James Patrick Farrell (13 May 1865 – 11 December 1921) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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: The ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

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

(MP) from 1895 to 1918, taking his seat in 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. ...

of 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 Great B ...

. He was also founder (with fellow Nationalist M.P.

Jasper Tully Jasper Tully (1859 – 16 September 1938) was an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was elected as the Irish National Federation (Anti-Parnelli ...

), owner and editor of the

Longford Leader The ''Longford Leader'' is a weekly newspaper, which has published in Longford, Ireland since 1897. History The Longford Leader was founded, as ''The Longford Leader and Roscommon, Leitrim and Westmeath News'', as a local newspaper with a Nati ...

newspaper.

Biography

Farrell was born in Longford on 13 May 1865, the son of Patrick Farrell of Longford, and Anne (née Lynam) of Strokestown, Co. Roscommon. He attended St. Mel's College, Longford. In 1888, he married Bride Fitzgerald, and they had five sons and two daughters. An active campaigner on land and tenancy reform, Farrell was arrested and imprisoned for two months in 1889 over a speech deemed to be agitation. He stood as an Anti-Parnellite

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

candidate at the 1895 general election in

Kilkenny City Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilkenn ...

, where the outgoing Anti-Parnellite MP Thomas Curran was not standing again. Farrell lost narrowly to the

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

candidate, Patrick O'Brien by a margin of only 667 votes to 681. A vacancy arose immediately in West Cavan, where Edmund Vesey Knox the MP since 1890, was re-elected 1895 but also won a seat in Londonderry City, and chose to sit for the latter. The resulting by-election in West Cavan was held on 2 August 1895, and Farell was elected unopposed in the first by-election of that Parliament. Farrell was a fervent supporter of

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

and spoke and wrote frequently on the subject. He was imprisoned four times between 1890 and 1910 and during his last imprisonment in

Kilmainham Gaol Kilmainham Gaol ( ga, Príosún 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 ...

contracted an illness which may have led to his death, aged 56, in 1921. When the 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 national ...

was resolved in time for the 1900 general election, Farrell did not seek re-election in Cavan, but stood instead in

North Longford North Longford was a UK parliamentary constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the British House of Commons 1885–1918. Prior to the 1885 United Kingdom general election and after the dissolution of Parliament in 19 ...

, where he was returned unopposed. He was re-elected unopposed in

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, ...

, and at both elections in 1910, but at the 1918 general election he was heavily defeated in the new Longford constituency by the

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 Gri ...

candidate

Joseph McGuinness Joseph P. McGuinness (12 April 1875 – 31 May 1922) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1917 until his death in 1922. He is known for winning the 1917 South Longford by-election, South Longford by-election in ...

.Walker, op. cit., page 189

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, J. P. 1865 births Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Anti-Parnellite MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cavan constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Longford constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Irish newspaper founders 1921 deaths People educated at St Mel's College