Independent Nationalist ( ga, Náisiúnach Neamhspleách) is a political title frequently used by
Irish nationalists when contesting elections to the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom Great Britain and Ireland not as members of the
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 nation ...
, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In the main, but certainly not always, such Independent Nationalist candidates were either the
Healyite Nationalists, supporters of
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 ...
, or the
O'Brienite Nationalists, supporters of
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 ...
.
Some others were elected as Independent Nationalists outside of the above groupings, such as
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 ...
(
1900
As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...
and
1906
Events
January–February
* January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
),
Joseph Nolan (1900),
D. D. Sheehan (1906), and
Laurence Ginnell
Laurence Ginnell (baptised 9 April 1852 – 17 April 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary ...
(in both the
January and
December 1910 elections).
William Redmond and
James Cosgrave were elected to
Dáil Éireann as Independent Nationalists in
1923
Events
January–February
* January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory).
* January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...
, before going on to form the
National League Party.
Later in the twentieth century,
Michael O'Neill was elected to the House of Commons as an Independent Nationalist in
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
.
John Hume
John Hume (18 January 19373 August 2020) was an Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the recent political history of Ireland, as one of the architects of the Northern Ire ...
,
Paddy O'Hanlon
Patrick Michael O'Hanlon (8 May 1944 – 7 April 2009), known as Paddy O'Hanlon, was an Irish barrister and former nationalist politician in Ireland.
Born in Drogheda Co.Louth, but resident in Mullaghbawn, South Armagh since childhood, O'Hanlon ...
, and
Ivan Cooper
Ivan Averill Cooper (5 January 1944 – 26 June 2019) was an Irish politician from Northern Ireland. He was a member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and a founding member of the SDLP. He is best known for leading the anti-internment march o ...
were elected to the
Northern Ireland House of Commons as Independent Nationalists in
1969; they formed the
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...
in the following year.
Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom
Political parties in pre-partition Ireland
{{Ireland-hist-stub