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The Irish National Federation (INF) was a
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
political party in
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
. It was founded in 1891 by former members of 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), after a split in 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 ...
(IPP) on the leadership of
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 t ...
. Parnell had refused to resign his leadership of the party after being named in divorce proceedings against
Katharine O'Shea Katharine Parnell (née Wood; 30 January 1846 – 5 February 1921), known before her second marriage as Katharine O'Shea, and usually called Katie O'Shea by friends and Kitty O'Shea by enemies, was an English woman of aristocratic background ...
by the former MP William O'Shea. In the aftermath of the divorce,
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-con ...
, leader of the Liberal Party, had declared that he would not work with Parnell, damaging the parliamentary alliance between the IPP and the Liberals. The group, which became known as the Anti-Parnellites, had a larger membership than the rump of the INL that stood by Parnell, was led first by Justin McCarthy, then by John Dillon. The INF was supported by the
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
clergy, who strongly influenced the general elections of 1892 and 1895, and the by-elections of the period. ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' reported on 23 February 1893 that "the priests … swarmed at all the polling stations, and kept the voters constantly in view". Membership of the INF declined after the United Irish League (UIL) was founded in 1898 by
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 ...
to promote unity between factions of Irish political nationalism. As a result, in 1900 the Federation joined the UIL in merging with the INL under the leadership of
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 ...
, who had led the Irish National League after Parnell's death, in a newly reformed Irish Parliamentary Party.


References

*''The Penguin Dictionary of British History'', ed. Juliet Gardiner Political parties established in 1891 Irish nationalist parties Political parties in pre-partition Ireland Political parties disestablished in 1900 Defunct political parties in Ireland 1891 establishments in Ireland 1900 disestablishments in Ireland {{Ireland-party-stub