William Shaw (4 May 1823 – 19 September 1895) was an Irish

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. He was a

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 o ...

(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. T ...

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 Grea ...

and one of the founders of the

Irish home rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the ...

movement. Born in

Moy, County Tyrone Moy () is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland about southeast of Dungannon and beside the smaller village of Charlemont. Charlemont is on the east bank of the River Blackwater and Moy on the west; the two are joined b ...

, Shaw was connected with the

Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political and cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nation'', it took issue with the compromise ...

movement, and studied at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

without taking a degree. He then studied theology at

Highbury College Highbury College is a further education college in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It offers vocational and academic education and training, including apprenticeships, A-levels and foundation degrees. The college is a member of the Collab G ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

. He served as a Minister at an independent church in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

from 1846 to 1850, then married and left his post to move into business.Shaw, William
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' Shaw stood as a Liberal Party candidate in Bandon, at the 1865 by-election and subsequent

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, but was defeated on both occasions. He stood in the same seat at the 1868 general election, and was elected as an independent Liberal. While generally supportive of

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 ...

, he became active in the new

Home Government Association The Home Government Association was a pressure group launched by Isaac Butt in support of home rule for Ireland at a meeting in Bilton's Hotel, Dublin, on 19 May 1870. The meeting was attended or supported by sixty-one people of different politi ...

, and in 1873, he presided over the convention held to found its successor, the

Home Rule League The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...

. At the 1874 general election, Shaw was elected unopposed for

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, and with

Mitchell Henry Mitchell Henry (1826 – 22 November 1910) was an English financier, politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was MP for County Galway from 1871 to 1885, a ...

, often deputised for Home Rule Party leader Isaac Butt. He remained loyal to Butt, and when Butt died in 1879, Shaw was selected as the new party chairman. Shaw held his seat at the 1880 general election, but lost an election for the party chairmanship, to

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 distanced the Home Rule League from the Liberal Party, but Shaw continued to sit on the Liberal benches in the House of Commons, and was appointed to the

Bessborough Commission 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 ...

to examine Irish land tenure. Shaw opposed the Irish Land League, formally left the Irish party group in early 1881, and resigned from the moribund Home Rule League in December. Shaw devoted increasing amounts of his time to his chairmanship of the Munster Bank, and did not stand for Parliament at the 1885 general election. Later in the year, the Munster Bank collapsed, and Shaw was declared personally bankrupt. He moved to London and worked with various newspapers in the last years of his life. Shaw died on the 19th September 1895 in

Enniskerry Enniskerry (historically ''Annaskerry'', from ) is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. The population was 1,889 at the 2016 census. Location The village is situated on the Glencullen River in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains in the ea ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by ...

. He died from Cardiac Failure aged 72.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, William 1823 births 1895 deaths Irish Protestants Home Rule League MPs Irish Liberal Party MPs Protestant Irish nationalists Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cork constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 Politicians from County Tyrone