Editing John MacBride (section)

==Marriage to Maud Gonne==
When MacBride became a citizen of the Transvaal, the British Government considered that, as a [[British subject]] 
of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]], MacBride had committed [[high treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]] by giving aid to the enemy.<ref name=nli/> After the war he travelled to Paris where [[Maud Gonne]] lived. In 1903, he married her to the disapproval of many, including [[W. B. Yeats]], who considered her his muse and had previously proposed to her.

Patrick J. Little, editor of 'New Ireland', who had published work by both Yeats and Gonne, recalled an extreme case that almost prevented the marriage:<ref name="Patrick J. Little, WS1769, 1959">{{cite web |last1=Little |first1=Patrick J. |title=Witness Statement WS1769, 25 March 1959 |url=http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS1769.pdf#page=61 |website=Military Archives |publisher=Bureau of Military History |access-date=24 September 2020 |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923000507/http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS1769.pdf#page=61 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{Quote|When John McBride became engaged to Maud Gonne, Stephen McKenna made the remark that he thought that it was a tragedy that such a remarkable woman should get engaged to such a rolling stone. This story was reversed, and repeated to McBride, who challenged Stephen McKenna to fight a duel. Stephen, who was always prepared to oblige anybody, accepted the challenge, and they met in a large room, in the offices of the New York 'Sun'. The weapons were revolvers. Just before they started shooting, Stephen asked McBride what the duel was about, and McBride said that he had been told that Stephen McKenna had said that it was a shame that such an honest man as McBride should marry such a person as Maud Gonne.  Stephen said, "Quite the contrary. What I said was, it was a shame that such a turbulent rascal should marry such a splendid woman" And Seán McBride said, "Shake hands, old man!"}}
The following year their son [[Seán MacBride]] was born. Yeats wrote to Lady Gregory in January 1905, the month MacBride and Maud separated, that he had been told MacBride had molested his stepdaughter, [[Iseult Gonne|Iseult]], who was 10 at that time.<ref>Sinead McCoole, "No Ordinary Women" (Dublin 2012), biographies</ref>{{Page needed|date=January 2020}} The marriage had already failed but the couple could not agree on custody of Sean. Maud instituted divorce proceedings in Paris. No divorce was given but in a separation agreement, Maud won custody to the baby until age 12. The father got visiting rights and one month each summer. MacBride returned to Dublin and never saw his son again.<ref>Jordan Anthony J.  ''The Yeats Gonne MacBride Triangle'' (Westport Books 2000) pp.&nbsp;49–104</ref>
[[Anthony J. Jordan]] argues that MacBride was a much-maligned man in the divorce proceedings. He posits that on the merit of W. B. Yeats believing Maud Gonne's accusations against her husband, successive biographers of Yeats have treated them as factual, ignoring the verdict of the Parisian Divorce Court which found MacBride innocent. Dr. Caoimhe Nic Dhaibhid writes that "The target of Jordan's argument has been a number of biographies of W. B. Yeats, particularly Roy Foster's landmark 1997". She appears to endorse Jordan's position.<ref>''Irish Historical Studies'' no 140. November 2010 Caoimhe Nic Dhaibhid "The breakdown of the MacBride-Gonne marriage 1904-08" No. 144 November 2010</ref> Donal Fallon, MacBride's recent biographer, quotes the poet Paul Durcan, the grandson of Joseph MacBride and Eileen Wilson, as believing that MacBride "was unquestionably defamed" and lays much of the blame on the "people in the Yeats-Maud Gonne Industry".{{sfn|Fallon|2015|p=174}}

About forty years after the marriage had ended, Maud herself attributed the breakdown of the marriage to John's loneliness and a drink problem in Paris, during her frequent trips to Ireland without him.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gonne McBride |first1=Maud |title=Witness Statement WS317 |url=http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0317.pdf#page=18 |website=Military Archives |publisher=Bureau of Military History |access-date=24 September 2020 |archive-date=8 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508011502/http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0317.pdf#page=18 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{Quote|We had a house in Passy and John worked as Secretary to Victor Collins who earned a large salary as correspondent to the New York Sun and Laffan's Bureau, a fairly important newsagency in New York. Despite my warning John became the inseparable companion of Collins, who introduced him to a rather undesirable drinking set who usually foregathered in the American Bar. He had an unhappy life in Paris. He did not know a word of French and must often have been very lonely, as my work kept me much in Ireland.}}