MACDERMOTT, John Clarke (Baron MacDermott) (1896-1979)

Scope and Content

Photocopies of extracts from MacDermott's autobiography, 'An enriching life', privately printed in 1979, primarily concerning the death of his brother in France, Jan 1916, MacDermott's work in shell shop at Harland and Wolff Ltd, 1916, his experience of the Easter Rising, Dublin, Apr 1916, his military training in Belfast and the UK, 1916-1917, his service in France, Belgium and Germany, including the Battle of the Lys, Apr 1918, and the second Battle of the Marne, Jul-Aug 1918, his legal training, 1919-1921, and his reading of FM Sir Henry Wilson...his life and diaries by Sir Charles Edward Callwell (Cassell and Co, London, 1927) and Revolt in the Desert by Thomas Edward Lawrence (later Shaw) (Jonathon Cape, London, 1927) and also including a tribute by MacDermott to Lord Robert Lynd Erskine Lowry, Baron Lowry, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

Administrative / Biographical History

Born in 1896; educated at Campbell College, Belfast and Queen's University of Belfast; served in World War One with Machine Gun Corps in France, Belgium and Germany; called to Irish Bar, 1921; Lecturer in Jurisprudence, Queen's University of Belfast, 1931-1935; appointed to determine industrial assurance disputes in Northern Ireland, 1929-1938; King's Counsel (Northern Ireland), 1936; MP (Unionist), Queen's University of Belfast, Parliament of Northern Ireland, 1938-1944; Governor, Campbell College, 1934-1959; Chairman, Joint Select Committee on Road and Rail Transport in Northern Ireland, 1939; Minister of Public Security for Northern Ireland, 1940-1941; Attorney-General, 1941-1944; Judge, High Court of Justice, Northern Ireland, 1944-1947; a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, 1947-1951; Chairman, National Arbitration Tribunal, Northern Ireland, 1944-1946; Pro-Chancellor, Queen's University of Belfast, 1951-1969; Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, 1951-1971; died in 1979.

Arrangement

1 file

Access Information

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Acquisition Information

Copies made by the Centre in 1986 from originals lent by Professor Kahrl.

Other Finding Aids

Summary guide entry on-line at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/archives/cats/, and detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room.

Conditions Governing Use

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.