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Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to the memory of my late father Donard McGee, a musician and bank official who first stimulated my interest in history. Shortly before he died, he encouraged me to complete this book while he also left to me his histories of the banking and transport industries. This book was written over a three-year period. It was not possible for me to find academic support specifically for the idea of researching and writing a biography of Griffith but during 2008 a fellowship held at the National Library of Ireland gave me an opportunity to work with records that related directly to Griffith’s later career and thus an interest in pursuing the idea, first entertained during 2006, was possible to sustain. I wish to thank Lisa Hyde of Merrion Press, who suggested the idea of a Griffith biography to me many years ago, as well as her publisher Conor Graham, for being willing to publish my book and for producing such a handsome volume. Thanks are also due to the Director of the National Archives of Ireland, UCD Archives and the UCD–OFM Partnership, the Parliamentary Archives (UK), Churchill Archives Centre, Westminster Diocesan Archives and the manuscripts department of the National Library of Ireland for permission to quote from manuscripts in their possession. Thanks are also due to the National Library for permission to reproduce several of the illustrations that feature in this book.