Thomas Joseph Campbell (14 December 1871 – 3 May 1946), known as T. J. Campbell, was an Irish politician, barrister, journalist, author and judge.

Early life and education

Campbell was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

on 14 December 1871. He studied at

St Malachy's College St Malachy's College, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the oldest Catholic diocesan college in Ulster. The college's alumni and students are known as Malachians. History The college, founded by Bishop William Crolly, opened on the feast of Sai ...

and the

Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the ''University Education (Ireland) Act 1879'' as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A Royal Charter was issued on 27 Apri ...

. He was awarded a BA in 1892, his LL.B in 1894 and an MA in 1897. In 1895, he began editing ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewpoint, though it als ...

'', a local Belfast-based newspaper. In 1899, he was the Chairman of the Ulster District Institute of Journalists.

Legal career

In 1900 Campbell was called to the Irish Bar ( King's Inns) and the English Bar in 1904. He lived in Dublin between 1910 and 1922 in order to practice his legal career at the Four Courts. In 1918 he was appointed as a King's Counsel and became a Bencher of King's Inns in 1924, the last before the erection of a separate Inn for Northern Ireland. Campbell was the first Treasurer of the Bar of Northern Ireland and first Secretary of the Circuit of Northern Ireland. A close friend of Joseph Devlin MP, Campbell was a supporter 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 ...

MP and stood for 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 South Monaghan at the 1918 general election. He lost the election to Sinn Féin's Sean McEntee (then in prison and later Finance Minister in the first De Valera led Government in the Irish Republic). Described as "a man of markedly moderate views",Phoenix (1994) Campbell was appointed in 1929 to the

Senate of Northern Ireland The Senate of Northern Ireland was the upper house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was abolished with the passing of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. Powers In practice the S ...

. At the 1931 general election, he stood unsuccessfully for the Nationalist Party in Belfast West. In 1934, he was elected to the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

in a by-election as Stormont MP for Belfast Central, resigning his seat in the Senate. He was elected unopposed in Belfast Central in the general elections of 1938 and 1945.

Politician

From 1937, he and Richard Byrne were the only Nationalist Party MPs to regularly attend the Stormont Parliament, and after Byrne's death in 1942, he was a lone voice against

abstentionism Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in ...

in his own party. From the Senate in 1931 he successfully introduced the only nationalist-sponsored Stormont bill, the Wild Birds Protection Act. Described as an "old friend and political opponent" by Lord Craigavon, he was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Campbell has been described as having a "Redmondite approach and rigid attachment to attendance and parliamentary etiquette (which) ruled him out as a unifying influence" on his own party after the death of its leader Devlin. ** Campbell opposed the use of violence to achieve political ends throughout his political career. His book ''Fifty Years Of Ulster'' (1941) was mainly about his work as a barrister, but he also predicted the difficulties which would eventually befall the Stormont Parliament: "If a minority anywhere are to regard themselves as condemned to be in a permanent minority in Parliament with no inducement to tempt ambition or ability into their ranks they will inevitably become discouraged and indifferent. A Parliamentary constitution depends on the continuance of parties and if this factor is eliminated the constitution will of itself cease to exist. Parliamentary government will fall into contempt. The system will collapse". He said of his attendance at the Stormont Parliament "I went there of duty, not of desire". In November 1945, he resigned his Belfast Central seat and retired from politics in order to take up a position as a County Court Judge.

Personal life

He married Norah Gilfedder on 11 February 1918 in St Patrick's Church, Belfast and had five children, one daughter and four sons one of whom – Joseph – became a priest of the

Diocese of Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, ( ga, Deoise an Dúin agus Chonaire) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the me ...

References

Sources

*T.J. Campbell, ''Fifty Years Of Ulster 1890–1940'' * Michael Farrell, ''Northern Ireland: The Orange State'' *Eamon Phoenix (1994), ''Northern Nationalism: Nationalist Polictics, Partition and the Catholic Minority in Northern Ireland, 1890–1940''.Ulster Historical Foundation,
Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Thomas Joseph 1871 births 1946 deaths Alumni of King's Inns Alumni of the Royal University of Ireland Irish barristers Judges in Northern Ireland Lawyers from Belfast Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1933–1938 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1938–1945 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1945–1949 Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Belfast constituencies Members of the Senate of Northern Ireland 1929–1933 Members of the Senate of Northern Ireland 1933–1937 Nationalist Party (Ireland) members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Nationalist Party (Ireland) members of the Senate of Northern Ireland Politicians from Belfast People educated at St Malachy's College