In Memoriam
He was widely acknowledged as the leading constitutional nationalist of his generation. But the radicalization of Irish politics and the denunciation of the men and women who had supported home rule and the war effort ensured that his fame faded together with the primacy of the constitutional agenda. An attempt to erect a commemorative portrait bust of Kettle was beset by controversy until it was finally placed – without official unveiling – in St. Stephen's Green Dublin. His name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial in France, a stone tablet commemorates him in the Island of Ireland Peace Park, Messines, Belgium, and he is listed on the bronze plaque in the Four Courts Dublin which commemorates the 26 Irish barristers killed in the Great War. Recently, the Literary and Historical Society (University College Dublin) have commenced an annual wreath laying ceremony to remember their fallen auditor.
At the time of his death a beautiful tribute to him appeared in the French journal L’Opinion, saying:
| “ | All parties bowed in sorrow over his grave, for in the last analysis they were all Irish, and they knew that in losing him, whether he was friend or enemy, they had lost a true son of Ireland. A son of Ireland? He was more. He was Ireland! He had fought for all the aspirations of his race, for Independence, for Home Rule, for the Celtic Renaissance, for a United Ireland, for the eternal Cause of Humanity . . . He died, a hero in the uniform of a British soldier, because he knew that the faults of a period or of a man should not prevail against the cause of right or liberty. | ” |
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