The Tilson Case: Church and State in 1950s' Ireland

David Jameson's The Tilson Case: Church and State in 1950s' Ireland tells the story of one the most extraordinary causes celebre 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 Dun 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.

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.

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