New book on William Massey to be launched in Coleraine

Dr James Watson, Head of the School of History at Massey University in New Zealand, will deliver a short lecture on William Massey in a reception to be held in the Senior Common Room at the University of Ulster Coleraine campus on Thursday evening.

Leader of the Reform Party, Massey was the only representative at the Paris Peace conferences after the First World War.

Born in Limavady he was raised in New Zealand and is commemorated by a statue in his honour outside the Council Offices on Connell Street in the town.

He was the son of a Protestant farming family and emigrated to New Zealand in 1870 to join his parents who had emigrated there eight years earlier.

Dr James Watson's book sheds new light on Massey's significant international role during those Paris peace talks following the end of the First World War.

The volume is one of 32 in the series 'Makers of the Modern World', which describe the personalities, events and

circumstances surrounding the countries that were remade after the Paris treaties.

Dr Watson describes the journey of New Zealand from an enthusiastic component of the British Empire to its position as a full-fledged country, along with the other dominions.

Along the way, New Zealand contributed significantly to the British war effort, fought for recognition of its contribution, and eventually became a founding member of the League of Nations.

Massey's faith in Empire was so strong that in his later years he could not accept any suggestions that British forces had mistreated Irish soldiers and took it personally when Smuts called Ireland "a stain upon the Empire".

At the Paris peace conference in 1918 he argued for practical rather than paper protection against any future

German aggression, wanted a strong and united Empire, and had strong reservations about US President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, not least his call for "freedom of the seas".

He felt not only that "Germany will come again", but also there was an absence of remorse and he had little faith in the regeneration of Germany. Within New Zealand, he saw all Germans as spies.

Professor Alan Sharp, former Provost of the Coleraine campus is the book's Series Editor. Dr Watson will also be joined by two other local authors in the Makers of the Modern World series, published by Haus Publishing, Professor Tom Fraser, Former Head of the School of History Philosophy and Politics and Dr Robert McNamara, Lecturer in International History.

Councillor Norman Hillis, Mayor of Coleraine will also be a special guest at the reception and lecture.