The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt (6 September 1813 – 5 May 1879) was an Irish barrister, editor, politician, Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, economist and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist part ...
, the leader of the
Nationalist Party, replacing the
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...
, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist
Members 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 ...
(MPs) elected to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
at
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...
up until 1918. Its central objectives were legislative independence for Ireland and land reform. Its constitutional movement was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Irish self-government through three
Irish Home Rule bills
The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the e ...
.
Origins
The IPP evolved out of the
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...
which
Isaac Butt
Isaac Butt (6 September 1813 – 5 May 1879) was an Irish barrister, editor, politician, Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, economist and the founder and first leader of a number of Irish nationalist part ...
founded after he defected from the
Irish Conservative Party
The Irish Conservative Party, often called the Irish Tories, was one of the dominant Irish political parties in Ireland in the 19th century. It was affiliated with the Conservative Party in Great Britain. Throughout much of the century it and th ...
in 1873. The League sought to gain a limited form of freedom from
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
in order to manage Irish domestic affairs in the interest of the Protestant landlord class. It was inspired by the 1868 election of
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
and his
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
under the slogan ''Justice for Ireland'', and by Irish Liberals' gain of 65 of the 105 Irish seats at Westminster. Gladstone said his mission was to pacify Ireland and with the
Irish Church Act 1869
The Irish Church Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which separated the Church of Ireland from the Church of England and disestablished the former, a body that commanded the adherence of a small min ...
began with the
disestablishment of the
Anglican Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...
whose members were a minority who made all political decisions in Ireland and would have largely voted
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
. He also introduced his first land bill which led to the
First Irish Land Act 1870
The Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 46) was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1870.
Background
Between the Acts of Union 1800 and 1870, Parliament had passed many Acts dealing with Irish land, but ...
, implementing limited ''tenant rights'', thereby impinging on the powers of the Irish landlords to indiscriminately evict tenant farmers. At first the Catholic hierarchy supported Gladstone supervising Irish affairs, hoping to gain financial aid for a Catholic University. But his educational programme of 1873 did not provide for a denominational university.
The
Home Government Association
The Home Government Association was a pressure group launched by Isaac Butt in support of home rule for Ireland at a meeting in Bilton's Hotel, Dublin, on 19 May 1870.
The meeting was attended or supported by sixty-one people of different politi ...
adopted educational issues and land reform into its programme, the hierarchy then favouring a Dublin-based parliament. The increasing Catholic numbers within the association frightened off its Protestant, landlord element. The association was dissolved and Butt replaced it with the
Home Rule League
The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...
, formed after a conference in Dublin in November 1873. Gladstone unexpectedly called a new
general election in 1874, which helped bring the League to the foreground. Since 1872 the
Secret Ballots Act had been introduced, so that voting was to be done secretly for the first time from then on. The League put denominational education, land reform and release of political prisoners at the centre of the movement. It had difficulty finding reliable candidates to support its Home Rule issue, though succeeded in winning sixty Irish seats, many with ex-Liberals.
History
Party inaugurated
After the 1874 general election, forty-six members assembled in Dublin and organised themselves into a separate Irish parliamentary party in the Commons.
The political outlook appeared encouraging at first, but the party was unable to achieve anything, the Liberals and Gladstone having lost the election. Isaac Butt made some well-received speeches but failed to persuade any of the major parties to support bills beneficial to Ireland, nothing worthwhile reaching the statute books.
A minor group of impatient young Irish members, the genuine "Home-Rulers" distanced themselves from Butt's lack of assertiveness and, led by
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
,
Joseph Biggar
Joseph Gillis Biggar (c. 1828 – 19 February 1890), commonly known as Joe Biggar D.D. Sheehan, Ireland Since Parnell', London: Daniel O'Connor, 1921. or J. G. Biggar, was an Irish nationalist politician from Belfast. He served as an MP in the ...
,
John O'Connor Power,
Edmund Dwyer Gray,
Frank Hugh O'Donnell
Frank Hugh O'Donnell (also Frank Hugh O'Cahan O'Donnell), born Francis Hugh MacDonald (9 October 1846 – 2 November 1916) was an Irish writer, journalist and nationalist politician.
Early life
O'Donnell was born in an army barracks in Devon, E ...
and
John Dillon
John Dillon (4 September 1851 – 4 August 1927) was an Irish politician from Dublin, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. By political disposition Dillon was an a ...
, some of whom had close connections with the
Fenian
The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
movement, adopted the method of parliamentary "
obstructionism
Obstructionism is the practice of deliberately delaying or preventing a process or change, especially in politics.
As workplace aggression
An obstructionist causes problems. Neuman and Baron (1998) identify obstructionism as one of the three dim ...
" during 1876–1877, to bring Westminster out of its complacency towards Ireland by proposing amendments to almost every bill and making lengthy overnight speeches. This did not bring Home Rule closer, but helped to revitalise the Irish party. Butt considered obstructionism a threat to democracy; in practice, its greatest achievement was to help bring Parnell to the fore of the political scene. An internal struggle began between Butt's majority and Parnell's minority leading to a rift in the party; Parnell determined to obtain control of the Home Rule League.
Land-war mainspring
Parnell first worked successfully to have
Fenians freed who missed out on Gladstone's earlier amnesty, including
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt (25 March 184630 May 1906) was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his caree ...
. After his release in 1877, Davitt travelled to
America to meet
John Devoy
John Devoy ( ga, Seán Ó DubhuÃ, ; 3 September 1842 – 29 September 1928) was an Irish republican rebel and journalist who owned and edited '' The Gaelic American'', a New York weekly newspaper, from 1903 to 1928.
Devoy dedicated over ...
, the leading
Irish-American
, image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png
, image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state
, caption = Notable Irish Americans
, population =
36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...
Fenian and raise funds. During 1878 Parnell also met with leading members of the Irish American Fenians. In October Devoy agreed to a
New Departure of separating militancy from the constitutional movement in order to further its path to Home Rule. Throughout 1879 Parnell continued to campaign for land reform and when Davitt founded the
Irish National Land League
The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...
in October 1879 Parnell was elected president, but did not take control of it, favouring to continue to hold mass meetings. Isaac Butt died later that year and Parnell held back in grabbing control of the party. Instead he travelled to America with
John Dillon
John Dillon (4 September 1851 – 4 August 1927) was an Irish politician from Dublin, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. By political disposition Dillon was an a ...
on a fund raising mission for political purposes and to relieve distress in Ireland after a world economic depression slumped the sale of agricultural produce.
At the
general election of April 1880, sixty-four Home Rulers were elected, twenty-seven Parnell supporters, facilitating in May his nomination as leader of a divided Home Rule Party and of a country on the brink of a land war. He immediately understood that supporting land agitation was a means to achieving his objective of self-government. The
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
under
Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...
had been defeated in the election and Gladstone was again Prime Minister. He attempted to defuse the land question with the ''dual ownership''
Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 which failed to eliminate tenant evictions. Parnell and his party lieutenants,
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 o ...
, John Dillon, Michael Davitt,
Willie Redmond
William Hoey Kearney Redmond (13 April 1861 – 7 June 1917) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP), was a lawyer and soldier Denman, Terence in: McGuire, James and Quinn, James (eds): ''Dictionary of Iris ...
, went into a bitter verbal offensive and were imprisoned in October 1881 under the
Irish Coercion Act
A Coercion Act was an Act of Parliament that gave a legal basis for increased state powers to suppress popular discontent and disorder. The label was applied, especially in Ireland, to acts passed from the 18th to the early 20th century by the I ...
in
Kilmainham Jail
Kilmainham Gaol ( ga, PrÃosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leade ...
for "sabotaging the Land Act", from where the ''
No Rent Manifesto
The No Rent Manifesto was a document issued in Ireland on 18 October 1881, by imprisoned leaders of the Irish National Land League calling for a campaign of passive resistance by the entire population of small tenant farmers, by withholding rents ...
'' was issued calling for a national tenant farmer
rent strike
A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This ca ...
which was partially followed. Although the League discouraged violence, agrarian crimes increased widely.
Truce and treaty
![Charles Stewart Parnell - Brady-Handy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Charles_Stewart_Parnell_-_Brady-Handy.jpg)
In April 1882 Parnell moved to make a deal with the government. The settlement involved withdrawing the manifesto and undertaking to move against agrarian crime, seeing militancy would never win Home Rule. The so-called ''
Kilmainham Treaty'', a truce not dissimilar to truces to follow, marked a critical turning point in Parnell's leadership, though it resulted in losing the support of Devoy's American-Irish. However, his political diplomacy preserved the national Home Rule movement after the
Phoenix Park Murders
The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland and Burke was the Permanen ...
in May of the
Chief Secretary for Ireland and his Under Secretary. For the next twenty years Fenians and physical-force militancy ceased to play a role in Irish politics.
With the Land League suppressed and internally fracturing, Parnell resurrected it in October as the
Irish National League
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 ...
(INL). It combined moderate agrarianism, a Home Rule programme with electoral functions. It was hierarchical and autocratic in structure with Parnell wielding immense authority and direct parliamentary control. Parliamentary constitutionalism was the future path. The informal alliance between the new, tightly disciplined National League and the Catholic Church was one of the main factors for the revitalisation of the national Home Rule cause after 1882. Parnell saw that the explicit endorsement of Catholicism was of vital importance to the success of this venture. At the end of 1882 the organisation already had 232 branches, in 1885 increased to 592 branches. He left the day-to-day running of the League in the hands of his lieutenants
Timothy Harrington
Timothy Charles Harrington (1851 – 12 March 1910), born in Castletownbere, County Cork, was an Irish journalist, barrister, nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain ...
as Secretary, William O’Brien editor of its newspaper ''United Ireland'' and
Timothy Healy.
Parnellism reigns
Parnell's new Irish Parliamentary Party emerged swiftly as a tightly disciplined—one author described it as "a regiment led by C. S. Parnell and by Michael Davitt" and on the whole, energetic body of parliamentarians with strict rules. The inauguration of the 'party pledge' in 1884 decisively reinforced that each member was required to sit, act and vote with the party, one of the first instances of a
whip (
Richard Power) in western politics. The members were also paid stipends, or expense allowances from party funds, which helped both to increase parliamentary turnout and enabled middle-class members such as William O'Brien or later
D. D. Sheehan attend parliament, long before other MPs first received state pay in 1911. The profiles of the 105 Irish MPs had changed considerably since 1868 when 69% were landlords or landlords' sons, reduced to 47% by 1874. Those with professional backgrounds increased from 10% to 23% in the same period, by the early 1890s professionals exceeding 50%.
Now at his height Parnell pressed Gladstone to resolve the
Irish Question
The Irish question was the issue debated primarily among the British government from the early 19th century until the 1920s of how to respond to Irish nationalism and the calls for Irish independence.
The phrase came to prominence as a result ...
with Home Rule, but the Liberals were divided. Parnell then sided with the Conservatives. Gladstone's second government fell, and Lord Salisbury's Conservatives formed an administration. Both parties now courted Parnell.
The result of Parnell's reforms and reorganisation were fully reflected in the
general election of November–December 1885. This election was the first to be fought under the extended suffrage of the
1884 Reform Act. The Reform Act had increased from 220,000 to 500,000 the number of Irishmen who had a right to vote, many of whom were small farmers. The election increased the total Irish Party representation from sixty three to eighty-five seats, which included seventeen in Ulster. In January 1886 the INL had developed to 1,262 branches and could claim to contain the vast body of Irish Catholic public sentiment. It acted not merely as an electoral committee for the Irish Party, but as local law-giver, unofficial parliament, government, police and supreme court. Parnell's personal authority in the organisation was enormous. The INL was a formidable political machine built in the traditional political culture of rural Ireland. It was an alliance of tenant-farmers, shopkeepers and publicans. No one could stand against it.
The party even secured a seat in the English city of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, which contains a large Irish Catholic community.
T. P. O'Connor
Thomas Power O'Connor (5 October 1848 – 18 November 1929), known as T. P. O'Connor and occasionally as Tay Pay (mimicking his own pronunciation of the initials ''T. P.''), was an Irish nationalist politician and journalist who served as a ...
won the
Liverpool Scotland seat in 1885 and retained it in every election until his death in 1929 – even after the demise of the actual party (O'Connor being returned unopposed in the elections of 1918, 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1929).
The IPP emerged from the
1885 general election holding the balance of power. The Liberals had won 335 seats, but the IPP's 86 seats were enough to keep the 249 Conservatives in power for the time being.
Home Rule delayed
Early in 1886, Gladstone declared himself in favour of Home Rule. Parnell's party changed sides, allowing Gladstone to form his third government. Gladstone introduced the first
Home Rule Bill 1886 and, after a long and fierce debate, made a remarkable
Home Rule Speech, beseeching parliament to pass the bill which was, however, defeated by 341 to 311 votes. The Bill caused serious
riots in Belfast during the summer and autumn of 1886, in which many were killed.
Since 1882, Parnell's successful drive for Home Rule created great anxiety amongst Protestants and
Unionists north and south alike, fearing
Catholic intolerance from a nationalist parliament in Dublin under their control would impose tariffs on industry. While most of Ireland was primarily agricultural, six of the counties in
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
were the location of heavy industry and would be affected by any tariff barriers imposed. It resulted in the revival of the
Orange Order to resist Home Rule and the forming of an
Irish Unionist Party. With the Conservatives playing the "Ulster card", and sections of the Liberal faction voting against the bill, Gladstone hinted that eventually a separate solution for Ulster might need to be sought. His observation echoed far into the next century.
The Liberal Party split on the issue of Irish Home Rule. With the defeat of his Home Rule bill, Gladstone was granted a
general election for July 1886, the result swinging in the other direction. The Conservatives were the largest party and were able to form a minority government with the loose support of the Liberal faction opposed to Home Rule, the
Liberal Unionist Party.
The Irish Party retained 85 seats and, in the years up to 1889, centred itself around the formidable figure of Parnell, who continued to pursue Home Rule, striving to reassure English voters that it would be of no threat to them. During that period, the National League was out of contact with him and primarily concerned with its own vested interests, keeping up local agitation during the
Plan of Campaign
The Plan of Campaign was a stratagem adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, co-ordinated by Irish politicians for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee and rack-rent landlords. It was launched to counter agricultural distres ...
to further the not-fully-resolved land question, and leading Liberal voters to slowly increase their support for Home Rule.
Zenith eclipse
Parnell successfully exposed an attempt to use the forged
Pigott Papers to associate him and his party with crime and violence; he was vindicated in February 1890. Gladstone invited Parnell to his country house (
Hawarden
Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name had ...
in
Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms of Flint ...
) to discuss a renewed Home Rule bill. This was the high point of Parnell's career. However, since 1880 he had had a family relationship with a married woman
Katharine O'Shea who bore him three children. Her divorce proceedings first came to court late in 1890, in which Parnell was named co-respondent. This was a political scandal for English
Victorian society
The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...
. Gladstone reacted by informing Parnell that if he were re-elected leader of the Irish Party, Home Rule would be withdrawn. Parnell did not disclose this to his party and was selected leader on 25 November.
A special meeting of the party a week later lasted six days at the end of which 45 "anti-Parnellites" walked out, leaving him with 27 faithful followers,
J. J. Clancy one of his key defenders. Both sides returned to Ireland to organise their supporters into two parties, the former Parnellite
Irish National League
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 ...
(INL) under
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) from ...
and John Dillon's 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 ...
(INF). By-elections in 1891 were fought with bitter venom by the INF anti-Parnellites, Dillon and Healy making extremely personal attacks on Parnell. The INF was also supported by the Catholic clergy who went to aggressive extremes to ensure that INF candidates were returned.
Parnell worked untiringly between Ireland and Britain making speeches for support which he actually got from the (IRB) Fenians who rallied to him. He was married in June 1891 to Mrs O'Shea. After an election tour in the west of Ireland, his health deteriorated seriously, and he died in October in their Brighton home. His funeral in Dublin was attended by 200,000 people. In his speeches he was convinced of an Ireland completely separated from Britain, but was ambiguous, never committing himself nor distancing himself, from the use of physical-force.
Party divided
In the
1892 general election that followed,
Redmond's Parnellites won a third of the Home Rule/nationalist votes (18.2% Parnellites v. 58.9% for anti-Parnellites) but only nine seats, the anti-Parnellites returned 72 MPs divided between Dillonites and a fragmented minority of six
Healyites – the People's Rights Association. Gladstone and the Liberals were again in power, the divided Home Rulers holding the balance of power. He brought in his promised
second Home Rule Bill in 1893. It was master-handled through three readings of the Commons by William O'Brien and passed in September by 301 votes to 267, during which Unionist conventions called in Dublin and Belfast to oppose the bill, denounced the possibility of partition. A week later 419 peers in the
Lords rejected it, only 41 supporting. Gladstone retired in 1894.
The Conservatives and Liberal Unionists returned to power in the
1895 general election, now in coalition and remaining in office until 1905. During those years Home Rule was not on their agenda. Instead, with
Arthur Balfour
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...
's ''Constructive Unionism'' approach to settling the Irish Question they enacted many important reforms introduced by the Irish members, who, on the other hand, made no effort to settle their party differences. This bred apathy amongst the Irish public towards politics, much needed financial contributions from America ebbing away. In this period of political disarray and disunity of purpose young Irish nationalists turned instead to the country's new cultural and militant movements, enabling the Church to fill the political vacuum.
The unresolved land reform situation was again the mainspring for renewed political activity. William O'Brien had withdrawn from parliament to Mayo and in 1898, driven by the plight of the farming community's need for more land, formed together with Davitt a new land movement, the
United Irish League
The United Irish League (UIL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto ''"The Land for the People"''. Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform, compelling larger grazi ...
(UIL). It quickly spread first in the west, the following year nationwide like the old Land League and attracted members from all factions of the two split parties, O'Brien threatening to displace them and take them both over.
Reconstruction
The outbreak of the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
in 1899 was condemned by both Irish factions; their combined opposition helped to bring about a measure of understanding between them. By 1900 the threat of O'Brien swamping and outmanoeuvring them at the upcoming elections forced the two divided parties, the INL and the INF, to re-unite. He was the prime mover and may be truly regarded as an architect of the settlement of 1900 in merging them under a new programme of agrarian agitation, political reform and Home Rule into a new united Irish Parliamentary Party. Redmond, leader of the smaller INL group, was chosen as its leader mainly due to the personal rivalries between the INF's Anti-Parnellite leaders. After the party returned 77 MPs in the September
1900 general election a period of considerable political development followed.
The UIL, explicitly designed to reconcile the fragmented party, was accepted as the parliamentary nationalists' main support organisation, with which O'Brien intensified his campaign of agrarian agitation. Encouraged by the Chief Secretary
George Wyndham
George Wyndham, PC (29 August 1863 – 8 June 1913) was a British Conservative politician, statesman, man of letters, and one of The Souls.
Background and education
Wyndham was the elder son of the Honourable Percy Wyndham, third son of Ge ...
and initiated by moderate landlords led by
Lord Dunraven the December 1902
Land Reform Conference followed, which successfully aimed at a settlement by conciliatory agreement between landlord and tenant. O'Brien, Redmond,
T. W. Russell (who spoke for Ulster tenant-farmers) and
Timothy Harrington
Timothy Charles Harrington (1851 – 12 March 1910), born in Castletownbere, County Cork, was an Irish journalist, barrister, nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain ...
represented the tenant side. Its outcome became the basis for O'Brien orchestrating the unprecedented Wyndham
Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903
The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by ...
through parliament, which enabled tenant farmers to buy out their landlord's land at favourable annuities, while giving the landlords a premium price. The last landlords sold out in the 1920s, thus ending the age-old
Irish land question.
Renewed rift
The masterful strategy adopted by William O'Brien of bringing about agreement on land purchase between tenants and landlords under the Act, may almost be said to have been too great a success as it resulted in a rush of landlords to sell and of tenants to buy. Dillon, the deputy party leader, disfavoured the Act because he opposed any negotiations with landlords,
Michael Davitt
Michael Davitt (25 March 184630 May 1906) was an Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's family migrated to England. He began his caree ...
objected to peasant proprietorship, demanding land nationalisation. Together with
Thomas Sexton editor of the party's ''
Freeman's Journal
The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper.
Patriot journal
It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified with rad ...
'', they campaigned against O’Brien, ferociously attacking him for putting Land Purchase and Conciliation before Home Rule. O'Brien's appeal to Redmond to suppress their opposition went unheeded. After stating that he was making no headway with his policy, he resigned his parliamentary seat in November 1903. It was a serious setback for the party, at the same time turning once intimate friends into mortal enemies. O'Brien subsequently engaged during 1904–1905 with the
Irish Reform Association and in 1907 with the
Irish Council Bill which he viewed as a step in the right direction, or "Home Rule by instalments", equally condemned by his opponents.
O'Brien's UIL was taken over by Dillon's protégé and ally,
Joseph Devlin
Joseph Devlin (13 February 1871 – 18 January 1934) was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons. Later Devlin was an MP and lead ...
, a young Belfast MP, as its new secretary. Devlin had founded a decade earlier the Catholic sectarian
neo-Ribbon Ancient Order of Hibernians
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH; ) is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in N ...
(AOH), organising its rise first in Ulster and after he had control of the UIL, eventually across the south, largely displacing the UIL. The Irish Party came to have an increasing dependence on the AOH, though the party's attempts to crush out
Healyite and
O'Brienite 'factionism' were carried out through its national organisation, the UIL. The
1906 general election saw the Liberals back in power with 379 seats, an overwhelming majority of 88 over all other parties, after they had promised Home Rule. Redmond's IPP now with 82 seats, at first delighted until the Liberals backed down on Home Rule, knowing it had no chance in the Lords.
The IPP rift with O'Brien deepened after he helped guide the Bryce
1906 Labourers (Ireland) Act through parliament, which provided large scale government funding for a programme of extensive rural social housing. In the following five years over 40,000 labourer owned cottages standing on an acre of land and purchases at low annual annuities, were erected by Local County Councils. The Act, and the follow-on Birrell Labourers Act of 1911, housed over a quarter of a million rural labourers and their families and thereby transformed the Irish countryside.
In 1907
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 ...
became the new party secretary. Outside the party at this time were the MPs William O'Brien,
Sir Thomas Esmonde, T. M. Healy,
Charles Dolan
Charles Francis Dolan (born October 16, 1926) is an American billionaire businessman, best known as founder of Cablevision and HBO. Today, Dolan controls Madison Square Garden Sports, MSG Networks, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Madison ...
,
John O'Donnell,
Augustine Roche
Augustine Roche (1849 – 7 December 1915) was an Irish Parliamentary Party politician from Cork. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1905 to 1910, and from 1911 until his death.
Early life
Roche was born Michael Augustine Roche, to Michae ...
and D. D. Sheehan. Proposals to reunited the party were made by Redmond and a meeting summoned for the Mansion House, Dublin in April 1908. O'Brien and others rejoined the party temporarily for the sake of unity. But on his demand for further treasury funding for land purchase, O'Brien was ultimately driven out for good at a
Dublin Convention in February 1909 by the party's vigorous militant support organisation, Devlin's "Hibernians". After which O’Brien founded his own political party in March 1909, the
All-for-Ireland League (AFIL).
Notable legislation
During the previous years many notable Acts of social legislation were pressed for and passed in Ireland's interest:
*The creation of the
Congested Districts Board in 1891, which built public works for, and provided employment in, the poor districts of western Ireland.
*The extensive
1898 Local Government Act abolished the old landlord-dominated Grand Juries and replaced them by forty-nine county, urban and rural district councils, managed by Irish people for the administration of local affairs. The councils were very popular in Ireland as they established a political class, who showed themselves capable of running Irish affairs. It also stimulated the desire to attain Home Rule and to manage affairs on a national level. A less positive consequence was that the councils were largely dominated by the Irish Party, becoming the wielders of local patronage.
*Irish Department of Agriculture Act and Technical Instructors Act (1899) (initiative of
Horace Plunkett
Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett (24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an Anglo-Irish agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural cooperatives, Unionist MP, supporter of Home Rule, Irish Senator and author.
Plunkett, a younger brother of Jo ...
)
*Tenant Land Purchase Acts: (
Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903
The Land Acts (officially Land Law (Ireland) Acts) were a series of measures to deal with the question of tenancy contracts and peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by ...
and
Birrell Act 1909), contributing greatly to the solution of the contentious land question
*Labourers (Ireland) Acts (
Bryce Act 1906 and Birrell Act 1911) (the
Sheehan Acts), providing rural labourers with extensive housing
*Town Tenants Act (1906)
*Evicted Tenants Act (1907)
*Old Age Pensions Act (1908)
*Irish (Catholic) University Act (1908)
*Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act (1908) (the
Clancy Act)
Home Rule succeeds
In the
January 1910 United Kingdom general election (
January 1910 general election in Ireland), the
Liberals lost their majority, and became dependent on the Irish (IPP and AFIL) Party's 84 seats.
Redmond, holding the balance of power in the Commons, renewed the old "Liberal Alliance" this time with
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...
as Prime Minister (the Labour Party also supported the government). Asquith needed the support of Irish MPs to pass the
People's Budget
The 1909/1910 People's Budget was a proposal of the Liberal government that introduced unprecedented taxes on the lands and incomes of Britain's wealthy to fund new social welfare programmes. It passed the House of Commons in 1909 but was blo ...
and, after a second general election in
December 1910 had produced almost exactly the same result, he had no choice but to agree to a new Home Rule Bill. The subsequent passing of the
Parliament Act 1911
The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...
abolished the Lords' veto over most matters and limited them to a two-year delaying power, ensuring that Redmond's reward of a Government of Ireland Bill for the whole of Ireland introduced in 1912 would subsequently achieve national self-government in Dublin by 1914.
This prospect after 40 years of struggle was greeted optimistically, even when self-government was initially limited to running Irish affairs. But for Unionists, convinced the Union with the United Kingdom was economically best for Ireland, and for Protestants, now that Devlin's paramilitary AOH organisation had saturated the entire island, fearing a Church dominated nationalist government, it was a disaster.
After the Bill passed its first readings in 1913,
Ulster Unionist
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...
s' opposition became a repeat scenario of events in 1886 and 1893, their leader
Sir Edward Carson
Edward Henry Carson, 1st Baron Carson, PC, PC (Ire) (9 February 1854 – 22 October 1935), from 1900 to 1921 known as Sir Edward Carson, was an Irish unionist politician, barrister and judge, who served as the Attorney General and Solicitor ...
approving of an
Ulster Volunteer militia to oppose Home Rule. Unionists and the Orange Order in mass demonstrations determined to ensure that Home Rule would not apply for them. Nationalists in turn formed their own armed group, the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
to enforce Home Rule. The initiative for a series of meetings leading up to the public inauguration of the Volunteers came from the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
(IRB). The Volunteers had 180,000 members by May 1914. Redmond, worried by the growth of nationalist mass movement outside the Party, quickly tried to take control of the Volunteers. He demanded and was given a position on its leadership council and rapidly filled its ranks with IPP supporters.
Redmond and his IPP nationalists, as later those who succeeded them in 1919, had little or no knowledge of Belfast, underestimating Unionist resistance as a bluff, insisting "Ulster will have to follow". William O’Brien who in 1893 worked closely on passing the Second Home Rule Bill, warned to no avail, that if adequate provisions were not made for Ulster, All-Ireland self-government would never be achieved.
The Bill was the centre of intense parliamentary debate and controversy throughout 1913–1914 before it passed its final reading in May, denounced by the
O’Brienite Party as a "partition deal" after Carson forced through an Amending Bill providing for the exclusion of Ulster, permanent or provisional to be negotiated, which ultimately led to the partition of Ireland. This was deeply resented among northern nationalists and
southern unionists
In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America opposed to secession. Many fought for the Union during the Civil War. These people are also referred to as Southern Loyalists, Union Lo ...
who felt themselves abandoned. The
Government of Ireland Act 1914
The Government of Ireland Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5 c. 90), also known as the Home Rule Act, and before enactment as the Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide home rule (self-governm ...
received Royal Assent in September 1914, celebrated with bonfires across southern Ireland.
Europe intervenes
The outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in August led to the suspension of the Home Rule Act for the duration of the war, expected to only last a year.
Ireland's involvement in the war defused the threat of civil war in Ireland and was to prove crucial to subsequent
Irish history
The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quatern ...
. After neutral
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
had been overrun by
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Redmond and his party leaders, in order to ensure Home Rule would be implemented after the war, called on the Irish Volunteers to support Britain's war effort (her commitment under the
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
and the
Allied cause).
The Volunteers split on the issue of support for the British and Allied war effort. The majority (over 142,000) formed the
National Volunteers
The National Volunteers was the name taken by the majority of the Irish Volunteers that sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the movement split over the question of the Volunteers' role in World War I.
Origins
The Nati ...
, compared to roughly 10,000 who stayed with the original organisation. Though initially there was a surge in voluntary enlistment for the
Irish regiments
The Irish military diaspora refers to the many people of either Irish birth or extraction (see Irish diaspora) who have served in overseas military forces, regardless of rank, duration of service, or success.
Many overseas military units were p ...
of the
10th (Irish) Division
The 10th (Irish) Division, was one of the first of Kitchener's New Army K1 Army Group divisions (formed from Kitchener's 'first hundred thousand' new volunteers), authorized on 21 August 1914, after the outbreak of the Great War. It included ...
and the
16th (Irish) Division
The 16th (Irish) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, raised for service during World War I. The division was a voluntary 'Service' formation of Lord Kitchener's New Armies, created in Ireland from the ' National Volunteers' ...
of Kitchener's
New Service Army formed for the war, the enthusiasm did not last.
Unlike their
36th (Ulster) Division counterparts and the Ulster Volunteers who manned it with their own trained military reserve officers, the southern Volunteers possessed no officers with previous military experience with the result that the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
had the 16th Division led by
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
officers, which with the exception of Irish General
William Hickie
Major General Sir William Bernard Hickie, (21 May 1865 – 3 November 1950) was an Irish-born senior British Army officer and an Irish nationalist politician.
As a British Army officer Hickie saw active service in the Second Boer War from 1899 ...
, and the fact that the division did not have its own specific uniforms, was an unpopular decision. The War Office also reacted with suspicion to Redmond's remark that the Volunteers would soon return as an armed army to oppose Ulster's resistance to Home Rule.
Around 24,000 of the National Volunteers did enlist but the remainder, or about 80% did not. Moreover, the organisation declined due to lack of training and organisation as the war went on. "The resulting collapse of the National Volunteers presaged that of the Irish Party itself, though this was less obvious. Its support for the War was gradually revealed to be a major political encumbrance." The
Under Secretary for Ireland, Mathew Nathan, writing in November 1915, thought that Redmond's stance on the War ultimately cost him and his party their pre-eminent position in Irish life, "Redmond has been honestly imperial, but by going as far as he has, he has lost his position in the country."
When the war situation worsened, a new Conservative-Liberal coalition government was formed in May 1915. Redmond was offered a seat in its cabinet, which he declined. This was welcomed in Ireland but greatly weakened his position after his rival, unionist leader Carson accepted a cabinet post. As the war prolonged, the IPP's image suffered from the horrific casualties at the
Cape Helles landings at
Gallipoli as well as on the
Western Front.
The party was taken by surprise by the
Easter Rising in April 1916, launched by the section of the Irish Volunteers who had remained in the original organisation. The Volunteers, infiltrated to a large degree by the separatist
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
, declared an
Irish Republic
The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...
and took over much of the centre of Dublin. The rebellion in Dublin was put down in a week of fighting with about 500 deaths. The manner in which British
General Maxwell dealt with its leaders won sympathy for their cause. A total of 16 were shot within weeks of the Rising and another hanged several weeks later. The Rising began the decline of constitutional nationalism as represented by the IPP and the ascent of a more radical separatist form of Irish nationalism. John Redmond, protesting at the severity of the state's response to the Rising, wrote to Asquith, "if any more executions take place, Ireland will become impossible for any Constitutional Party or leader".
Further problems for the party followed Asquith's abortive attempt to introduce Home Rule in July 1916 which failed on the threat of partition. Again
Lloyd George's initiative to disentangle the Home Rule deadlock after Redmond called the
Irish Convention
The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the '' Irish question'' and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wi ...
in June 1917, when
Southern Unionists
In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America opposed to secession. Many fought for the Union during the Civil War. These people are also referred to as Southern Loyalists, Union Lo ...
sided with Nationalists on the issue of Home Rule, ended unresolved due to
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
resistance.
Crisis and change
In sharp contrast to Parnell, John Redmond lacked charisma. He worked well in small committees, but had little success in arousing large audiences. Parnell always chose the nominees to Parliament. Now they were selected by the local party organisations, giving Redmond numerous weak MPs over whom he had little control. Redmond was an excellent representative of the old Ireland, but grew increasingly out-dated as he paid little attention to the new forces attracting younger Irishman, such as
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
, and the
Ancient Order of Hibernians
The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH; ) is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in N ...
in politics, the
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...
in sports, and the
Gaelic League
(; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...
in cultural affairs. He never tried to understand the forces emerging in Ulster. Redmond was further weakened in 1914 by the formation by Sinn Féin members of the militaristic
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
. His enthusiastic support for the British war effort alienated many Catholics. His party had been increasingly hollowed out, and the major crises—notably the Easter Rising on 1916 and the Conscription crisis of 1918—were enough to destroy it.
Redmond died in March 1918 and John Dillon took over the IPP leadership. In March the
German spring offensive overran part of the British front. Lloyd George's cabinet took a ''dual policy'' decision by, clumsily linking implementing Home Rule with alleviating the severe manpower shortage by extending
conscription to Ireland. The Irish party withdrew in protest from
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
and returned to Ireland to join forces with other national organisations in massed
anti-conscription demonstrations in Dublin. Although conscription was never enforced in Ireland, as
fresh American troops began to be deployed to France in large numbers, the threat of conscription radicalised Irish politics.
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
, the political arm of the Volunteer insurgents, had public opinion believe that they alone had prevented conscription.
The Irish party held its own and returned its candidates in by-elections up to the end of 1916, the last in the
West-Cork by-election of October 1916. The tide then changed after it lost three by-elections in 1917 to the more physical-force republican Sinn Féin movement, which in the meantime had built up 1,500 organised clubs around Ireland and exceeded the strength of the old
UIL, most of the latter members now joining the new movement. At the end of the war in November 1918 when elections were announced for the
December general election, the Irish electorate of nearly two million had a threefold increase due to a new
Representation of the People Act
Representation of the People Act is a stock short title used in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Mauritius, Pakistan, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, ...
. Women were
granted franchise for the first time (confined to those over thirty) and a vote to every male over twenty-one years of age. This increased the number of voters from 30% to 75% of all adults.
Decisive election
The Irish Parliamentary Party was for the first time confronted with double opponents from both Unionists and Sinn Féin (the Irish Labour Party agreed to abstain so as not to complicate matters for Sinn Féin by introducing socialist proposals). In the past the IPP only faced opposition from candidates at conventions within the Home Rule movement. It never had to compete a nationwide election, so that the party branches and organisation had slowly declined. In most constituencies the new young local Sinn Féin organisation controlled the electoral scene well in advance of the election. As a result, in 25 constituencies the IPP did not contest the seats, and Sinn Féin candidates were returned unopposed.
The Party lost 78 of its 84 seats. This was due to the "first past the post" British electoral system. Votes cast for the IPP were 220,837 (21.7%) for merely 6 seats (down from 84 out of 105 seats in 1910). Sinn Féin votes were 476,087 (or 46.9%) for 48 seats, plus 25 uncontested totalling an impressive 73 seats. Unionist (including Unionist Labour) votes were 305,206 (30.2%) – by which Unionists increased their representation from 19 to 26 seats. The Irish Party leader Dillon lost his seat and the party was dissolved. The remnants of the IPP later re-established itself with six members to form the
Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland under
Joe Devlin.
Twenty-seven of the newly elected Sinn Féin MPs assembled in Dublin on 21 January 1919 and formed an independent Irish parliament, or
First Dáil Éireann of the thirty-two counties. Their remaining MPs were either still imprisoned or impaired. The UK state did not recognise the Dáil's unilateral existence, which led to the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List o ...
. The government remained committed to introducing Home Rule in Ireland, and in 1921 implemented the
Fourth Home Rule Act, which
partitioned Ireland into
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and a non-functioning
Southern Ireland prior to the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
.
After dissolution
The results, while a triumph for the republicans, showed that the IPP's politics still had a significant constituency across the island. In the North East, and especially in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, the IPP had more or less held their ground against the Sinn Féin insurgency, (
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...
soundly beaten by
Joe Devlin in the Falls division). The IPP regrouped to become the
Nationalist Party of Northern Ireland.
In the South after the
Irish Civil War, the political estate of the Irish Party inherited by Sinn Féin evolved into the two nationalist parties of the post-1922 state. On the pro-Treaty side, some
Cumann na nGaedheal
Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party.
Origins
In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...
/
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
leaders (apart from
James Dillon) had 'Redmondite' backgrounds, the most notable being
John A. Costello, a later Taoiseach. The core of this party group was however solidly Sinn Féin, IRB and IRA in background. On the anti-Treaty Sinn Féin side that developed into
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
, there was no continuity with the Irish Party at elite level. Many former AOH/IPP followers also lingered on as a pro-Treaty support organisation, some AOH adherents later fought on the Francoist side in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
, the quasi-fascist
Blueshirt movement of the 1930s maybe owing much to its Ribbon tradition. Veteran MP
Timothy Michael Healy
Timothy Michael Healy, KC (17 May 1855 – 26 March 1931) was an Irish nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and a controversial Irish Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...
was the first
Governor-General of the Irish Free State (1922–1928), an enlightened choice to bridge the gap between the old order and the new generation of Cumann na nGaedheal politicians, although highly partisan (his nephew was Minister for Justice
Kevin O'Higgins
Kevin Christopher O'Higgins ( ga, CaoimhghÃn CrÃostóir Ó hUigÃn; 7 June 1892 – 10 July 1927) was an Irish politician who served as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1927, Minister for External ...
; Healy made a public attack on Fianna Fáil and
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...
, which led to republican calls for his resignation). Former party MP
Hugh Law was elected as a Cumann na nGaedheal TD during the 1920s.
The conservative nationalist
National League Party
The National League was a political party in Ireland. It was founded in 1926 by William Redmond (Irish politician, born 1886), William Redmond and Thomas O'Donnell (Irish nationalist politician), Thomas O'Donnell in support of the Anglo-Ir ...
operated between 1926 and 1931, founded by former IPP MPs
Captain William Redmond (son of
Irish National League
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 ...
and IPP leader John Redmond) and
Thomas O'Donnell. It quickly faltered, with many of its prominent members (including Redmond,
Vincent Rice,
John Jinks and
James Coburn) joining Cumann na nGaedheal / Fine Gael, although O'Donnell became an active member of Fianna Fáil. A short lived
National Centre Party was formed in 1932, absorbing the remnants of the conservative
Farmers' Party and led by
Frank MacDermot
Frank C. J. MacDermot (25 November 1886 – 24 June 1975) was an Irish barrister, soldier, politician and historian who served as Senator from 1937 to 1943, after being nominated by the Taoiseach. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Rosc ...
and
James Dillon (son of IPP leader John Dillon). The success of Fianna Fáil prompted the National Centre Party to amalgamate with Cumann na nGaedheal to become
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
in 1933. Both MacDermot and Dillon later left Fine Gael, and both argued for Irish entry into World War II in the Allied side, but MacDermot joined Fianna Fáil while Dillon returned to Fine Gael and became party leader 1959–1965.
Party's legacy
After the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
, the moderate Home Rule party was effectively airbrushed out of official Irish history, but it left its mark in politics on both sides of the border. The new Sinn Féin party that emerged in 1917 was heavily influenced by its Home Rule predecessors. Perhaps obliviously Sinn Féiners adopted and adapted the tactics of their Home Rule opponents, and soon beat the Redmondites at their own game. They quickly came to represent and cherish old local customs associated with the Home Rule party, absorbing their habits and skills and passing them on to its successors, Cumann na nGaedheal/Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
Constitutional Irish nationalism was seemingly triumphant in 1912, then apparently destroyed in 1916, but it revived and remarkably—was consolidated under the leadership of former republican rebels, who had rejected moderate political approaches a few years earlier. The Home Rule bill of 1912 was not in itself a dead end. It formed part of the democratic tradition that was adopted a decade later and which has dominated Irish politics to the present day.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of the IPP was the introduction to Irish society of a parliamentary constitutional tradition and all that went with it – a fully up and running local government administration with its diverse institutions, which had rooted itself more deeply than anyone could have imagined into the life of the country. The party had above all (in the era prior to 1914) contributed in its prime to the political maturity of the nation and to the transformation of its society.
Its supporters claimed that this paved the way for the creation of the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
, in which its parliament,
Dáil Éireann, had scarcely started to function before, almost unconsciously, it began to utilise and to build upon the constitutional tradition it had inherited. This is perhaps the highest tribute that can deservedly be bestowed upon the old Irish Parliamentary Party, which during fifty years of hard and exacting as well as frustrating parliamentary labours, established and fostered the development of representative institutions which gave stimulus to democratic action and discussion at every level of political involvement.
[ Lyons, F. S. L.: in ed. Farrel, Brian ''The Irish Parliamentary Tradition'', "The Irish Parliamentary Party" p.207, Gill & MacMillan, Dublin (1973) and Barnes & Noble ]
Party leaders (1874–1921)
General election results
See also
*
Independent Irish Party
The Independent Irish Party (IIP) was the designation chosen by the 48 Members of the United Kingdom Parliament returned from Ireland with the endorsement of the Tenant Right League in the general election of 1852. The League had secured their ...
(1850s)
*
History of Ireland (1801–1923)
Notes
References
*
* Bull, Philip. "The United Irish League and the Reunion of the Irish Parliamentary Party, 1898–1900." ''Irish Historical Studies'' (1988): 51–78
in JSTOR* Garvin, Tom: ''The evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics'' (1981) (2005), Gill & Macmillan, Dublin,
*
* Lyons, F .S. L. ''The Irish parliamentary party, 1890–1910'' (1951)
* MacDonagh, Michael: ''The Home Rule Movement'', Talbot Press, Dublin (1920)
*
* Stanford, Jane, ''That Irishman: The Life and Times of John O'Connor Power'', History Press Ireland, May 2011,
* Wheatley, Michael. ''Nationalism and the Irish Party: Provincial Ireland 1910–1916'' (Oxford University Press, 2005).
External links
*
ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po15.shtml BBC History – 1916 Easter Rising – Profiles – Irish Parliamentary Party
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