The Loyal Irish Union was a Unionist

Unionism in Ireland

Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...

 group formed in 1885.

The organisation was founded by Thomas Bateson

Thomas Bateson, 1st Baron Deramore

Thomas Bateson, 1st Baron Deramore , known as Sir Thomas Bateson, 2nd Bt from 1863 until 1885, was a British peer and Conservative Party politician.-Biography:...

, Lord Londonderry

Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry

Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry KG, GCVO, PC, DL, JP , styled Viscount Castlereagh between 1872 and 1884, was an Anglo-Irish Conservative politician, landowner and benefactor, who served in various capacities in the Conservative administrations of the late 19th and...

, the Marquis of Hamilton, Robert O'Neill

Robert Torrens O'Neill

Hon. Robert Torrens O'Neill , was an Irish Conservative, and later Irish Unionist politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1910....

 and other prominent unionists from Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

. It represented the wing of 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...

 which prioritised opposition to the Liberal Party

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 to calls for bi-partisan opposition to Irish independence

Irish independence

Irish independence may refer to:* Irish War of Independence – a guerrilla war fought between the Irish Republican Army, under the Irish Republic, and the United Kingdom* Anglo-Irish Treaty – the treaty that brought the Irish War of Independence to a close...

. It campaigned alongside the local Conservative Party associations in the 1885 UK general election, and the unionist candidates proved very successful against an overconfident Liberal Party.

Some supporters of the association envisioned it becoming a popular membership organisation, but only one branch was founded, and the union was dissolved in January 1886, following the establishment of the Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union.