Irish Unionist Party
Encyclopedia : I : IR : IRI : Irish Unionist Party
The Irish Unionist Party was a Unionist party founded in Ireland in the second half of the 19th century to oppose plans for "Gladstonian home rule for Ireland. The party was led for much of its life by Colonel Edward James Saunderson and later by the Viscount (later the Earl of) Midleton.
The party aligned itself closely with Liberal Unionists and the Conservative Party to campaign to prevent the passage of a Home Rule Bill. Among its most prominent members was Dublin barrister Edward Carson. Its electoral strength was largely through not exclusively Dublin-based, with it electing MPs from constituencies in the south Dublin area and in Trinity College. As late as 1929 there was a Unionist majority in Rathmines council.
The party was replaced in Ulster by the Ulster Unionist Party from the start of the twentieth century. It lost its reason to exist following the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. Some of its leading figures, such as the Earl of Midleton and Lord Dunraven, were appointed to the Free State Seanad (Senate).
Many of its leading figures were associated with the Kildare Street Club, a gentleman's club in Dublin.
| Defunct Political Parties in Ireland | |
|---|---|
| To 1918: | All-for-Ireland League > Catholic Union | Home Government Association | Home Rule League | Independent Irish Party | Irish Conservative Party | Irish Liberal Party | Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society | Irish National Federation | Irish Parliamentary Party | Irish Unionist Party | National Association | National League | United Irish League |
| Post 1918: | Anti-Partition of Ireland League > Aontacht Éireann | Clann na Poblachta | Clann na Talmhan | Córas na Poblachta | Cumann na nGaedhael | Cumann na Poblachta | Democratic Left | Democratic Socialist Party | Irish Independence Party | National Labour | National League | National Progressive Democrats | Republican Congress | Saor Éire | Socialist Labour Party | Socialist Party of Ireland |
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