Government of Ireland Bill 1886

First Home Rule Bill

Name and origin
Official name of legislation	Government of Ireland Bill 1886
Location	Ireland
Year	1886
Government introduced	Gladstone (Liberal)
Parliamentary passage
House of Commons passed?	No
House of Lords passed?	Not applicable
Royal Assent?	Not Applicable
Defeated
Which House	House of Commons
Which stage	2nd stage
Final vote	Aye: 311; No 341
Date	8 June 1886
Details of legislation
Legislature type	unicameral
Unicameral subdivision	2 Orders
Name(s)	not given
Size(s)	1st Order – 100 (25 peers, 75 elected) 2nd Order 204–206 members
MPs in Westminster	none
Executive head	Lord Lieutenant
Executive body	none
Prime Minister in text	none
Responsible executive	no
Enactment
Act implemented	not applicable
Succeeded by	Irish Government Bill 1893

The Government of Ireland Bill 1886,^[1] commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was introduced on 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone to create a devolved assembly for Ireland which would govern Ireland in specified areas. The Irish Parliamentary Party had been campaigning for home rule for Ireland since the 1860s.

The bill, like his Irish Land Act 1870, was very much the work of Gladstone, who excluded both the Irish MPs and his own ministers from participation in the drafting. Following the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 it was to be introduced alongside a new Land Purchase Bill to reform tenant rights, but the latter was abandoned.^[2]: 69