Alfred John Webb (10 June 1834 – 30 July 1908) was an Irish

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

from a family of activist printers. He became an

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 ...

politician 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 o ...

(MP), as well as a participant in nationalist movements around the world. He supported Butt's

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 the United Irish League. At Madras in 1894, he became the third non-Indian (after George Yule and

William Wedderburn Sir William Wedderburn, 4th Baronet, JP DL (25 March 1838 – 25 January 1918) was a British civil servant and politician who was a Liberal Party member of Parliament (MP). Wedderburn was one of the founding members of the Indian National C ...

) to preside over the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

Early life

Alfred Webb was the first child and only son of the three children of Richard Davis Webb and Hannah Waring Webb (1810–1862). The family ran a printing shop in Dublin and belonged to a Quaker group that supported reforms such as

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

and

anti-imperialism Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic ...

. The family press printed booklets for many of these causes and, in turn, their regular customers grew to include other similar organisations, including the Irish Protestant Home Rule Association and the Ladies’

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 farme ...

, an organisation founded by Fanny and Anna Parnell in 1880 that advocated on behalf of poor tenant farmers.

Career

Alfred Webb was interested in

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and began to write ''A Compendium of Irish Biography''. In 1865, he began to take a more active interest in Irish politics. He was inspired by the

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicate ...

s, although he believed in non-violence and the Fenians of that time believed that Ireland could only gain independence through an armed revolution. He was first elected to 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 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

on 24 February 1890, when he won a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

for the West Waterford constituency. He was again returned for West Waterford in the 1892 general election, this time as an

anti-Parnellite 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 ...

MP. In December, 1883, he resigned from the position of Land League treasurer, complaining of Parnell's 'autocratic management of funds'. His family had taken an interest in the

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Coun ...

and had been outspoken opponents of the opium traffic into China. Webb was a close friend of

Dadabhai Naoroji Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) also known as the "Grand Old Man of India" and "Unofficial Ambassador of India", was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar and writer who served as 2nd, 9th, and 22nd President of t ...

, a key member of the

, who was also a friend of other Irish nationalists including

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 Frank Hugh O’Donnell. He was elected, as a member of the Liberal party, in 1892, the year of the Liberal landslide to the Finsbury Central Westminster seat. While O'Donnell attempted to involve Naoroji in Irish politics, Webb was invited by Naoroji to preside over the Indian National Congress in 1894. Webb was a supporter of '' Anti-Caste'', Britain's first

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

journal which fellow Quaker activist

Catherine Impey Catherine Impey (1847 – 14 December 1923) was a British Quaker activist against racial discrimination. She founded Britain's first anti-racist journal, ''Anti-Caste'', in March 1888 and edited it until its last edition in 1895. The journa ...

founded in 1888. Webb was able to rally subscribers and activists for the journal around the world.Dr Caroline Bressey
''Anti-Caste: Britain’s First Anti-racist Journal'', synopsis on ESRC website
(RES-000-22-0522). Retrieved 26 July 2006. For example, although he was not a regular subscriber, Webb and

co-signed a letter with others to request support for a new association: ‘The Society for the Furtherance of Human Brotherhood’. He was laid to rest in the Quaker burial ground in Temple Hill, Monkstown, Dublin.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb 1834 births 1908 deaths Irish Quakers Protestant Irish nationalists Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Anti-Parnellite MPs Presidents of the Indian National Congress Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Waterford constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 Burials at Friends Burial Ground, Dublin

Early life

Career

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links