Editing Freeman's Journal

{{Short description|Former newspaper in Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{for multi|the newspaper published in Sydney from 1850–1932 and now published as The Catholic Weekly|The Freeman's Journal (Sydney)|The New York City Catholic newspaper|James McMaster}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox newspaper
| name               = Freeman's Journal
| logo               = FJmasthead.JPG
| type               = Daily newspaper
| format             = [[Broadsheet]]
| founder            = [[Charles Lucas (politician)|Charles Lucas]]
| foundation         = 1763
| ceased publication = 1924
| political          = Moderate Irish nationalist
| headquarters       = 4-6 Princes Street North, Dublin 1 (Destroyed during the Easter Rising)<br />7-8 Townsend Street, Dublin 2<br />27 Westmoreland Street, Dublin 2
| editor             = John Turner Fearon
}}
The '''''Freeman's Journal''''', which was published continuously in [[Dublin]] from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading [[Irish nationalism|nationalist]] newspaper.<ref>{{cite web |title=Freeman's Journal in British Newspaper Archive |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/freemans-journal |via=[[British Newspaper Archive]] |publisher=Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited |access-date=4 August 2018 }}</ref>

==History==
===Patriot journal===
It was founded in 1763 by [[Charles Lucas (politician)|Charles Lucas]] and was identified with radical 18th-century [[Protestant]] [[Irish Patriot Party|patriot]] politicians [[Henry Grattan]] and [[Henry Flood]]. This changed from 1784 when it passed to [[Francis Higgins (1746–1802)|Francis Higgins]] (better known as the "Sham Squire")<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028122152/cu31924028122152_djvu.txt The Sham Squire and the Informer of 1798]</ref><ref>[http://www.libraryireland.com/HistoryIreland/Lord-Edward-Fitzgerald.php Lord Edward Fitzgerald]</ref> and took a more [[Unionism in Ireland|unionist]] and pro-[[Dublin Castle administration]] view. Higgins is mentioned in the Secret Service Money Book as having been paid £1,000 for supplying information which led to [[Lord Edward FitzGerald]]'s arrest.<ref name="Thejournal">{{cite web |url=http://www.thejournal.ie/ria-money-book-dublin-3295528-Mar2017/ |title=The price of betrayal: Who did the British pay for info on Irish rebels and how much did they pay? |newspaper=The Journal |date= March 19, 2017 |author=Rónán Duffy |access-date= March 19, 2017}}</ref>

===Voice of constitutional nationalism===
In the 19th century it became more nationalist in tone, particularly under the control and inspiration of [[John Gray (Irish politician)|Sir John Gray]] (1815–75).

''The Journal'', as it was widely known as, was the leading newspaper in Ireland throughout the 19th century. Contemporary sources record it being read to the largely illiterate population by priests and local teachers gathering in homes. It was mentioned in contemporary literature and was seen as symbolising [[Irish newspapers]] for most of its time. By the 1880s it had become the primary media supporter of [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] and the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] (IPP). The weekend edition of the paper was known as '''''The Weekly Freeman''''', which began featuring large format political cartoons in the 1870s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.princeton.edu/~graphicarts/2010/12/freemans_weekly.html |title=Weekly Freeman Cartoons|first1=Julie L.|last1=Mellby|publisher=[[Princeton University Library]]|date=December 6, 2010}}</ref>

It was challenged on all sides by rivals. On the nationalist side some preferred ''[[The Nation (Irish newspaper)|The Nation]]'' founded by [[Thomas Osborne Davis (Irish politician)|Thomas Davis]] while others, including radical supporters of Parnell, read the ''[[United Irishman]]''. The [[Protestant Ascendancy|Anglo-Irish establishment]] in contrast read the historically [[Unionism (Ireland)|Irish unionist]] ''[[The Irish Times]]''. With the split in the IPP over Parnell's relationship with [[Katharine O'Shea]], its readership split too. While  ''The Journal'' in September 1891<ref>Freeman's Journal 22 September 1891</ref> eventually went with the majority in [[Irish National Federation|opposing Parnell]], a minority moved to read the ''[[Daily Irish Independent]]''. It was also challenged from the turn of the century by [[William O'Brien]]'s ''Irish People'' and the ''[[Cork Free Press]]''. With [[Thomas Sexton (Irish politician)|Thomas Sexton]] becoming Chairman of the Board of Directors (1893–1911),  the Journal languished under his spartanic management.

===Superseded by the ''Irish Independent''===
The collapse of the IPP in 1918, and the electoral success of [[Sinn Féin]], saw a more radical nationalism appear that increasingly was out of step with the moderation of the Journal. The ''[[Irish Independent]]'', the successor to the ''Daily Irish Independent'', was more aggressively marketed. Just prior to the outbreak of the [[Irish Civil War]] in March 1922, the Freeman's Journal printing machinery was destroyed by [[Anti-Treaty IRA]] men under [[Rory O'Connor (Irish republican)|Rory O'Connor]] for its support of the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty]]. It did not resume publication until after the outbreak of civil war, when the Irish Free State re-asserted its authority over the country.

''The Freeman's Journal'' ceased publication in 1924, when it was merged with the ''[[Irish Independent]]''. Until the 1990s, the Irish Independent included the words 'Incorporating the Freeman's Journal' in its mast-head over its editorials.

===Offices===
The newspaper's head office was located at 4-6 Prince Street North until its destruction during the Easter Rising of 1916.

After its destruction, the newspaper refurbished buildings at 6-8 Townsend Street incorporating the former Dublin Coffee Palace however these were ultimately ransacked by anti-treaty forces in March 1922.<ref>{{cite web |title=Townsend Street |url=https://www.dia.ie/works/view/38957/CO.+DUBLIN%2C+DUBLIN%2C+TOWNSEND+STREET%2C+NO.+006+%28FREEMAN%27S+JOURNAL%29 |website=www.dia.ie |access-date=15 July 2024}}</ref>

It also developed other alternative offices at 27 [[Westmoreland Street]] in 1917 while carrying out extensive renovations there in 1921-22.<ref>{{cite web |title=27 Westmoreland Street |url=https://www.dia.ie/works/view/39143/building/CO.+DUBLIN%2C+DUBLIN%2C+WESTMORELAND+STREET%2C+NO.+027+%28FREEMAN%27S+JOURNAL%29 |website=www.dia.ie |access-date=15 July 2024}}</ref>

==In fiction==
[[James Joyce]] drew on his recollection of his visits to the Freeman’s office in 1909 in his novel ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]''. As the place of [[Leopold Bloom]]'s employment, the depiction of the paper's offices in the Aeolus chapter has been deemed "an authentic portrait" at a time when the newspaper was "moribund – the ''Irish Independent'' having supplanted it as the most popular daily newspaper in Dublin." Its decline is reflected in "the anxious question posed in Aeolus about the Freeman’s editor, WH Brayden: 'But can he save the circulation?'"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Larkin |first1=Felix |title=James Joyce's joust with journalism: The Freeman's Journal in Ulysses' Aeolus chapter |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/james-joyce-s-joust-with-journalism-the-freeman-s-journal-in-ulysses-aeolus-chapter-1.3879908 |access-date=11 January 2021 |work=The Irish Times |date=9 May 2019}}</ref>

==Leading proprietors, editors and contributors==

* [[Matthias McDonnell Bodkin]]
* [[Henry Brooke (writer)|Henry Brooke]]
* [[Edward 'Doc' Byrne]]
* [[Wilson Gray]]
* [[John Gray (Irish politician)|Sir John Gray]]
* [[Charles Lucas (politician)|Charles Lucas]]
* [[James Winder Good]]
* [[William O'Brien]]
* [[Thomas Sexton (Irish politician)|Thomas Sexton]]

==See also==
* [[Pádraig Ó Domhnaill]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commonscatinline}}

{{Ireland newspapers}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1763 establishments in Ireland]]
[[Category:1924 disestablishments in Ireland]]
[[Category:Daily newspapers published in Ireland]]
[[Category:Defunct newspapers published in Ireland]]
[[Category:Newspapers published in Ireland]]
[[Category:Publications established in 1763]]
[[Category:Publications disestablished in 1924]]