Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union | |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 1885 |
| Dissolved | 1891 |
| Succeeded by | Irish Unionist Alliance |
| Headquarters | Dublin |
| Newspaper | Notes from Ireland |
| Ideology | Big 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.
- ^ The Real Dangers of Home Rule (Dublin: Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union, 1887)
- ^ Alvin Jackson, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History (Oxford University Press, 19 Mar 2014), 52.
- ^ Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union: Leaflets (Dublin, 1886)
- ^ James H. Murphy, The Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume IV (Oxford University Press, 1 Sep 2011), 71.
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