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‘The Party Hack, and Tool of the B ritish Government’: T . P . O ' C onnor, A merica and I rish Party Resilience at the F ebruary 1918 S outh A rmagh By‐Election
Author(s) -
Doherty Erica
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
parliamentary history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.14
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1750-0206
pISSN - 0264-2824
DOI - 10.1111/1750-0206.12163
Subject(s) - contest , victory , irish , general election , political science , politics , nationalism , resilience (materials science) , government (linguistics) , law , public administration , philosophy , linguistics , physics , thermodynamics
The common view of Irish electoral politics for the 1916 to 1918 period is one of major decline for the traditional nationalist representatives, the I rish P arliamentary P arty ( IPP ), and the meteoric rise of the newly reconstituted S inn F éin party; culminating in the latter's overwhelming victory at the D ecember 1918 general election. By examining the F ebruary 1918 S outh A rmagh by‐election campaign, this article argues that the I rish P arliamentary P arty, which won the contest, was much more resilient than is often acknowledged. Through detailed analysis of election pamphlets, newspaper articles, private correspondence and committee minutes, it considers the significance of the grass‐roots strength of both in the form of their local organisations, the role of the R oman catholic church, and the election strategies of the two parties; in particular S inn F éin's vilification of the IPP member, T . P . O ' C onnor, who was in A merica at the time of the contest.