 1926 General Strike, when he served as a staff officer to the Chief Commandant of the Metropolitan Special Constabulary.
First World War, Ireland and Adjutant-General
On the outbreak of war in August 1914, Macready was immediately sent to France as Adjutant-General of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). He was promoted to temporary lieutenant-general on 13 September. In 1915, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG). In February 1916, having carried out this job efficiently, he was recalled to London as Adjutant-General to the Forces, one of the most senior staff appointments in the British Army.
Macready failed to understand the intentions of the nationalist leaders.Charles Townshend, ''Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion'', (London 2006), p.146-7
Commissioner of Police
In August 1918, Macready somewhat reluctantly took the post of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London Metropolitan Police, to which Prime Minister Asquith had intended to appoint him before war broke out in 1914. Morale was low, and many men were currently on strike over pay and trade union recognition.C Townshend, 'One Man Whom You Can Hang It Necessary: The Discreet Charm of Nevil Macready', in J.B. Hattendorf & M.H.Murfett (eds.) The Limitations of Military Power (London 1990), pp.143ff. Macready got them back to work by granting a pay rise and promising the introduction of machinery for collective bargaining. He was popular among the and , whom he got to know far more than his predecessors had done. He abolished the system of punishment by deducting fines from men's pay over a period of months or even years. He also abolished the shilling a day deduction made from the pay of men on sick leave. He had an intense dislike of trade unions, and never took the short-lived National Union of Police and Prison Officers seriously, which partly led to the strike of 1919. Only a small percentage of the men went out on strike, and they were all dismissed, although Macready wrote a good reference for every one who asked.
Ireland
Administration of justice and reform of the police
Macready disliked Ireland and the Irish. He had already written to Ian Macpherson on the latter's appointment as Chief Secretary for Ireland in January 1919: "I cannot say I envy you for I loathe the country you are going to and its people with a depth deeper than the sea and more violent than that which I feel against the Boche".Jeffery 2006, p261
Specials, Black and Tans and reprisals
Macready opposed the formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary, announced by London on 20 October. The Specials were subsumed totally by Protestants clubs, such as the Cromwell Clubs. Dublin Castle wrote to Bonar Law, the Conservative Party leader, urging that the coalition government ban any recruitment from the Ulster Volunteer Force, an unreliable gang of paramilitaries.Tim Pat Coogan, "The Irish Revolution", p.95. A military committee of review appointed by the Cabinet, which Macready chaired, opposed the recruitment of the Black and Tans and Auxiliary Division, and he continued to be a strident critic of these bodies. "The Black & Tans and Auxiliaries in Ireland, 1920–1921: Their Origins, Roles and Legacy", by John Ainsworth, 2001 The government pressed ahead with recruiting auxiliaries, whose numbers would eventually peak at 1,500 in July 1921.Jeffery 2006, p264-5 Macready had been initially impressed by Tudor and thought he was getting rid of "incompetent idiots" from senior police positions. According to Tudor's Weekly Summary Joseph Byrne and Macready were concerned about frequently drunk on duty policemen.Lowe, W.J, "The War against the IRA 1919–21" Eire-Ireland, p.101. B Hughes, 'Persecuting the Peelers', in David Fitzpatrick (ed.), Terror in Ireland 1916–1923 (Dublin 2012). pp.214–15.
Charles Townsend (1975). 019821863X, Oxford University Press. 019821863X In December 1920 Macready informed the British Cabinet that the Military Governors of the martial law areas had been authorized to conduct reprisals. From December 1920 until June 1921 approximately 150 "official" reprisals were carried out.Townsend, pg 149.
Martial law
Macready came to support martial law as he was worried that army and police discipline might otherwise collapse. "They are hopelessly out of date", he warned "We are sitting on a volcano . If they were turned into an unarmed police force they would fulfill their functions in time of peace a good deal better than at present", he told Sir John Anderson.Macready to Walter Long, 23 April and 1 May 1920, House of Lords Record Office, LGP F/34/1.
He advised that ad hoc reprisals by the Black and Tans were not stopping the "murders".Jeffery 2006, p266-7 After the killing of sixteen Black and Tans in an ambush at Macroom, County Cork, martial law was declared on 10 December 1920 in the four Munster counties of County Cork, County Tipperary, County Kerry and County Limerick. Three days later Auxiliary Cadet Peter Harte opened fire while on patrol at a young man and an old priest, killing them both. Lloyd George was furious, calling for courts-martial and death by firing squad. But Macready stalled for time, and delayed justice, so that Harte eventually received a proper trial and was found guilty but insane. Mark Sturgis was angry because in the west, Sinn Féin was still very strong, so that the policy of shoot-to-kill was not working.Sir Mark Sturgis, 19 December 1920, UK National Archives. PRO 30/59/3.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty leads to civil war
By 1921, Macready had lost confidence in Tudor and thought the RIC had become unreliable. Macready was adamant that military jurisdiction in the Martial Law Area (MLA) trumped the civil courts. In a number of civil rights cases King's Bench writs were issued to reclaim bodies and damages. But Macready dismissed the conflict in actions, as an "anomaly". As the violence escalated he had suspended civilian jurisdictions by Proclamation in April.Jeffery 2006, p270-1
Possible role in the Civil War
It has been suggested that Collins had a hand in the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson. This has never been confirmed. Wilson was shot dead at the doorstep of his London home by two Irishmen, former British Army soldiers who had served in the Great War. The two were quickly captured and hanged.Peter Hart, "Michael Collins and the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson" The murder precipitated a policy of "Official Reprisals", sparked by Rory O'Connor's anti-Treaty IRA occupation of the Four Courts, home of the Provisional Government's ministry. From 22 June 1922 there were six Cabinet meetings in 72 hours.Cabinet Conclusions, 5.00 pm meeting, 22 June 1922; David Lloyd George to Michael Collins (CAB, 21/255).
Later life
In 1924, he published his two-volume memoirs, . Macready destroyed his own diaries and private papers after completing his memoirs, but 400 letters between Wilson and Macready survive, only ten of which predate his Irish appointment.
Death
He died at his home in Knightsbridge, London, in 1946, aged 83. His son, Gordon Macready (1891–1956), was also a distinguished soldier and inherited the baronetcy on his father's death.
In film
His character appears very briefly in the film Michael Collins (1996); he is played by Alan Stanford.
Styles
Coat of arms
Footnotes
External links
Categories: 1862 Births, 1946 Deaths, British Army Generals, British Army Personnel Of The Anglo-egyptian War, British Army Personnel Of The Second Boer War, British Army Generals Of World War I, British Military Personnel Of The Irish War Of Independence, Commissioners Of Police Of The Metropolis, Nevil, Military Personnel From Cheltenham, Commanders-in-chief, Ireland, Members Of The Privy Council Of Ireland, People Educated At Marlborough College, People Educated At Cheltenham College, Graduates Of The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Knights Grand Cross Of The Order Of St Michael And St George, Knights Commander Of The Order Of The Bath, Recipients Of The Order Of The Crown, English People Of Irish Descent, Gordon Highlanders Officers
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