Richard Byrne (died 28 August 1942) was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.
The Irish are a Celtic nation and ethnic group native to the island of Ireland, who share a common Irish ancestry, identity and culture. Ireland has been inhabited for about 12,500 years according to archaeological studies. For most of Ireland's recorded history, the Irish have been primarily a Gaelic people. Viking invasions of Ireland during the 8th to 11th centuries established the cities of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick. Anglo-Normans conquered parts of Ireland in the 12th century, while England's 16th/17th-century (re)conquest and colonisation of Ireland brought a large number of English and Lowland Scots people to parts of the island, especially the north. Today, Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland and the smaller Northern Ireland. The people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities including British, Irish, Northern Irish or some combination thereof.
The Nationalist Party was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), and was formed after partition, by the Northern Ireland-based members of the IPP.
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking office in government. Politicians propose, support and create laws or policies that govern the land and, by extension, its people. Broadly speaking, a "politician" can be anyone who seeks to achieve political power in any bureaucratic institution.
Byrne worked as a publican and was also a landlord. He was elected to Belfast City Council in 1910, serving until his death. At the Northern Ireland general election, 1921, Byrne unsuccessfully contested Belfast West. [1]
In antiquity, publicans were public contractors, in which they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw public building projects. In addition, they served as tax collectors for the Roman Republic, bidding on contracts for the collection of various types of taxes. Importantly, this role as tax collectors was not emphasized until late into the history of the Republic. The publicans were usually of the class of equites.
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant. When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner. The term landlady may be used for female owners, and lessor may be used regardless of gender. The manager of a UK pub, strictly speaking a licensed victualler, is referred to as the landlord/lady.
Belfast City Council is the local authority with responsibility for part of the city of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland. The Council serves an estimated population of 333,871 (2011), the largest of any district council in Northern Ireland, while also being the fourth smallest by area. Belfast City Council is the primary council of the Belfast Metropolitan Area, a grouping of six district councils with commuter towns and overspill from Belfast, containing a total population of 579,276.
Byrne contested Belfast Falls at the Northern Ireland general election, 1929. This came with the reluctant support of party leader Joseph Devlin, who described Byrne as a "Tory" and an "old pisspot". The contest was bitter, with Northern Ireland Labour Party opponent Billy McMullen producing a newspaper, the Northern Worker, claiming that Byrne was a slum landlord. Byrne secured an injunction to stop distribution two days before the election, and beat McMullen by around 1,400 votes. [2]
Belfast Falls was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
Joseph Devlin was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and later a Nationalist Party MP in the Parliament of Northern Ireland.
A Tory is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The Tory ethos has been summed up with the phrase "God, King, and Country". Tories generally advocate monarchism, and were historically of a high church Anglican religious heritage, opposed to the liberalism of the Whig faction.
From 1937 until his death, Byrne and Thomas Joseph Campbell were the only Nationalist Party members to regularly attend the Northern Ireland Parliament. Byrne held the seat until his death in 1942. [2]
Thomas Joseph Campbell, known as "T. J." Campbell, was an Irish politician, barrister, journalist, author and judge.
