John Loader Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby (1 July 1877 – 20 April 1969), was a British civil servant and diplomat who was a key figure in British–Irish relations during the Second World War.
Contents
Biography
Early life
John Loader Maffey was born on 1 July 1877 in Rugby, Warwickshire, the younger son of Thomas Maffey, a commercial traveller, and Mary Penelope Loader. He was educated at Rugby School and Christ Church, Oxford.
Career
Maffey entered the Indian Civil Service in 1899, and served as Assistant Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of North-West Frontier Province from 1912 to 1916 and then as Private Secretary to the Viceroy of India Lord Chelmsford from 1916 to 1920 and then Chief Commissioner of the North-West Frontier Province from 1921 to 1924. He was appointed CSI in the 1920 Birthday Honours. He was attached to Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught during his visit to India. For his services he was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in February 1921. After a disagreement with the British government in 1924, Maffey resigned from the Indian Civil Service. In 1926 he became Governor-General of Sudan, followed in 1933 by his appointment as Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Representative to Ireland
On 14 September 1939, two weeks after the outbreak of World War II, Maffey arrived in Dublin to discuss the possibility of the United Kingdom appointing a British representative to Ireland. Later, following a discussion at the British War Cabinet, Maffey was sent back to Dublin again with a letter from Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appealing once again for the appointment of a 'representative'. The United Kingdom would not agree to appoint an ambassador or a minister, because it would imply that Ireland was a foreign country outside the Commonwealth. On the other hand, Ireland would not agree to the appointment of a High Commissioner to Ireland because that would imply that Ireland was in the Commonwealth which the Irish government did not accept. As a compromise, Chamberlain proposed the title "United Kingdom Representative in Éire", but Taoiseach Éamon de Valera rejected this, insisting that the word 'in' be replaced with 'to'. And so "United Kingdom Representative to Éire" was agreed upon and Maffey was appointed on 3 October 1939. For de Valera, the change signified Ireland's independence, sovereignty and equality with the United Kingdom.
Chamberlain remarked that the title would "seem to be well suited to an appointment such as this which is essentially an emergency arrangement intended to meet a temporary but urgent situation". After Maffey took up his appointment as "Representative", there were reports that the Irish Republican Army might abduct or kill him.
Maffey held the post throughout the war years and until his retirement in 1949. During the war, he was undoubtedly the most important foreign diplomat resident in Dublin, given the complications of Ireland's neutrality policy. As "United Kingdom Representative to Eire", Maffey quickly established a good working relationship with Éamon de Valera. De Valera was personally in favour of the survival of democracy but did not necessarily trust the British to look after Ireland's best interests. Maffey was vital in mediating between the 'Warlord' Churchill and 'the Chief' de Valera.
When de Valera was replaced by a coalition, headed by John A. Costello, in 1948, Maffey again established a good working relationship with its members, but he was scathing about the clumsy manner in which the declaration of a Republic was handled: "Mr. Costello has handled the business in a slipshod and amateur fashion".
Family
On 28 August 1907, Maffey married Dorothy Gladys Huggins. They had three children: Alan, Henry, and Penelope. Alan succeeded his father as Baron Rugby. Penelope married the war hero and Tory MP Sir William Aitken, and became a well-known socialite. She was the mother of the former Conservative politician Jonathan Aitken and the actress Maria Aitken. Her grandchildren include actor Jack Davenport.
Lord Rugby died at his home on 8 Flixton Road, Bungay, on 20 April 1969 at the age of 91.
Popular culture
Maffey was played by Peter Copley in the 1983 RTÉ drama series Caught in a Free State.
He is a minor character in the 2010 novel Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard.