Augustine Roche (1849 – 7 December 1915) was an

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish national ...

politician from

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) from 1905 to 1910, and from 1911 until his death.

Early life

Roche was born Michael Augustine Roche, to Michael Roche of Cork. He was educated privately.

Career

He became head of the firm of A. Roche and Co., wine merchants with premises at 40, King Street (now Mac Curtain Street) Cork. He lived at 73 Douglas Street and was elected to Cork Corporation in 1883 and held the position of Mayor of Cork in 1893 and 1894 and Lord Mayor of Cork in 1904. He was the only person to hold the positions of both Mayor and Lord Mayor of Cork. He was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and elected

Sheriff of Cork City The sheriff ( ga, sirriam) of the City of Cork is the court officer responsible for the enforcement of civil judgments in Cork county borough. The current sheriff is a solicitor, Martin A Harvey. Sheriffs earn their fees from poundage (commissi ...

for 1902. During his year in office as Sheriff, he visited

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

to present to the Berlin Rowing club a silver cup subscribed for by the citizens of Cork as a recognition of their performance in an international competition held in Cork earlier that year.

Political career

He first stood for election to the

United Kingdom House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

as a

Parnellite The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League h ...

candidate at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in June 1895 for Cork City constituency, where

William O'Brien William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of ...

MP had resigned his seat. He was narrowly defeated in the by-election by the Anti-Parnellite

Irish National Federation The Irish National Federation (INF) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded in 1891 by former members of the Irish National League (INL), after a split in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) on the leadership of Charles S ...

candidate J. F. X. O'Brien, and lost again at the general election in July 1895, when both of Cork City's two seats were won by Anti-Parnellites. After that second defeat, he did not stand again until J. F. X. O'Brien died in May 1905, and at the resulting by-election on 14 June he was returned unopposed for the

, the two sides having reunited in 1900. He was re-elected unopposed at the 1906 general election. He held the seat again in January 1910, against a strong challenge from the

All-for-Ireland League The All-for-Ireland League (AFIL) was an Irish, Munster-based political party (1909–1918). Founded by William O'Brien MP, it generated a new national movement to achieve agreement between the different parties concerned on the historically d ...

, whose leader

took one of the two seats. The League had split its vote in January by fielding three candidates in Cork, but at the next general election, in December 1910, their two candidates took both seats. However, the winner of the December 1910 election in North Louth,

Richard Hazleton Richard Hazleton (5 December 1879 – 26 January 1943) was an Irish nationalist politician of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for North Galway from 1906 to 1918, taking his seat in the House of Commons of the Unit ...

, had been unseated after an electoral petition, and Roche was elected unopposed at the resulting by-election on 15 March 1911.Walker, op. cit., page 182 He held the seat until his death in December 1915, aged about 66.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Augustine 1849 births 1915 deaths UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Lord Mayors of Cork Sheriffs of Cork (city) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Cork City Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Louth constituencies (1801–1922)