John Pinkerton (1845 – 4 November 1908) 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 ...

Protestant nationalist Protestant Irish Nationalists are adherents of Protestantism in Ireland who also support Irish nationalism. Protestants have played a large role in the development of Irish nationalism since the eighteenth century, despite most Irish nationa ...

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) 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 ...

. As a member 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 national ...

he represented Galway Borough from 1886 to 1900. Pinkerton was born in

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( ga, Baile Monaidh , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a small town and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated in ...

Co Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population of ...

, the son of John Pinkerton of Seacon More. He was educated privately. He rose to local prominence as a member of the Ballymoney Debating and Agricultural Societies. He was a

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, ...

, a JP of Co Antrim, and served as a member of the

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

Board of Guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...

. He was a leading speaker and organiser in the

tenant-right Tenant-right is a term in the common law system expressing the right to compensation which a tenant has, either by custom or by law, against his landlord for improvements at the termination of his tenancy. In England, it was governed for the most ...

campaign from 1878-1888. He sympathised increasingly with the Catholics of north Antrim in their support for the 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 ...

. Over the objections of many in the Ballymoney Agricultural Society, the Route Tenants Defence Association and Antrim Central Tenant-Right Association with which he had been associated, he endorsed the Land League as the best means to free "the white slaves of Ireland". In 1882 he invited

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 ...

and John Ferguson to a meeting in Ballymoney. He joined them in denouncing the inadequacies of the 1881 Land Act which had abjured compulsory sale to tenants. "Landlordism", he asserted, "is doomed. ... Landlords should either sell out or buy out." Protested by Orangemen beating their drums, the meeting was followed by serious disturbances. During the

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 ...

he was involved with the Ballycastle and

Loughguile Loughguile ( ; ), also spelt Loughgiel or Loughgeel, is a village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Situated 8 miles east of Ballymoney it is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Council area, and is at the edge of the Glens of A ...

Land League branches. Pinkerton was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1885 general election in which he stood as an independent "representative of small farmers and labourers" for the North Antrim constituency. Despite defeat, he so impressed the

that he, a Protestant tenant farmer, was picked 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 ...

as the party candidate for Galway Borough in the 1886 general election in which he was successful. During his 14-year career as an MP, and as a founder member of the Protestant Home Rule Association, he was active in advancing the cause of

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 ...

and

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 ...

at Liberal demonstrations throughout

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 1873, he married Isabella, daughter of Robert Pinkerton, of Ballaghmore, Co Antrim. They had one son and one daughter. Another daughter died in infancy. In 1913, their son, John Wallace Pinkerton (1878-1949), a solicitor, was an organiser in Ballymoney of a “Meeting of Protestants” at which

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

Alice Stopford Green __NOTOC__ Alice Stopford Green (30 May 1847 – 28 May 1929) was an Irish historian and nationalist. She was born Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford in Kells, County Meath. Her father Edward Adderley Stopford was Rector of Kells and Archdeacon of ...

, and Captain Jack White spoke in protest against “the illegal policy of Carsonism”—the preparation by unionists of an armed resistance to an Irish parliament.

References

External links

Pinkerton family papers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
* 1845 births 1908 deaths Anti-Parnellite MPs Irish land reform activists Irish Protestants Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Galway constituencies (1801–1922) Protestant Irish nationalists UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 People from Ballymoney {{Ireland-UK-MP-stub