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Pat O'Brien (Irish politician)
Encyclopedia
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
(1886-1892) and Kilkenny City
(1895-1917). He was Chief Whip
of the Irish Party from 1907 until his death in 1917.
, Co. Offaly
, he never married. He trained as a mechanical and marine engineer but subsequently moved to Liverpool where he set up a business as a coal merchant. In his early days he was a Fenian
and was imprisoned as such. After moving to England he became active in the Land League
and in the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, and was again imprisoned in his capacity as secretary of the Commercial Branch of the Land League in Liverpool. He became known to Parnell
who chose him as candidate for North Monaghan at a by-election in February 1886 after Timothy Healy
, who had won the seat in 1885, elected to sit for South Londonderry
. O’Brien was reluctant to stand but yielded to Parnell’s instructions to be in Monaghan the following morning. He went to catch the steamer for Ireland without returning home for his coat, but borrowed one which was several sizes too large from a friend he met in the street. In this he appeared at the Party convention.
O’Brien was very active in the Plan of Campaign
in 1887-90. He was imprisoned 5 times in 1888 and 1890, being given sentences totalling nearly 18 months. He always had a camera with him on Land League campaigns, and took photographs of scenes of eviction which he exhibited on a barge in the Thames opposite the House of Commons to members on the Terrace and crowds on Westminster Bridge. J. P. Hayden
described the circumstances of his first encounter with O’Brien on 1 January 1888, at a protest meeting at Four Roads, Co. Roscommon. O’Brien and James Gilhooly
were both speakers, the latter under warrant of arrest under the Coercion Act. In order to protect Gilhooly, Hayden as chair introduced O’Brien as Gilhooly and Gilhooly as O’Brien. Gilhooly was taken away surreptitiously from the meeting after his speech. The police subsequently followed O’Brien thinking he was Gilhooly, and arrested him the next day in Athlone. They had to release him. However he was arrested as himself a few days afterwards for his speech at Four Roads.
At the time of the Split over Parnell’s leadership in December 1890, O’Brien was in prison, but on his release he declared for Parnell. He was made whip of the Parnellite party after Parnell’s death in October 1891. At the following election in 1892 the Parnellites did not contest North Monaghan, where a split in the Nationalist vote would probably have given the seat to the Unionist
candidate. O'Brien fought Limerick City
as a Parnellite instead, but was defeated. He won election as a Parnellite at Kilkenny City in 1895 by the narrow majority of 14 votes and thereafter held this seat unopposed.
When the Irish Party reunited in 1900, O’Brien became one of its whips and remained so until his death. He played a key role in the passage of the Home Rule Act 1914
when many voting ambushes were attempted by the opposition.
Along with fellow Parnellites Willie Redmond
and J. J. Clancy
, O'Brien was one of the small circle of political intimates of the leader of the Irish Party, John Redmond
. He often spent holidays at Redmond’s home at Aghavannagh
, Co. Wicklow, and moved there at Redmond’s invitation during his last illness. His death from a stroke in July 1917 only a month after Willie Redmond (John Redmond’s brother) was killed serving with the 16th (Irish) Division on the Western Front
on June 9, 1917 was a devastating blow to John Redmond. Stephen Gwynn recorded of Redmond at O'Brien's funeral that 'Then, and then only in his lifetime people saw him publicly break down; he had to be led away from the grave'.
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...
MP
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,...
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 North Monaghan
North Monaghan (UK Parliament constituency)
North Monaghan was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, from 1885 to 1922....
(1886-1892) and Kilkenny City
Kilkenny City (UK Parliament constituency)
Kilkenny City was an Irish Borough constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament...
(1895-1917). He was Chief Whip
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
of the Irish Party from 1907 until his death in 1917.
Biography
Second son of James O’Brien of TullamoreTullamore
Tullamore is a town in County Offaly, in the midlands of Ireland. It is Offaly's county town and the centre of the district.Tullamore is an important commercial and industrial centre in the region. Major international employers in the town include 'Tyco Healthcare' and 'Boston Scientific'. In...
, Co. Offaly
County Offaly
County Offaly is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Midlands Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe and was formerly known as King's County until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Offaly County Council is...
, he never married. He trained as a mechanical and marine engineer but subsequently moved to Liverpool where he set up a business as a coal merchant. In his early days he was a Fenian
Fenian
The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...
and was imprisoned as such. After moving to England he became 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...
and in the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, and was again imprisoned in his capacity as secretary of the Commercial Branch of the Land League in Liverpool. He became known to 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...
who chose him as candidate for North Monaghan at a by-election in February 1886 after Timothy Healy
Timothy Michael Healy
Timothy Michael Healy, KC , also known as Tim Healy, was an Irish nationalist politician, journalist, author, barrister and one of the most controversial Irish Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, who had won the seat in 1885, elected to sit for South Londonderry
South Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency)
South Londonderry was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland. It returned one Member of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1885 until it was abolished in 1922.-Boundaries and Boundary Changes:...
. O’Brien was reluctant to stand but yielded to Parnell’s instructions to be in Monaghan the following morning. He went to catch the steamer for Ireland without returning home for his coat, but borrowed one which was several sizes too large from a friend he met in the street. In this he appeared at the Party convention.
O’Brien was very active in the Plan of Campaign
Plan of Campaign
The Plan of Campaign was a stratagem adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, co-ordinated by Irish politicians for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee and rack-rent landlords. It was launched to counter agricultural distress caused by the continual depression in prices of dairy...
in 1887-90. He was imprisoned 5 times in 1888 and 1890, being given sentences totalling nearly 18 months. He always had a camera with him on Land League campaigns, and took photographs of scenes of eviction which he exhibited on a barge in the Thames opposite the House of Commons to members on the Terrace and crowds on Westminster Bridge. J. P. Hayden
John Patrick Hayden
John Patrick Hayden was an Irish nationalist politician and MP. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented South Co. Roscommon from 1897 to 1918. He was also editor and proprietor of the Westmeath Examiner,...
described the circumstances of his first encounter with O’Brien on 1 January 1888, at a protest meeting at Four Roads, Co. Roscommon. O’Brien and James Gilhooly
James Gilhooly
James Gilhooly was an Irish nationalist politician and MP. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, from 1910 the All-for Ireland Party, who represented his constituency from 1885 for 30 years until his death, retaining...
were both speakers, the latter under warrant of arrest under the Coercion Act. In order to protect Gilhooly, Hayden as chair introduced O’Brien as Gilhooly and Gilhooly as O’Brien. Gilhooly was taken away surreptitiously from the meeting after his speech. The police subsequently followed O’Brien thinking he was Gilhooly, and arrested him the next day in Athlone. They had to release him. However he was arrested as himself a few days afterwards for his speech at Four Roads.
At the time of the Split over Parnell’s leadership in December 1890, O’Brien was in prison, but on his release he declared for Parnell. He was made whip of the Parnellite party after Parnell’s death in October 1891. At the following election in 1892 the Parnellites did not contest North Monaghan, where a split in the Nationalist vote would probably have given the seat to the 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...
candidate. O'Brien fought Limerick City
Limerick City (UK Parliament constituency)
Limerick City was a United Kingdom Parliament constituency, in Ireland. It returned one MP 1801–1832, two MPs 1832–1885 and one thereafter. It was an original constituency represented in Parliament when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland took effect on 1 January 1801...
as a Parnellite instead, but was defeated. He won election as a Parnellite at Kilkenny City in 1895 by the narrow majority of 14 votes and thereafter held this seat unopposed.
When the Irish Party reunited in 1900, O’Brien became one of its whips and remained so until his death. He played a key role in the passage of the Home Rule Act 1914
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...
when many voting ambushes were attempted by the opposition.
Along 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 J. J. Clancy
J. J. Clancy (MP)
John Joseph Clancy , usually known as J. J. Clancy, was an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament for North County Dublin from 1885 to 1918, one of the leaders of the later Irish Home Rule movement and promoter of the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1908, known as the Clancy Act...
, O'Brien was one of the small circle of political intimates of the leader of the Irish Party, 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...
. He often spent holidays at Redmond’s home at Aghavannagh
Aghavannagh
Aghavannagh is a small village and townland in south County Wicklow, Ireland in the barony of Ballinacor South. It is located on the Military Road originally constructed between 1804 and 1809, in the wake of the 1798 rebellion...
, Co. Wicklow, and moved there at Redmond’s invitation during his last illness. His death from a stroke in July 1917 only a month after Willie Redmond (John Redmond’s brother) was killed serving with the 16th (Irish) Division on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
on June 9, 1917 was a devastating blow to John Redmond. Stephen Gwynn recorded of Redmond at O'Brien's funeral that 'Then, and then only in his lifetime people saw him publicly break down; he had to be led away from the grave'.
Sources
- Freeman’s Journal, 13-14 July 1917
- Stephen Gwynn, John Redmond's Last Years, London, Edward Arnold, 1919
- Patrick Maume, The long Gestation, Irish Nationalist Life 1891-1918, p. 237, Gill & Macmillan (1999) ISBN 0-7171-2744-3
- Brian M. Walker (ed.), Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 1978
- Who Was Who 1916-1928