The Tilson Case - by Jameson David (Hardcover)

About the Book

David Jameson's The Tilson Case: Church and State in 1950s' Ireland tells the story of one the most extraordinary causes célèbre of twentieth-century Ireland, which followed the marriage of Ernest Tilson, a Protestant, to Mary Barnes, a Catholic, in Dublin in 1941. Since this was a mixed marriage and the couple wished to be married in a Catholic church, both were obliged to sign a pledge agreeing to raise any children of the marriage as Catholics.

Book Synopsis

David Jameson's The Tilson Case: Church and State in 1950s' Ireland tells the story of one the most extraordinary causes célèbre of twentieth-century Ireland, which followed the marriage of Ernest Tilson, a Protestant, to Mary Barnes, a Catholic, in Dublin in 1941. Since this was a mixed marriage and the couple wished to be married in a Catholic church, both were obliged to sign a pledge agreeing to raise any children of the marriage as Catholics.

Nine years later Ernest reneged on that promise when he removed three of his four sons to the Protestant-run Birds' Nest orphanage in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, intending to educate them as Protestants. To recover her sons, Mary took a case to the High Court and won; her husband appealed this ruling in the Supreme Court and lost. Widely reported in newspapers in Ireland, Britain and the United States, this bitterly contested dispute pitted the Catholic and Protestant churches against each other and polarised Ireland along confessional lines.

Based on archival material, previously unseen documentary sources and oral testimonies, this engaging book not only recounts the intriguing story of Mary and Ernest Tilson, but also offers fresh perspectives on the vexed issue of mixed marriages in Ireland, the Catholic Ne Temere decree and the intimate relationship between the Catholic Church and the state at the time. It also highlights how a domestic dispute, with multiple causes, was elevated to an event of national significance involving both Churches, the state and wider society.

Crucially, Jameson also examines another disquieting aspect of the case that has reverberated to the present day: the court proceedings raise awkward questions about the impartiality of Catholic judges at the time and suggest that the Catholic Church exerted undue influence on the workings of the state.

Review Quotes

"While the boycott of Protestant businesses in the County
Wexford town of Fethard-on-Sea in 1957 has in recent decades been the subject
of books, articles and even a feature film, and has come to symbolise sectarian
tensions in mid-century Ireland over mixed marriage, a precursor -- the 1950
Tilson case -- has not received the same level of attention. That has now been
rectified by David Jameson's comprehensive and thorough examination of the
personal, familial, class, religious, legal and political aspects of the
episode...Jameson has achieved the admirable balance of analysing the incident
forensically, yet with an empathy that recognises the human sadness involved."

--Marie Coleman "Irish Historical Studies"

"What Jameson is good at is telling the human story behind the headlines...Here he did the blindingly obvious thing which no historian had done before, searched the telephone book for Tilsons and found two of the surviving children, who were able to provide not just the "inside story" but also the "after story", which provides a poignant, maybe even happy ending to a traumatic story."--Alan Ford "Estudios Irlandeses"

Jameson's case study is a thought-provoking volume. He has
forensically engaged in researching the sources behind the appropriate dryness
of the law report. In this, he has done legal history and lawyers sterling
service by reminding us of the personal costs of vindicating rights and how
that process can be used by different institutions for their own ends, not
always with progressive intentions.

--Rev Robert Marshall "Law Society Gazette"

...powerful, moving and judiciously researched...Jameson's tenacity is matched by his empathy, even-handedness, and determination to present the unabridged story of the Tilsons for the first time.--Daithí Ó Corráin "Irish Literary Supplement"

...sparkling and informative account...The book is accordingly a major contribution to social and legal history of Ireland of this period.--Justice Gerard Hogan "Studies"

Essential reading for an understanding of 1950s Ireland.
--John Bowman "RTE Radio"

About the Author

David Jameson is a Visiting Teaching Fellow in Trinity College Dublin. His most recent article 'Norah Hoult and Temple Lane's Novels of Mixed Marriages in the Early Free State' was published by New Hibernia Review in 2018.