General John Regan

The Plot

A Town Where Nothing Ever Happens

Ballymoy is a sleepy little town in the west of Ireland, full of pubs and gossip and not much else. On a sweltering afternoon, Constable Moriarty is dozing through another dull day at the police barrack, and the town's usual dramas are as small as ever. Then a big, expensive motor car rolls into town and everything changes.

Out steps Mr. Horace P. Billing, a wealthy and very enthusiastic American with a camera. He's come to pay his respects to Ballymoy's most famous son, General John Regan, the patriot statesman who liberated Bolivia. He'd like to see the General's statue, please. There's just one problem. There's no statue, and nobody in Ballymoy has ever heard of General John Regan.

A Doctor With Debts and Ideas

Enter Dr. Lucius O'Grady, the town's only physician and its most creative thinker. He has charm and imagination to spare, and he owes money to nearly every shopkeeper in Ballymoy, including more than £60 to Doyle, the shrewd hotel keeper. When O'Grady wanders into town with his friend Major Kent, a retired English officer who's hoping to unload a disappointing new filly on Doyle, he finds Billing in full flow and Doyle and Thady Gallagher, the editor of the local paper, trying very hard not to look ignorant.

O'Grady doesn't miss a beat. Of course Ballymoy remembers the General. How could it forget? And of course a town like this ought to have a proper monument to its hero. Billing seems happy to put real money into honoring his idol, and O'Grady can practically hear the coins jingling.

The Whole Town Gets Involved

Once O'Grady starts the ball rolling, it won't stop. Committees form. The town band gets ideas. Old residents suddenly turn out to have vivid memories of young John Regan. Father McCormack, Sergeant Colgan, the police inspector Gregg, and even Mary Ellen, the hotel's maid of all work, all get swept into the plan. Meanwhile word of the big celebration starts working its way up to Dublin Castle, and O'Grady is aiming much higher than a quiet ceremony in the square.

But every lie needs another lie to hold it up, and Ballymoy is about to find out how big a story can get before it falls apart. Who exactly was General John Regan? Does anybody really know? And with a statue to raise, important guests on the way, and the whole town in on the act, can O'Grady keep all the plates spinning long enough to pull it off?

About the Author: George A. Birmingham

A Belfast Childhood

George A. Birmingham was the pen name of James Owen Hannay, novelist and Church of Ireland clergyman, born 16 July 1865 in Belfast, son of Robert Hannay, Church of Ireland rector of St Anne's, Belfast. He had a strongly evangelical upbringing, and the contrast between the total ban on theatre-going in the Belfast of his youth and his later work as a dramatist was often remarked on. He fell in love with sailing early, and was taught the basics by his father and grandfather in Belfast.

Education and the Church

He was educated at Haileybury School in Hertfordshire and at Trinity College Dublin, where he graduated in 1886. He was ordained deacon in 1888 and became curate of Delgany, Co. Wicklow. In 1889 he received priest's orders and married his third cousin Adelaide Susan Wynne, whom he said he'd loved at first sight. The marriage was a happy one, with two sons and two daughters, and Hannay dedicated many of his books to her.

The Westport Years

In 1892 he became rector of Westport, Co. Mayo, looking after five small and remote congregations. He wrote widely for papers like the Westminster Gazette about conditions in the west of Ireland, and he also supported votes for women. He was a strong supporter of Home Rule, and his friends included Horace Plunkett, Arthur Griffith, Standish O'Grady, and Douglas Hyde. His comic novels made him famous, and the money from his writing let him buy a boat, a Dublin Bay Water Wag.

War and Wandering

After leaving Westport in 1913, Hannay served as a chaplain in France and Flanders during the First World War, and was rector in Co. Kildare from 1918 to 1920. After serving as chaplain to the Viceroy of Ireland, he joined the British embassy staff in Budapest in 1922.

Final Years

He served at Mells, Somerset from 1924 to 1934, and then became vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Kensington, London, where he stayed for the rest of his life, carrying on his parish work right through the Blitz. He made his last visit to Ireland in 1946 to accept an honorary doctorate, and he died in London on 2 February 1950, having written dozens of novels along the way.

Fun Facts About the Book

The Play Came First

General John Regan started out as a stage comedy, and this book is the author's novelization of his hugely successful play, which had premiered at the Apollo Theatre in London on 8 January 1913. The novel came out later that same year from Hodder and Stoughton.

A Dedication to the Star

The novel is dedicated to Charles H. Hawtrey "in memory of times that were very pleasant to me." That's because in the London production, Hawtrey both directed and played Dr. Lucius O'Grady. Hawtrey was regarded as Britain's leading comedy actor of his generation and was a mentor to younger actors like Noël Coward.

A Breakout Role

Cathleen Nesbitt played her first leading part as Mary Ellen, the Irish maid of all work, and was very well received.

Broadway Bound

The comedy crossed the Atlantic fast. Its American premiere was at the Hudson Theatre in New York on 13 November 1913.

Old Friends Return

Readers of Birmingham's earlier books would have recognized a lot of faces here. Major Kent had already appeared in Spanish Gold, and a reviewer of The Major's Niece praised its comic portraits of Dr. O'Grady, Doyle the dishonest hotel keeper, Major Kent, and Thady Gallagher, the editor of the local paper. Dr. O'Grady has even been described as Birmingham's fictional alter ego.

A Real Liberator Behind the Fake One

The play's South American liberator was closely modelled on Bernardo O'Higgins, the real Chilean independence leader of Irish descent.

The Westport Riot

The book's comedy hit a little too close to home. On February 4, 1914, a performance of the play in Westport, County Mayo, was stopped during the second act when angry protesters stormed the stage. Four hundred people attacked the company, broke the hotel's windows, stormed the stage, and smashed the scenery before police broke them up with batons. The trouble came from the belief that Ballymoy, where the play is set, was really Westport. It took the parish priest, Father Canavan, pleading with the crowd to finally end the riot.

The Cost to the Author

The fallout followed Hannay for a long time. He withdrew from the Gaelic League after ongoing protests about the touring play.

Themes

The Power of a Good Story

The whole town runs on a story nobody can check. The book has a lot of fun with how fast a rumor turns into "history" once enough people have a reason to believe it, and how easily people start "remembering" things that suit them.

Small Town Ambition

Ballymoy is overlooked, a bit shabby, and badly in need of excitement and cash. The statue scheme gives everyone a chance to feel important, from the hotel keeper to the newspaper editor to the local band. Birmingham pokes fun at local pride, but with real affection for the people caught up in it.

Money and Opportunity

Nearly everybody in the book has an angle. O'Grady is up to his neck in debt, Doyle has an eye for profit in everything, and Major Kent is trying to dodge a bad horse deal. The comedy comes from watching all these little schemes knock into each other.

Politics, Irish Style

With Home Rule, Dublin Castle, the police, and the local nationalist press all in the mix, the book gently mocks the noisy politics of pre-independence Ireland. Everyone has a position, and everyone's happy to change it if the occasion calls for it.

Outsiders and Insiders

An eager American visitor and a quiet English major watch the locals at work, and the gap between what outsiders expect of Ireland and what the Irish are happy to give them is a big part of the joke.

The Book's Legacy

General John Regan was one of the biggest hits of George A. Birmingham's career. A London theatre history calls the play "a delightful piece, full of humour", and it got good reviews and made money.

Its reputation was also shaped by the uproar it caused. The Westport riot has been called the most violent Irish theatrical confrontation of the century, which puts this light comedy in the same conversation as Synge's The Playboy of the Western World and O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars.

The story moved to the screen twice. A silent film version came out in 1921, and a sound version followed in 1933 starring Henry Edwards and Chrissie White.

Today it's a fun way into the gentle, mischievous Irish comedy Birmingham was famous for. If you enjoy small-town schemes, lovable con artists, and a whole community talking itself into something ridiculous, Ballymoy is well worth a visit.