The Irish Reform Association (1904–1905) was an attempt to introduce limited

devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

self-government to Ireland by a group of reform oriented

Irish unionist Unionism is a political tradition on the island of Ireland that favours political union with Great Britain and professes loyalty to the British Crown and constitution. As the overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestant minority, follow ...

land owners who proposed to initially adopt something less than full

Home Rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

. It failed to gain acceptance due to fierce opposition from Ulster Unionists who on the one hand claimed it went too far, and on the other hand denounced by

Irish Nationalists Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

who claimed it did not go far enough. Also known as the Irish Reform Movement, it ended in calamity for most of those concerned.

Background

Since the 1870s a

Land War The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...

had been waged incessantly by

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

s in Ireland against their gentry landlords mainly due to

rack-rent Rack-rent denotes two different concepts: # an excessive rent. # the full rent of a property, including both land and improvements if it were subject to an immediate open-market rental review. The second definition is equivalent to the economic re ...

ing, evictions and depressed economic conditions. The

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Government tried to alleviate tensions by introducing several

Irish Land Acts 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 ...

which only partly relieved the situation. At the turn of the century 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 ...

, founded in 1898, intensified agrarian agitations and pressure on the landlords. As a consequence a number of leading and progressive landlords proposed to negotiate terms to settle the age old "Irish land question" by calling a

Land Conference The Land Conference was a successful conciliatory negotiation held in the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland between 20 December 1902 and 4 January 1903. In a short period it produced a unanimously agreed report recommending an amiable solution to t ...

backed by the Chief Secretary for Ireland

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 ...

Founded

The swift success of the Land Conference resulted in the enactment of the

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 ...

, won 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 o ...

MP, leader of the tenant representation during the Conference. O'Brien resigned from 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 November 1903, claiming he was making no headway with his policy of conciliation. O'Brien's defiance of the party encouraged the landlord 'Land Conference Committee' to summon a meeting in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

early in 1904 attended by three hundred of the leading Irish gentry and landlords who resolved themselves into the ''Irish Reform Association'', led by the

Earl of Dunraven Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (usually referred to as Earl of Dunraven) was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 5 February 1822 for Valentine Quin, 1st Viscount Mount-Earl. Quin had already been created a Baronet, of Adare ...

, who had been the presiding genius of the Land Conference and of that triumph of conciliation. Many were moderate southern supporters of the

Irish Unionist Alliance The Irish Unionist Alliance (IUA), also known as the Irish Unionist Party, Irish Unionists or simply the Unionists, was a unionist political party founded in Ireland in 1891 from a merger of the Irish Conservative Party and the Irish Loyal and ...

. It immediately issued a manifesto proclaiming ''"a policy of conciliation, of good will and of reform"'' by means of ''"a union of all moderate and progressive opinion irrespective of creed or class animosities"'' with the object of ''"the devolution to Ireland of a large measure of self-government without disturbing the Parliamentary Union."'' Within three days

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 ...

MP, who was on a mission pleading Irish American support cabled ''"The announcement f the Irish Reform Associationis of the utmost importance. It is simply a declaration for Home Rule and is quite a wonderful thing. With these men with us Home Rule may come at any moment."'' O'Brien welcomed it for the change it indicated in the attitude towards the national question of a powerful group of moderate Irish Conservatives. He welcomed it particularly for its harmony with his own principles of Conference, Conciliation and Consent. It was, he added, a fresh manifestation of the spirit of national fellowship and co-operation engendered by the Land Conference. ''Devolution is the Latin for Home Rule'' happily chimed in

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 ...

MP from London In contrast

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 ...

MP and

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 ...

were wholly in discord, that the Association blocked the advance of the Nationalist cause. The diehard Unionists of Ulster were also against the scheme – "worse than

of the Gladstone type, or

Repeal of the Union The Repeal Association was an Irish mass membership political movement set up by Daniel O'Connell in 1830 to campaign for a repeal of the Acts of Union of 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland. The Association's aim was to revert Ireland to th ...

", said

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 ...

MP.

Devolution

The head of the Civil Service in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...

, Sir Anthony MacDonnell, a Mayo Catholic originally appointed by Wyndham, anxious to do something for Ireland, helped Dunraven's group at his invitation and began to draft a scheme on the possible extension of the principle of self-government for Ireland.O’Brien, Joseph V.: ''William O’Brien and the course of Irish Politics, 1881–1918'', pp.163–65, University of California Press (1976) On 31 August 1904 the Reform Association released a preliminary report calling for the devolution of larger powers of local government for Ireland. This was followed by a publication on 26 September outlining a scheme foreseeing administrative control over Irish finances by a partly elected authority to promote bills for purely Irish purposes. When with the approval of the Lord-Lieutenant, the

Earl of Dudley Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford (now the West Midlands), is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ward family. History Dudley was first used for a p ...

, MacDonnell sponsored this scheme for the devolution of certain domestic affairs to an Irish Council, it heralded high hopes for O'Brien, that Ireland had somehow entered a new era in which 'conference plus business' could replace agitation and parliamentary tactics as a primary strategy for achieving national goals.Miller, David W.: ''Church, State and Nation in Ireland 1898–1921'' p.95, Gill & Macmillan (1973)

Crisis

After the publication a storm broke loose. Wyndham publicly denied knowledge of the scheme and disavowed Home Rule in any guise, though MacDonnell let it be known that he had informed him. Wyndham later claimed he mislaid his letter. The whole matter developed into the "Devolution Crisis of 1904–5", a complex affair, involving political intrigue and personal drama.Jackson, Alvin: ''Home Rule: An Irish History 1800—2000'' p.108-9, Phoenix Press (2003) The reports became quickly less significant than the scandal that the Unionist administration in Dublin Castle, headed by Wyndham and Dudley, had apparently “gone native” and succumbed to home rule. Dudley made open avowal of his sympathies and wish to see Ireland governed in accordance with Irish ideas. When in fact it actually seemed they had sought to govern Ireland through confidential conversations and so defuse the Home Rule movement. Despite his denials, it is likely that Wyndham tacitly encouraged the debate on devolution in August, and it is possible that he even involved Tim Healy MP in an effort to broaden the reformists base. Both the mainstream Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists for whom the Association was a

Trojan Horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

for home rule, sensed political treachery, the Irish party held outside the centrist consultations.

MP, the Irish party deputy leader, who believed that the party could maintain its hold upon the country only if it remained pledged absolutely to Home Rule, and those other nationalists such as

, who thought like him, had taken to the field against what Dillon called 'Dunraven and his crowd', and savagely repelled his movement towards a national unity that would embrace all classes and creeds, Joe Devlin MP telling his constituents ''"they were not going to seek the co-operation of a few aristocratic nobodies"''.

Dispelled

In March Wyndham, hounded by Unionist MPs, fell from office for having broken faith in Unionism. He retired in May 1905 driven into political oblivion by a union of angry loyalists and nationalists, including Dillon, which helped to precipitate a schism which lasted the life of the Home Rule movement. Wyndham's successor Walter Long MP pursued tighter administrative enforcement and MacDonnell was confined to a subordinate role. It was a severe blow to the hopes of O’Brien and Dunraven for further advancing the spirit of conciliation. During the “devolution crisis” Ulster Unionists were so outraged that the head of the Civil Service in Dublin Castle, MacDonnell, a Catholic appointed by Wyndham, was involved in the devolution plan to run Ireland through elected councils, that they set up the

Ulster Unionist Council 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 ...

, later important in organising unionist resistance to 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 ...

. O'Brien remained firmly convinced that the only way forward to achieving All-Ireland self-government lay in co-operation with the Dunraven reformists. In September 1905 when his newspaper The Irish People reappeared it carried in its second number the manifesto of the Irish Reform Association, calling for a new conference to deal with the west, with evicted tenants, a Labourers' Bill and improved finances of the Wyndham act. O'Brien called on the Irish Party to confer with them, Dillon describing this as subordinating the party to Dunraven and Healy, the Association then fading from the political scene after the failure of the Irish Council Bill which O'Brien viewed as a step in the right direction, or "Home Rule by instalments", to reappear in a different constellation in 1909 as O’Brien’s All-for-Ireland League. The Dunraven group had their own Irish patriotism, seeing home rule was inevitable. But they were atypical of their caste and never came to terms with the mass politics driving

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

and Ulster Unionism.Maume, Patrick: p.67

Notes and references