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Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union

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Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union
FoundedMay 1885; 139 years ago (May 1885)
Dissolved1891; 133 years ago (1891)
Succeeded byIrish Unionist Alliance
HeadquartersDublin
NewspaperNotes from Ireland
IdeologyBig tent
Anti-Home Rule
Irish Unionism

The Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union (ILPU) was a unionist political organisation in Ireland, established to oppose the Irish Home Rule movement.[1]

The Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union was formed in Dublin in May 1885 by a small number of southern businessmen, landowners and academics.[2] It sought to unite Liberals and Conservatives in the three southern provinces of Ireland on a common platform of maintenance of the union between Great Britain and Ireland. In doing so, it undermined the Conservative Loyal Irish Union, which shut down as a result of the ILPU's founding. From its inception, the ILPU's main opponent was the Irish Parliamentary Party. The ILPU published pamphlets, leaflets and a news sheet, Notes from Ireland, which were distributed widely in Ireland.[3][4] The organisation had some success in preventing rivalry between Liberals and Conservatives, and in a number of cases candidates came forward in the 1885 general election simply as ‘loyalists’. A total of 54 of the southern seats were contested by anti-home rule candidates.

The success of the organisation led its leaders to found the Irish Unionist Alliance in 1891, at which point the ILPU ceased to exist as a separate body.

1885 general election

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Coloured purple are seats contested by the ILPU in the 1885 election. All were lost to the IPP. Constituencies coloured green were won by the IPP, and blue by the Conservatives.

Table shows results for candidates running under a purely "Loyalist" banner.

Constituency Candidate Votes % Position Winning party
Mid Cork Arthur St George Patton 106 2.1 2 Irish Parliamentary Party
North Donegal Augustus Stewart 952 17.2 2 Irish Parliamentary Party
Galway Borough Thomas George Palmer Hallett 164 10.9 2 Irish Parliamentary Party
South Kerry Daniel O'Connell 133 4.6 2 Irish Parliamentary Party
East Waterford Capt. William Gervaise de la Poer 314 8.7 2 Irish Parliamentary Party
South Westmeath Herman Southwood Smith 200 5.2 2 Irish Parliamentary Party

References

[edit]
  1. ^ The Real Dangers of Home Rule (Dublin: Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union, 1887)
  2. ^ Alvin Jackson, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History (Oxford University Press, 19 Mar 2014), 52.
  3. ^ Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union: Leaflets (Dublin, 1886)
  4. ^ James H. Murphy, The Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume IV (Oxford University Press, 1 Sep 2011), 71.
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