J. J. Clancy (MP) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

John Joseph Clancy usually known as J. J. Clancy, was an Irish nationalist

Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

politician and Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

(MP) for North County Dublin

North Dublin (UK Parliament constituency)

North Dublin was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1922.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 the area was part of the Dublin County constituency...

from 1885 to 1918, one of the leaders of the later Irish Home Rule movement and promoter of the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act 1908, known as the Clancy Act. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1887 and became a KC (King’s Counsel

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

) in 1906.

Origins

Son of a farmer, William Clancy of Carraghy, J. J. Clancy was born at the height of the Great Irish Famine in the parish of Annaghdown

Annaghdown

Annaghdown is a parish in County Galway, Ireland. It takes its name from Eanach Dhúin, Irish for "the marsh of the fort". The village lies around Annaghdown Bay, an inlet of Lough Corrib...

, Co. Galway, which was one of the worst affected areas. He was educated at the College of the Immaculate Conception

College of the Immaculate Conception

College of the Immaculate Conception may refer to:*The College of the Immaculate Conception in New Orleans, Louisiana*The Saint Mary's College, Trinidad and Tobago, also known as Saint Mary's College, in Trinidad and Tobago...

, Athlone, and at the recently founded non-sectarian Queen’s College, Galway

National University of Ireland, Galway

The National University of Ireland, Galway is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland...

, obtaining an MA in Ancient Classics

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

in 1868. At both institutions he was a contemporary of his later Parliamentary colleague, T. P. O'Connor

T. P. O'Connor

Thomas Power O'Connor , known as T. P. O'Connor and occasionally as Tay Pay, was a journalist, an Irish nationalist political figure, and a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for nearly fifty years.-Biography:O'Connor was born in...

.

Clancy spent three years as a Classics teacher at Holy Cross School, Tralee, where he married Margaret Louise Hickie (d.1912) of Newcastle West

Newcastle West

Newcastle West is a town in west County Limerick, Ireland. The town is the largest town in the county, excluding Limerick city, and is sited on the River Arra which flows into the River Deel...

, Co. Limerick, in 1868. She was from a strongly Nationalist family and one of her nephews was the Irish revolutionary and author Piaras Béaslaí

Piaras Béaslaí

Piaras Béaslaí was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a member of Dáil Éireann and also an Irish author, playwright, biographer and translator....

(1881–1965), who had close relations with the Clancy family.

Early political life

In 1870, J. J. Clancy took up the post of assistant editor of the leading Nationalist weekly The Nation

The Nation (Irish newspaper)

The Nation was an Irish nationalist weekly newspaper, published in the 19th century. The Nation was printed first at 12 Trinity Street, Dublin, on 15 October 1842, until 6 January 1844...

, acting as editor in 1880-85. During this time he was active in the Land League

Irish National Land League

The Irish Land League was an Irish political organization of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on...

, Home Rule League

Home Rule League

The Home Rule League, sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was a political party which campaigned for home rule for the country of Ireland from 1873 to 1882, when it was replaced by the Irish Parliamentary Party.-Origins:...

, Young Ireland

Young Ireland

Young Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement of the mid-19th century. It led changes in Irish nationalism, including an abortive rebellion known as the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Many of the latter's leaders were tried for sedition and sentenced to penal transportation to...

Society and Irish Labour and Industrial Union, and was elected to the Organising Committee of the Irish National League on its foundation in 1882. He organised a vigorous voter registration campaign in County Dublin

County Dublin

County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...

after the Nationalist defeat at a by-election in 1883, and was elected MP for the North seat in the Nationalist landslide December 1885 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1885

-Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...

.

Clancy was appointed by the Irish Party in 1886 as editor of the Irish Press Agency in London, whose purpose was to win support for Irish Home Rule in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

. In this role he wrote or edited dozens of pamphlets, many of them attacking the regime of coercion introduced by Arthur Balfour

Arthur Balfour

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...

as Chief Secretary for Ireland

Chief Secretary for Ireland

The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, from the late 18th century until the end of British rule he was effectively the government minister with responsibility for governing Ireland; usually...

after the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

returned to power in 1886.

The Parnell Split

Clancy had long been a strong supporter of the Irish leader Charles Stewart Parnell

Charles Stewart Parnell

Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...

. When a majority of the Irish Parliamentary Party

Irish Parliamentary Party

The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...

turned against Parnell in November 1890, following what amounted to a demand by the Liberal leader, Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

, that Parnell should stand down over his involvement with Katherine O'Shea

Katherine O'Shea

Katharine O'Shea, also known as Katie O'Shea, Kitty O'Shea or, following her second marriage, Katharine Parnell was an English woman of aristocratic background, whose family relationship over many years with Charles Stewart Parnell eventually caused his political downfall.-Background:She was born...

, Clancy rapidly emerged as one of Parnell’s key defenders. On the third day of the Irish Party’s week-long debate on Parnell’s leadership in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

, Clancy proposed an amendment that attempted to compromise by seeking further views from Gladstone and the other British Liberal Party leaders. Although this move held off a decision for another three days, it was ultimately unsuccessful. Clancy was among the minority who stayed with Parnell when the party split on December 6, 1890 into the pro-Parnellite Irish National League (INL) and the anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation

Irish National Federation

The Irish National Federation was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded in March 1891 by former members of the Irish National League who had left the Irish Parliamentary Party in protest when Charles Stewart Parnell refused to resign the party leadership as a result of his...

(INF). He later joined the editorial staff of the Irish Daily Independent, which was founded to support the Parnellite cause.

After Parnell’s death in October 1891, the Parnellites were in an isolated position. At the July 1892 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1892

The 1892 United Kingdom general election was held from 4 July to 26 July 1892. It saw the Conservatives, led by Lord Salisbury, win the greatest number of seats, but not enough for an overall majority as William Ewart Gladstone's Liberals won many more seats than in the 1886 general election...

they faced vigorous opposition from the Catholic Church and Clancy was one of only nine INL Parnellites elected. Thereafter he worked closely with John Redmond

John Redmond

John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...

, who led the small Parnellite group and after the 1900 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1900

-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1900*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

the re-united Irish Parliamentary Party. Together with fellow Parnellites Willie Redmond

William Hoey Kearney Redmond

William Hoey Kearney Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the Irish Parliamentary Party for 34 years, a land reform agitator imprisoned three times, a determined advocate of Irish Home Rule, a barrister and a First World War fatality.-Family background:He...

and Pat O'Brien

Pat O'Brien (Irish politician)

Patrick O'Brien , generally known as Pat, was Irish Nationalist MP in the House Of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented North Monaghan and Kilkenny City . He was Chief Whip of the Irish Party from 1907 until his...

, Clancy was one of the small core of Redmond’s confidants, and until Redmond's death in March 1918 was his most trusted adviser on legal draftsmanship and constitutional law. After the retirement of Thomas Sexton, Clancy was seen as the Irish Party's financial expert.

Reforming legislation

Following the overwhelming rejection of the second Irish Home Rule Bill by the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

in 1893 and the Conservatives’ return to power in 1895 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1895

The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery...

, immediate prospects for Home Rule were abandoned. Over the next 15 years, Clancy focused on making the most of opportunities for reform. He helped in the framing of the various Land Acts

Irish Land Acts

The Land Acts were a series of measures to deal with the question of peasant proprietorship of land in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Five such acts were introduced by the government of the United Kingdom between 1870 and 1909...

, which settled the land question by enabling tenant farmers to buy their holdings, publishing a guide to the Land Act of 1896. He supported the introduction of democratic local government in Ireland following the Act of 1898

Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898

The Local Government Act 1898 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, Wales and Scotland by legislation in 1888 and 1889...

by publishing a guide to the Act and editing the County Councils Gazette. After the Liberals’ return to power in the 1906 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1885

, he went on to play a major role in promoting the Town Tenants (Ireland) Act of 1906, which gave rights to urban tenants to retain the value of their improvements parallel to those the Land Acts extended to farmers. He acted as spokesman for the Irish Party in support of the Trade Disputes Bills of 1904 and 1906 that restored the effective right to strike—which had been undermined by the Taff Vale Case

Taff Vale Case

Taff Vale Railway Co v Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants [1901] , commonly known as the Taff Vale case is a formative case in UK labour law...

of 1901. Housing conditions in Ireland at the time were very poor, and Clancy’s 1908 Housing Act made various financial and administrative changes with the aim of speeding up the building of council housing. Clancy also contributed to the resolution of the Catholic University question, via the Act of 1908 that established the present National University of Ireland

National University of Ireland

The National University of Ireland , , is a federal university system of constituent universities, previously called constituent colleges, and recognised colleges set up under the Irish Universities Act, 1908, and significantly amended by the Universities Act, 1997.The constituent universities are...

, which removed barriers that had held back participation in higher education by Ireland’s Catholic majority.

The third Home Rule Bill

Attaining Home Rule for Ireland by constitutional means required overcoming opposition from the House of Lords. This opportunity arose as a result of David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...

’s 1909 budget, which the Lords attempted to veto, leading the Liberals to fight a general election in 1910 on a platform of limiting the power of the Lords. But the 1909 budget was also unpopular in Ireland, because of changes to alcohol taxes and death duties, the latter affecting the very farmers whom the Irish Party itself had successfully campaigned to make owners of their farms. A delicate balance needed to be trodden and it fell to Clancy, by now the Irish Party’s finance spokesman, to deal with the problem.

The Third Home Rule Act

Home Rule Act 1914

The Government of Ireland Act 1914 , also known as the Third Home Rule Bill, was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to provide self-government for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.The Act was the first law ever passed by the Parliament of...

, creating a settlement for Ireland similar to the later devolution arrangements for Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

of 1998, eventually received the royal assent on September 18, 1914. But this was after earlier vehement Unionist opposition had become apparent in Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

, featuring the Larne gun-running

Larne Gun Running

The Larne gun-running was a major gun smuggling operation organised in Ireland by Major Frederick H. Crawford and Captain Wilfrid Spender for the Ulster Unionist Council to equip the Ulster Volunteer Force...

and near-mutiny in the British army. Implementation of the Act was postponed until after the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, which began on 4 August.

The rise of Sinn Féin

Following the Easter Rising

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

of 1916, misjudgments by the British government bolstered support for Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

, the broad movement campaigning for an independent Republic

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

, and events slipped out of the Irish Parliamentary leaders’ control. The younger generation had been brought up in a greatly intensified atmosphere of cultural nationalism focusing particularly on militant separatism.

Clancy was one of five Irish Parliamentary Party representatives in the Irish Convention

Irish Convention

The Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Dublin, Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on...

of 1917-18who tried to get an agreed settlement of the Ulster question. In this capacity he took the majority Nationalist line, compromising over the question of customs and excise and safeguards for Protestant interests for the sake of agreement with the Southern Unionists

Irish Unionist Party

The Irish Unionist Alliance was a Unionist party founded in Ireland in 1891 to oppose plans for Gladstonian and Parnellite Home Rule for Ireland. The party was led for much of its life by Colonel Edward James Saunderson and later by the William St John Brodrick, Earl of Midleton...

, and rejecting the more assertive Nationalist line of a group led by the Bishop of Raphoe

Raphoe

Raphoe is a town in County Donegal, part of the province of Ulster in Ireland. It is the main town in the fertile district of East Donegal known as the Laggan, as well as giving its name to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raphoe and the Church of Ireland Diocese of Derry and Raphoe.-Name:Raphoe,...

. Although the Convention produced a majority report, the consensus did not include the Northern Protestants and Lloyd George

David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...

subsequently went ahead with legislation for partition under the Fourth Home Rule Act

Government of Ireland Act 1920

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 was the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which partitioned Ireland. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill or as the Fourth Home Rule Act.The Act was intended...

. Following Redmond’s death in March 1918, Clancy was seen as the leader of the remnants of the Redmondite wing of the Party. He was one of the committee of six who drafted the Irish Parliamentary Party manifesto for the 1918 general election

Irish (UK) general election, 1918

The Irish general election of 1918 was that part of the 1918 United Kingdom general election that took place in Ireland. It is seen as a key moment in modern Irish history...

. In that election he was defeated by more than two to one by the Sinn Féin candidate, Frank Lawless

Frank Lawless

Frank J. Lawless was Sinn Féin member of the Dáil Éireann for Dublin County North, 1919-1922. He was a farmer at Saucerstown, Swords, Co. Dublin, and a member of a widely connected North County family identified with the National movement. He was an early member of Sinn Féin and of the Gaelic...

, the Parliamentary Party swept aside and only winning a disproportionate six contested seats, on 21,7% of the national vote in Ireland.

J. J. Clancy died in Dublin on November 25, 1928.

Selected writings

Essays and Speeches on the Irish Question: Vol.1, edited by J. J. Clancy, London, Irish Press Agency, 1888
‘The Position of the Irish Tenant’, Contemporary Review, Vol.LVI, July 1889
Short Lessons on the Irish Question; or, The leaflets of the Irish Press Agency, Vol.1, Nos.1-102, edited by J. J. Clancy, London, Irish Press Agency, 1890
‘The Question of the Irish Leadership’, Contemporary Review, Vol.LIX, March 1891
‘The Financial Aspects of Home Rule’, Contemporary Review, Vol.LXIII, January 1893
‘The Housing Problem: How to Solve It’, Speech delivered at the meeting of the Central branch of the United Irish League on Nov. 6th, 1907, Dublin, United Irish League, 1907
The Irish Party and the Budget: A Vindication, Dublin, Sealy, Bryers and Walker, 1910
The Home Rule Act: A Statement of its Provisions, Dublin, United Irish League, 1917

External links

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