Gaffney, Thomas St. John (1864-1945), Consul General of the United States and president of the Patriotic League of America

Thomas St. John Gaffney was born in Limerick on 71 May 1864 to Thomas Gaffney and Agnes Mary née Clune. He emigrated to America at the age of 18 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1889. He became a naturalized American citizen and in 1897 was elected president of the Patriotic League of America. He was appointed Consul General for Dresden in 1905 and that of Munich in 1913, but was forced to resign in 1915 following his open support for Germany during the First World War. In 1916 he was appointed European representative of the American organisation Friends of Irish Freedom. During his time in Germany, Gaffney befriended Roger Casement and provided scathing criticism of Casement's treatment in his memoir Breaking the Silence: England, Ireland, Wilson and the War. Gaffney married Frances Humphreys née Smith, widow of Jay Humphreys in 1894. He died in Summit, New Jersey on 13 January 1945.