Letitia Dunbar-Harrison

Letitia Aileen Dunbar-Harrison (born 4 February 1906 in Dublin) was an Irish librarian who became the subject of a controversy. She was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin.

Mayo County Librarian Controversy

In 1930 a vacancy for Mayo county librarian arose and Letitia Dunbar-Harrison was recommended for the role by the Local Appointments Commission. The Library Committee of Mayo County Council refused to endorse the recommendation to Mayo County Council, claiming her grasp of Irish was inadequate and the County Council refused to sanction her nomination and the government dissolved the County Council and replaced it with a Commissioner who appointed Letitia Dunbar-Harrison to the role of county librarian.

Monsignor D'Alton member of the Mayo Co. Co, Library Cpmmittee said "The only outstanding qualification she has is that she is a Protestant and was educated in Trinity College. Are these not peculiar qualifications for a Catholic county like Mayo? 99 percent of the people of Mayo are Catholic."

The Government stood firm, sacked the County Council installed a Manager and had her appointed. However, in the county that gave the word "Boycott" to the language, all but 5 of the 130 Mayo library centres boycotted the new librarian and there was a classic mexican stand-off between central and local Government with the 25year old Letitia caught in the crossfire.

In December 1931, Letitia Dunbar-Harrison was transferred from Castlebar to work for the Department of Defence in Dublin.

Debate about motives for non-appointment

The reason given by the County Council for not appointing her as librarian was her insufficient grasp of Irish:

A certain advertisement was issued by the Local Appointments Commissioners. I am speaking from recollection, as I have not the necessary data at hand, but I am sure that the Minister will be in a position to put me right. The advertisement stipulated that a competent knowledge of Irish was necessary for the position. The resolution refusing to appoint Miss Dunbar as librarian was passed first by the Library Committee. It dealt only with her knowledge of Irish. That resolution subsequently came before the County Council, and was ratified by that body. The resolution dealt with one question only, and that was that Miss Dunbar did not possess a competent knowledge of Irish.

— Michael Davis (Irish politician) Dáil Éireann - Volume 39 - 17 June, 1931

J. J. Lee suggested that the resentment of local people towards the Local Appointments Commission for appointing someone with little or no local connections may also have been a factor, but argued that sectarianism was also involved:

Even local resentment at what was perceived as metropolitan intrusion was not the core of the problem. It was rather than Miss Dunbar-Harrison suffered from the dual stigma of being a Protestant and a graduate of Trinity College Dublin.

— J. J. Lee Ireland, 1912-1985: Politics and Society

He cited one J.T. Morahan who was:

opposed to the appointment of a product of Trinity to the position of Librarian in this County. Trinity culture is not the culture of the Gael; rather it is poison gas to the kindly Celtic people.

— J.T. Morahan Connaught Telegraph, 3 January 1931

Michael D. Higgins also suggested that sectarianism was a factor:

I refer to the case of Miss Dunbar Harrison in Mayo who was appointed by the Local Appointments Commission as a librarian. When she had opted to work in Mayo she was told that 24 out of the 26 members of the library committee would not have her. She was a Protestant and a Trinity graduate. Later someone said that it would be all right if she was handing out books but that she might recommend a book to somebody and no less a person than Mr. de Valera suggested that Mayo people were entitled to have someone they wanted handing books out to children.

— Michael D. Higgins Seanad Éireann Debate, 8 July 1986

Professor John A. Murphy argued that it was a case of local government versus government:

The Taoiseach drew up Mr. de Valera's attitude to the appointment of a librarian in County Mayo. It might be noted for the record that the reason why his political opposite number — I think it was General Mulcahy who was the appropriate Minister at that time — in Cumann na nGaedheal wanted to keep Miss Letitia Dunbar Harrison in office was not because he was somehow inflamed with non-sectarian zeal but because he did not like the action of the Mayo County Council in suspending her. It was a government versus local government dispute rather than anything else.

— Prof John A. Murphy Seanad Éireann Debate, 9 October 1981

After just a few months in her new position, Letitia Aileen married the Rev. Robert Crawford a Methodist Minister whom she met during her time in Castlebar. Ironically, due to the marriage bar, she then had to resign her civil service post and begin a new life as a Methodist Minister's wife.

From then she was known as Aileen Crawford and the couple served on the circuit in many parishes around Ireland in Waterford, Tipperary, Louth and Antrim. They had no children and in the 1950s after Robert Crawford's death she remained in the North never to return to live in the Republic. She was a commited Christian and went on to have at least one other surprising brush with authority.

Soon after the death of her husband she felt called to ministry in the church and controversially attempted to become what would have been the first female Methodist minister in Ireland. At a time when the Church had not legislated for such a novelty. But as there were no regulations to bar her from the ministry she could not be refused but she was failed on one of the required written examinations. Nevertheless, as the first woman to apply for the Ministry she was the catalyst that led the Methodist church in Ireland to consider the issue and change their rules to allow women to become clergy.

Letitia or Aileen continued to contribute hugely to her adopted Methodist Church for many years and died in 1994 aged eighty-eight. (RTE Scannal programme)