James Creed Meredith
Encyclopedia
James Creed Meredith K.C., LL.D. (28 November 1875 – 14 August 1942) was an Irish nationalist of the early 20th century, who upheld Brehon Law. He was President of the Supreme Court of the Irish Republic
, Chief Judicial Commissioner of Ireland and a Judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Ireland. He was selected by the League of Nations
to oversee the Saar Valley Plebiscite and was a Senator of the National University of Ireland
. He was also a noted scholar, philosopher and author
, whose 1911 translation of Immanuel Kant's
Critique of Judgement
is still widely used by students today.
of the Grand Lodge of Ireland
and a nephew of Sir Edward Newenham Meredyth (1776–1865), 9th Bt., of Madaleen, County Kilkenny
. His mother, Ellen Graves Meredith (1848–1919), was his father's third wife and the daughter of his cousin, Rev. Richard Graves Meredith (1810–1871), of Timoleague, Co. Cork
, the elder brother of Sir William Collis Meredith
and Edmund Allen Meredith
. He was named after his father's grandfather, James Creed of Uregare House, County Limerick
, whose brother was the last Creed to live at Ballygrennan Castle outside Uregare. He was one of four brothers who included The Ven. Ralph Creed Meredith
and Llewellyn Meredith (1883–1967), a judge in New Zealand
. They were cousins of The Rt. Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith
, Master of the Rolls in Ireland
.
Meredith was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
, from where he graduated with a Masters degree. In 1896, whilst a student at Trinity, he became the British Quarter Mile Champion, running it in 52 seconds and beating Fitzherbert of Cambridge University, the holder of the championship. Coincidently, his future brother-in-law, Howard Meredith Percy (1879–1902), won for Canada the inter-collegiate championship in the half mile and mile runs whilst a student at McGill University
. After Trinity, Meredith embarked upon a legal career, becoming a barrister
.
at Kilcoole
. Meredith himself helped out aboard the Chotah during the operation with Robert Erskine Childers
and Conor O'Brien
. Meredith was unusual amongst Protestants and graduates of Trinity College Dublin of his era, in that he was an active supporter of Sinn Féin and the revolutionary Dáil government between 1919 and 1922. He served as the President of the Dáil Supreme Court
from 1920-22.
Though a republican - with a small 'r' - Meredith became a pacifist and a member of the Irish Proportional Representation Society. He was a founding member of the United Irish League
along with fellow pacifist and writer Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
, the painter Dermod O'Brien
, William O'Brien
M.P. and Michael Davitt
.
In 1917 Meredith campaigned with George William Russell
and Sir Horace Plunkett for the establishment of the Irish Convention
in an attempt to find a way around the Unionist stonewall against self government.
After Sinn Féin's landslide victory in 1918 and the unilateral declaration of independence, the Dáil appointed Meredith to chair a committee of lawyers to draw up a constitution for the newly declared Irish Republic, working closely with his cousin, Arthur Francis Carew Meredith K.C. Two years later the new Dáil Courts
system was set up to replace the English-law based court system, and Meredith was appointed President of the Irish Supreme Court over Arthur Cleary because of the fact that he was by then a King's Counsel (a senior barrister
).
At the conclusion of the War of Independence
some Dáil deputies argued that elements of the Brehon law should be incorporated into the legal system of the new State. Meredith was among those who supported this view. In 1920, on an appeal by a deserted wife and child, seeking compensation or support from her husband, Meredith pronounced that English Law was retrograde in this matter and that he would give his judgment in accordance with the spirit of Brehon Law. He awarded the woman compensation and thus became the last known Irish judge to make an appeal to the ancient Irish law system.
His citing of the Brehon law might have had far reaching implications for women's rights in Ireland. However, Laurence Ginnell
and most of the judiciary who supported this initiative of reviving aspects of Brehon Law took the Republican side in the subsequent Civil War
(1922–23), and so the project came to nothing. The new Irish State re-accepted English Statute
and Common Law
while suppressing the nascent Irish system.
Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty
, the civil war and the collapse of the Republic, the newly established Irish Free State
did not abandon Meredith's talents. He was appointed Chief Judicial Commissioner of Ireland on August 14, 1923, served on the High Court from 1924 to 1937 and then on the Supreme Court of Ireland until his death. He was elected to the Senate of the National University of Ireland
, a position he also held until his death. In 1934 he was asked by the League of Nations
to oversee the Saar valley plebiscite on the French/German frontier, and in 1937 he returned to the Supreme Court of Ireland.
, Montreal
, Meredith married Lorraine Seymour Percy, the daughter of Charles Percy (1852–1918) of Weredale Park, Montreal
, 'one of the great railway geniuses of his era', and a niece of Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams
. Mr Percy was "a great family man, devoted to cultivated society and an admirier of fine arts, particularly music, and a lover of nature and his family fireside." Percy had come from England
to Canada
in 1876 at the bequest of the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway Company to be their treasurer, later becoming a director of the Central Vermont Railway
.
Lorraine's mother, Annie Redmond Meredith (1849–1930), was a daughter of Henry Howard Meredith (1815–1892) of Rosebank House, Port Hope, Ontario
. She was a first cousin of James Creed Meredith's mother, and a niece of the already mentioned Edmund Allen Meredith
and William Collis Meredith
. Mrs Annie (Meredith) Percy was a talented artist and "a woman of rare culture and charm, artistic in taste, and noted for her charitable works and activities associated with the Church of England
, of which she was a communicant since childhood".
Lorraine Meredith was herself a great patron
of various Irish artists and poets. She was particularly close to the painter Grace Henry, the wife of the better known Paul Henry
. Grace Henry's biographer described the two women as "slightly silly and full of fun". The two often travelled and painted together, and when Mrs Henry died in 1953, it was Mrs Meredith - then living in Cyprus
- who paid for her funeral. Mrs Meredith kept close ties with her Canadian relations and frequently took her two daughters (Moira and Brenda) to stay with them, particularly at the country home in Livingston County, Michigan
of her uncle, Howard Graves Meredith (1856–1934), described by Lord Birkenhead as "a great character, and one of the most attractive and warm-hearted men I have ever met".
Their daughter Moira's son is Rowan Gillespie
, the Irish bronze casting sculptor, whose latest work Proclamation is a memorial to the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and, according to his biographer Roger Kohn
, to his grandfather's dream of a Utopian society.
, he held doctorates in literature and law. He wrote a successful play and five books, most notable of which was his 1911 translation of 'Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgement'
, still widely used today by English speaking scholars of Immanuel Kant
. In the analytical index of his famous translation, Meredith asked a pertinent question concerning Irish history and society, "What do you call a pretty girl in Ireland?", furnishing his own characteristic response: "A tourist.""
The Merediths' Dublin house, Hopeton, was a centre for well known poets, writers and artists of the time, and they also kept a country residence, Albert House, at Dalkey
. Never one to follow the crowd, he became a Quaker in later life and after his death, August 14, 1942, was buried at the Friend's Temple Hill Cemetery, Blackrock, Dublin.
Dáil Courts
During the Irish War of Independence, the Dáil Courts were the judicial branch of government of the short-lived Irish Republic. They were formally established by a decree of the First Dáil Éireann on 29 June 1920, replacing more limited Arbitration Courts that had been authorised a year earlier...
, Chief Judicial Commissioner of Ireland and a Judge of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Ireland. He was selected by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
to oversee the Saar Valley Plebiscite and was a Senator of the National University of Ireland
National University of Ireland
The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...
. He was also a noted scholar, philosopher and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, whose 1911 translation of Immanuel Kant's
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
Critique of Judgement
Critique of Judgement
The Critique of Judgment , or in the new Cambridge translation Critique of the Power of Judgment, also known as the third critique, is a philosophical work by Immanuel Kant...
is still widely used by students today.
Background
James Creed Meredith was the son of Sir James Creed Meredith (1842–1912) of Clonewin House, Dublin, Deputy Grand MasterGrand Master (Masonic)
In Freemasonry a Grand Master is the leader of the lodges within his Masonic jurisdiction. He presides over a Grand Lodge, and has certain rights in the constituent lodges that form his jurisdiction....
of the Grand Lodge of Ireland
Grand Lodge of Ireland
The Grand Lodge of Ireland is the second most senior Grand Lodge of Freemasons in the world, and the oldest in continuous existence. Since no specific record of its foundation exists, 1725 is the year celebrated in Grand Lodge anniversaries, as the oldest reference to Grand Lodge of Ireland comes...
and a nephew of Sir Edward Newenham Meredyth (1776–1865), 9th Bt., of Madaleen, County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. The territory of the county was the core part of the ancient Irish Kingdom of Osraige which in turn was the core of the Diocese of...
. His mother, Ellen Graves Meredith (1848–1919), was his father's third wife and the daughter of his cousin, Rev. Richard Graves Meredith (1810–1871), of Timoleague, Co. Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, the elder brother of Sir William Collis Meredith
William Collis Meredith
The Hon. Sir William Collis Meredith, Kt., Q.C., D.C.L. was Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec.-Early life:...
and Edmund Allen Meredith
Edmund Allen Meredith
Edmund Allen Meredith LL.D., was Under Secretary of State for Canada; a prison reformer, writer, and the third principal of McGill University from 1846 to 1853.-Early life in Ireland:...
. He was named after his father's grandfather, James Creed of Uregare House, County Limerick
County Limerick
It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...
, whose brother was the last Creed to live at Ballygrennan Castle outside Uregare. He was one of four brothers who included The Ven. Ralph Creed Meredith
Ralph Creed Meredith
The Ven. Ralph Creed Meredith, M.A., was an Anglican Cleric who succeeded Edward Keble Talbot as Chaplain to His Majesty, King George VI and afterwards Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II...
and Llewellyn Meredith (1883–1967), a judge in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. They were cousins of The Rt. Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith
Richard Edmund Meredith
The Rt. Hon. Richard Edmund Meredith PC, QC , was the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, a Privy Councillor, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland and Judicial Commissioner of the Irish Land Commission.-Career:...
, Master of the Rolls in Ireland
Master of the Rolls in Ireland
The office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland originated in the office of the keeper of the Rolls in the Irish Chancery and became an office granted by letters patent in 1333. It was abolished in 1924....
.
Meredith was educated at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, from where he graduated with a Masters degree. In 1896, whilst a student at Trinity, he became the British Quarter Mile Champion, running it in 52 seconds and beating Fitzherbert of Cambridge University, the holder of the championship. Coincidently, his future brother-in-law, Howard Meredith Percy (1879–1902), won for Canada the inter-collegiate championship in the half mile and mile runs whilst a student at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. After Trinity, Meredith embarked upon a legal career, becoming a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
.
Career
In 1914, Meredith had approached Sir Thomas Myles to use his yacht, the Chotah, to land guns for the Irish VolunteersIrish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...
at Kilcoole
Kilcoole
Kilcoole is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is three kilometres south of Greystones, 14 kilometres north of Wicklow, and about 25 kilometres south of Dublin. It was used as the set for the Irish television series Glenroe, which ran through the 1980s and 1990s...
. Meredith himself helped out aboard the Chotah during the operation with Robert Erskine Childers
Robert Erskine Childers
Robert Erskine Childers DSC , universally known as Erskine Childers, was the author of the influential novel Riddle of the Sands and an Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland in his sailing yacht Asgard. He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish...
and Conor O'Brien
Conor O'Brien
Edward Conor Marshall O'Brien was an intellectual, Irish aristocrat, republican, nationalist, pioneer in modern maritime theory, owner and captain of one of the first boats to sail under the tri-colour of the Irish Free State, during his circumnavigation in the Saoirse. Reputedly this was the...
. Meredith was unusual amongst Protestants and graduates of Trinity College Dublin of his era, in that he was an active supporter of Sinn Féin and the revolutionary Dáil government between 1919 and 1922. He served as the President of the Dáil Supreme Court
Dáil Courts
During the Irish War of Independence, the Dáil Courts were the judicial branch of government of the short-lived Irish Republic. They were formally established by a decree of the First Dáil Éireann on 29 June 1920, replacing more limited Arbitration Courts that had been authorised a year earlier...
from 1920-22.
Though a republican - with a small 'r' - Meredith became a pacifist and a member of the Irish Proportional Representation Society. He was a founding member of the United Irish League
United Irish League
The United Irish League was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto "The Land for the People" . Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform, compelling larger grazier farmers to surrender their lands for redistribution amongst...
along with fellow pacifist and writer Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Francis Skeffington from Bailieborough, County Cavan, was an Irish suffragist, pacifist and writer. He was a friend and schoolmate of James Joyce, Oliver St John Gogarty, Tom Kettle, and Conor Cruise O'Brien's father, Frank O'Brien...
, the painter Dermod O'Brien
Dermod O'Brien
Dermod O'Brien was an Irish painter, chiefly of landscapes and portraits.-Career:...
, William O'Brien
William O'Brien
William O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
M.P. and Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt was an Irish republican and nationalist agrarian agitator, a social campaigner, labour leader, journalist, Home Rule constitutional politician and Member of Parliament , who founded the Irish National Land League.- Early years :Michael Davitt was born in Straide, County Mayo,...
.
In 1917 Meredith campaigned with George William Russell
George William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
and Sir Horace Plunkett for the establishment of the Irish Convention
Irish Convention
The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...
in an attempt to find a way around the Unionist stonewall against self government.
After Sinn Féin's landslide victory in 1918 and the unilateral declaration of independence, the Dáil appointed Meredith to chair a committee of lawyers to draw up a constitution for the newly declared Irish Republic, working closely with his cousin, Arthur Francis Carew Meredith K.C. Two years later the new Dáil Courts
Dáil Courts
During the Irish War of Independence, the Dáil Courts were the judicial branch of government of the short-lived Irish Republic. They were formally established by a decree of the First Dáil Éireann on 29 June 1920, replacing more limited Arbitration Courts that had been authorised a year earlier...
system was set up to replace the English-law based court system, and Meredith was appointed President of the Irish Supreme Court over Arthur Cleary because of the fact that he was by then a King's Counsel (a senior barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
).
At the conclusion of the War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
some Dáil deputies argued that elements of the Brehon law should be incorporated into the legal system of the new State. Meredith was among those who supported this view. In 1920, on an appeal by a deserted wife and child, seeking compensation or support from her husband, Meredith pronounced that English Law was retrograde in this matter and that he would give his judgment in accordance with the spirit of Brehon Law. He awarded the woman compensation and thus became the last known Irish judge to make an appeal to the ancient Irish law system.
His citing of the Brehon law might have had far reaching implications for women's rights in Ireland. However, Laurence Ginnell
Laurence Ginnell
Laurence Ginnell was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party for Westmeath North at the 1906 UK general election, from 1910 he sat as an Independent...
and most of the judiciary who supported this initiative of reviving aspects of Brehon Law took the Republican side in the subsequent Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
(1922–23), and so the project came to nothing. The new Irish State re-accepted English Statute
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
and Common Law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
while suppressing the nascent Irish system.
Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
, the civil war and the collapse of the Republic, the newly established Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
did not abandon Meredith's talents. He was appointed Chief Judicial Commissioner of Ireland on August 14, 1923, served on the High Court from 1924 to 1937 and then on the Supreme Court of Ireland until his death. He was elected to the Senate of the National University of Ireland
National University of Ireland
The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...
, a position he also held until his death. In 1934 he was asked by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
to oversee the Saar valley plebiscite on the French/German frontier, and in 1937 he returned to the Supreme Court of Ireland.
Family
In 1908, at St. George's ChurchSt. George's Anglican Church (Montreal)
St. George's Anglican Church is a heritage church located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The church is officially located at 1101 Stanley Street on the corner of De la Gauchetière Street, although it also faces Peel Street and is opposite Place du Canada....
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Meredith married Lorraine Seymour Percy, the daughter of Charles Percy (1852–1918) of Weredale Park, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, 'one of the great railway geniuses of his era', and a niece of Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams
Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams
Lt.-Colonel The Hon. Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams was a Canadian businessman, farmer and political figure. His statue stands in front of the town hall of Port Hope, Ontario....
. Mr Percy was "a great family man, devoted to cultivated society and an admirier of fine arts, particularly music, and a lover of nature and his family fireside." Percy had come from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1876 at the bequest of the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway Company to be their treasurer, later becoming a director of the Central Vermont Railway
Central Vermont Railway
The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec....
.
Lorraine's mother, Annie Redmond Meredith (1849–1930), was a daughter of Henry Howard Meredith (1815–1892) of Rosebank House, Port Hope, Ontario
Port Hope, Ontario
Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, about east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County...
. She was a first cousin of James Creed Meredith's mother, and a niece of the already mentioned Edmund Allen Meredith
Edmund Allen Meredith
Edmund Allen Meredith LL.D., was Under Secretary of State for Canada; a prison reformer, writer, and the third principal of McGill University from 1846 to 1853.-Early life in Ireland:...
and William Collis Meredith
William Collis Meredith
The Hon. Sir William Collis Meredith, Kt., Q.C., D.C.L. was Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec.-Early life:...
. Mrs Annie (Meredith) Percy was a talented artist and "a woman of rare culture and charm, artistic in taste, and noted for her charitable works and activities associated with the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, of which she was a communicant since childhood".
Lorraine Meredith was herself a great patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
of various Irish artists and poets. She was particularly close to the painter Grace Henry, the wife of the better known Paul Henry
Paul Henry (painter)
Paul Henry was a Northern Irish artist noted for depicting the west of Ireland landscape with a spare post-impressionist style....
. Grace Henry's biographer described the two women as "slightly silly and full of fun". The two often travelled and painted together, and when Mrs Henry died in 1953, it was Mrs Meredith - then living in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
- who paid for her funeral. Mrs Meredith kept close ties with her Canadian relations and frequently took her two daughters (Moira and Brenda) to stay with them, particularly at the country home in Livingston County, Michigan
Livingston County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 156,951 people, 55,384 households, and 43,531 families residing in the county. The population density was 276 people per square mile . There were 58,919 housing units at an average density of 104 per square mile...
of her uncle, Howard Graves Meredith (1856–1934), described by Lord Birkenhead as "a great character, and one of the most attractive and warm-hearted men I have ever met".
Their daughter Moira's son is Rowan Gillespie
Rowan Gillespie
Rowan Fergus Meredith Gillespie is an Irish bronze casting sculptor of international renown. Born in Dublin to Irish parents, Gillespie spent his formative years in Cyprus...
, the Irish bronze casting sculptor, whose latest work Proclamation is a memorial to the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and, according to his biographer Roger Kohn
Roger Kohn
Roger Kohn is a designer and author. He studied with Rowan Gillespie at York School of Art and is the Irish sculptor's biographer.-Education and career:Kohn was educated at Marton Hall Preparatory School and Pocklington School...
, to his grandfather's dream of a Utopian society.
Philosophy and Writings
Meredith was remembered as a kind, intelligent and philosophical man. A polymathPolymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
, he held doctorates in literature and law. He wrote a successful play and five books, most notable of which was his 1911 translation of 'Kant's Critique of Aesthetic Judgement'
Critique of Judgement
The Critique of Judgment , or in the new Cambridge translation Critique of the Power of Judgment, also known as the third critique, is a philosophical work by Immanuel Kant...
, still widely used today by English speaking scholars of Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
. In the analytical index of his famous translation, Meredith asked a pertinent question concerning Irish history and society, "What do you call a pretty girl in Ireland?", furnishing his own characteristic response: "A tourist.""
The Merediths' Dublin house, Hopeton, was a centre for well known poets, writers and artists of the time, and they also kept a country residence, Albert House, at Dalkey
Dalkey
Dalkey is suburb of Dublin and seaside resort in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an important port during the Middle Ages. According to John Clyn, it was one of the ports through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century...
. Never one to follow the crowd, he became a Quaker in later life and after his death, August 14, 1942, was buried at the Friend's Temple Hill Cemetery, Blackrock, Dublin.
Author Of
- Kant's Critique of aesthetic judgement / translated with seven introductory essays, notes, and analytical index :Oxford: 1911 at Internet Archive
- Proportional representation in Ireland: Dublin and London: 1913 at Internet Archive
- (with Hector Hughes) The Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1920 :Dublin: 1920
- The rainbow in the valley :Dublin: 1939: (science fiction)
- Nell Nelligan:-A romance of the Irish volunteers : Dublin: 1940: (novel)
Photographs
- http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/futcher/large/FUT1_026-001_P.jpgMrs James Creed Meredith (Lorraine Seymour Percy) with her and her husband's cousin Frederick Edmund MeredithFrederick Edmund MeredithFrederick Edmund Meredith K.C., D.C.L. was a Canadian lawyer and businessman, the 8th Chancellor of Bishop's University, Lennoxville; honorary President of the Montreal Victorias for three of their Stanley Cup championships in the late 1890s, and Chief Counsel to the CPR at the inquest into the...
at SennevilleSenneville, QuebecSenneville is a village on the western tip of the Island of Montreal. It is the wealthiest town on the West Island, closely followed by Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Baie D'Urfé...
, 1901]
Other sources
- External site dedicated to Sister FidelmaSister FidelmaSister Fidelma is a fictional detective, the eponymous heroine of a series by Peter Tremayne . Fidelma is both a lawyer, or dalaigh, and Celtic religieuse....
, scroll to 'THE LAST JUDGE OF THE BREHON LAWS' http://www.sisterfidelma.com/FAQS.htm#world for brief bio. of Meredith