John Philip Nolan
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant-Colonel John Philip Nolan (1838 – 30 January 1912) was an Irish
nationalist
landowner and Member of Parliament
(MP) in the House of Commons
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party
represented Galway County (1872-1885) and Galway North (1885-1895), (1900-1906).
He was the eldest son of John Nolan, Justice of the Peace
, of Ballinderry, Tuam
, and Mary Anne, Walter Nolan, of Loughboy. He received his education at Clongowes Wood College
, Stonyhurst
, Trinity College, Dublin
, the Staff College
and Woolwich
. He entered the British Royal Artillery
in 1857 and served throughout the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia
. As adjutant to Colonel Milward, he was present at the capture of Amba Mariam
(then known as Magdala) and was mentioned in despatches. He was awarded the Abyssinian War Medal and retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1881.
Nolan became involved in the nascent home rule
campaign of the Home Rule League
. On 8 February 1872 Nolan was elected MP for Galway County
in a by-election
, defeating by a large majority the Conservative
William Le Poer Trench
. Of the 4,686 available electors, who were chiefly Catholic
, 2,823 voted for Nolan and 658 for Trench.
Trench appealed the result, claiming on petition that there was widespread intimidation during the election campaign. The local Catholic bishops and clergy had strongly supported Nolan, chiefly because the family of his opponent, a Captain Trench, was active in proselytism
. The trial of the Galway County Election Petition began, before Judge William Keogh
, on the 1 April and ended on the 21 May 1872.
Judge Keogh found that Capt. Nolan had been elected by the undue influence and intimidation and in his report stated that he found 36 persons guilty of undue influence and intimidation, including John McHale, the Archbishop of Tuam
, the Bishop of Clonfert, Patrick Duggan
, and the Bishop of Galway, McEvilly, and twenty nine named priests, such intimidation being in some cases exercised in the very churches. As a result, Captain Nolan was unseated on 13 June, the seat going to Captain Trench. The judgement caused an uproar; the judge was threatened with removal from the bench and his reputation never recovered.
Nolan retook the seat at the 1874 election. He remained MP after the 1885 constituency reforms as MP for Galway North until 1895.
When the Irish Parliamentary Party split over Charles Stewart Parnell
's long-term family relationship with Katherine O'Shea
, the separated wife of a fellow MP, Nolan sided with his deposed leader and seconded the motion to retain Parnell as chairman at the ill-fated party meeting in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons. He went on to become whip
of the pro-Parnellite rump of the split party, the Irish National League. He lost the Galway North seat to an Anti-Parnellite
, Denis Kilbride
, in 1895 and stood unsuccessfully as a Parnellite for Louth South in 1896. He was re-elected unopposed at Galway North after the reunification of the Parliamentary Party in 1900, but lost the seat again for the last time in 1906 when he stood as an Independent Nationalist
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
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...
landowner 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) in 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...
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
and as member 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...
represented Galway County (1872-1885) and Galway North (1885-1895), (1900-1906).
He was the eldest son of John Nolan, Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, of Ballinderry, Tuam
Tuam
Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...
, and Mary Anne, Walter Nolan, of Loughboy. He received his education at Clongowes Wood College
Clongowes Wood College
Clongowes Wood College is a voluntary secondary boarding school for boys, located near Clane in County Kildare, Ireland. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1814, it is one of Ireland's oldest Catholic schools, and featured prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the...
, Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst is the name of a rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's.-The Estate:...
, Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, the Staff College
Staff College, Camberley
Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army from 1802 to 1997, with periods of closure during major wars. In 1997 it was merged into the new Joint Services Command and Staff College.-Origins:...
and Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
. He entered the British Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
in 1857 and served throughout the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia
1868 Expedition to Abyssinia
The British 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia was a punitive expedition carried out by armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire...
. As adjutant to Colonel Milward, he was present at the capture of Amba Mariam
Amba Mariam
Amba Mariam is a village in central Ethiopia. It was known as Magdala or Meqdela during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia...
(then known as Magdala) and was mentioned in despatches. He was awarded the Abyssinian War Medal and retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1881.
Nolan became involved in the nascent home rule
Home rule
Home rule is the power of a constituent part of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been devolved to it by the central government....
campaign of the 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:...
. On 8 February 1872 Nolan was elected MP for Galway County
Galway County (UK Parliament constituency)
The UK Parliament constituency of County Galway was an historic Irish constituency, comprised the whole of County Galway, except for the Borough of Galway. It replaced the pre-Act of Union Parliament of Ireland constituency...
in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
, defeating by a large majority the Conservative
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...
William Le Poer Trench
William Le Poer Trench
Colonel The Hon. William Le Poer Trench CVO, JP was an Anglo-Irish politician and British army officer.He was the son of William Thomas Le Poer Trench, 3rd Earl of Clancarty and Lady Sarah Juliana Butler....
. Of the 4,686 available electors, who were chiefly Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
, 2,823 voted for Nolan and 658 for Trench.
Trench appealed the result, claiming on petition that there was widespread intimidation during the election campaign. The local Catholic bishops and clergy had strongly supported Nolan, chiefly because the family of his opponent, a Captain Trench, was active in proselytism
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
. The trial of the Galway County Election Petition began, before Judge William Keogh
William Keogh
William Keogh PC was an unpopular and controversial Irish politician and judge, whose name became a byword for betraying one's political principles.- Background :...
, on the 1 April and ended on the 21 May 1872.
Judge Keogh found that Capt. Nolan had been elected by the undue influence and intimidation and in his report stated that he found 36 persons guilty of undue influence and intimidation, including John McHale, the Archbishop of Tuam
Archbishop of Tuam
The Archbishop of Tuam is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Roman Catholic Church.-History:...
, the Bishop of Clonfert, Patrick Duggan
Patrick Duggan
The Most Reverend Patrick Duggan was an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman who served as the Bishop of Clonfert from 1872 until his death.Duggan was born in Cummer, County Galway in 1813...
, and the Bishop of Galway, McEvilly, and twenty nine named priests, such intimidation being in some cases exercised in the very churches. As a result, Captain Nolan was unseated on 13 June, the seat going to Captain Trench. The judgement caused an uproar; the judge was threatened with removal from the bench and his reputation never recovered.
Nolan retook the seat at the 1874 election. He remained MP after the 1885 constituency reforms as MP for Galway North until 1895.
When the Irish Parliamentary Party split over 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...
's long-term family relationship 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...
, the separated wife of a fellow MP, Nolan sided with his deposed leader and seconded the motion to retain Parnell as chairman at the ill-fated party meeting in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons. He went on to become whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
of the pro-Parnellite rump of the split party, the Irish National League. He lost the Galway North seat to an Anti-Parnellite
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...
, Denis Kilbride
Denis Kilbride
Denis Kilbride was an Irish nationalist politician, who as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented South Kerry , and North Galway and South Kildare as an Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.He was educated at Clongowes...
, in 1895 and stood unsuccessfully as a Parnellite for Louth South in 1896. He was re-elected unopposed at Galway North after the reunification of the Parliamentary Party in 1900, but lost the seat again for the last time in 1906 when he stood as an Independent Nationalist
Independent Nationalist
Independent Nationalist was a political title frequently used by Irish nationalists when contesting elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland not as members of the Irish Parliamentary Party, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.In the...
.
Writings
- "Galway Castles and Owners in 1574", Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 1:2 (1900–1901), pp. 109-123.
- “The Castles of Clare Barony. The thirty-four De Burgo Castles in the Barony of Clare”, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 1:1 (1900–1901), pp. 11-48.