Members of the First Dáil - Harry Boland

Harry Boland

Harry Boland (Irish: Énrí Ó Beólláin) (27 April 1887 – 31 July 1922) was an Irish nationalist of the early Twentieth century.

Boland was born in Phibsboro, Dublin on 27 April 1887. He was active in GAA circles in early life, and ultimately joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

Boland joined the Irish Volunteers along with his brothers and took an active part in the Easter Rising of 1916.

At the 1918 general election, Boland was elected to represent the South Roscommon seat. In line with all the Sinn Féin MPs elected at that election he did not represent his constituents at Westminster but withdrew to sit in the declared independent Dáil Éireann (the First Dáil) and was named by Éamon de Valera as special envoy to the United States.

He left Ireland for the United States of America along with de Valera as part of a campaign to raise awareness and support for their cause in America. Boland held the Russian Crown Jewels as collateral for a loan of $25000 from the Irish Republic to the Soviet Republic through the head of the Soviet Bureau, Ludwig Martens. These jewels were transferred to Ireland when he returned.

During the Irish War of Independence Boland operated alongside Michael Collins. Boland opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty along with de Valera, and in the ensuing Irish Civil War, he sided with the Anti-Treaty IRA. In 1922, he was re-elected to the Dáil representing Roscommon South.

During the Battle of Dublin (1922), Harry Boland was shot in a skirmish with soldiers of the Irish Free State at the Skerries Grand Hotel. He died several days later in St Vincent's hospital and was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery.

Boland's death affected Collins and may have spurred him towards peace negotiations with De Valera. Soon after, Collins was killed at an ambush at Béal na mBláth, County Cork. The Skerries Grand Hotel later became a secondary school for boys, managed by the De La Salle Brothers. There is a commemorative plaque on site stating that Boland was killed in action there.

Members of the First Dáil - Eamonn Duggan

Edmund (Eamonn) Duggan 2nd from left

Eamonn or Edmund S. Duggan (Irish: Éamon Ó Dúgáin) (1874 – 6 June 1936) was an Irish lawyer, nationalist and politician, a member of Sinn Féin and then Cumann na nGaedhael.

Born in Longwood, County Meath, Duggan's father was a RIC officer from County Armagh serving in the village, his mother a local woman by the name of Dunne. Duggan qualified as a solicitor and soon became involved in politics. He became a supporter of Sinn Féin and fought in the Easter Rising in 1916. He was subject to court-martial following the Rising and sentenced to three years penal servitude. Duggan was released in 1917 under general amnesty and went back to practicing law. For a time, he also served as Irish Republican Army Director of Intelligence.

Duggan was elected to the First Dáil Éireann for South Meath in 1918. At the end of 1920, he was re-arrested and not released until the Anglo-Irish Truce of July, 1921. After the Truce, he was appointed chief liaison officer for Ireland. In October 1921, Duggan was appointed as one of the five envoys to negotiate and conclude a treaty with the British Government. He signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, not at 10 Downing Street, but at 22 Hans Place, London.

In the post-Treaty provisional government, he was appointed Minister for Home Affairs and later became parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Defence and to the Executive Council. He declined to go forward in the 1933 general election but was elected to Seanad Éireann. He died suddenly at Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin on 6 June 1936.

Members of the First Dáil - Joseph MacBride

Joseph MacBride (died 1 January 1938) was an Irish Sinn Féin and later Cumann na nGaedhael politician. He was a member of the Irish Volunteers. His brother Major John MacBride fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and was executed by the British authorities. Joseph was arrested after the Rising and interned in prison in England and Wales.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Mayo West constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann, though MacBride did not attend as he was in prison.

He was re-elected unopposed at the 1921 elections for the Mayo North and West constituency. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted for it. He was again re-elected unopposed at the 1922 general election as a member of Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin. He joined Cumann na nGaedhael along with other pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TDs in 1923, and was elected at the 1923 general election for Mayo South. He lost his seat at the June 1927 general election and retired from politics.

His nephew Seán MacBride was subsequently Chief of Staff of the IRA and a founder of Clann na Poblachta and a government minister.

Members of the First Dáil - William Sears

William Sears (died 23 March 1929) was an Irish Sinn Féin and later Cumann na nGaedhael politician.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Mayo South constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann, though Sears did not attend as he was in prison. He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo South–Roscommon South constituency at the 1921 elections.

He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted for it. He was re-elected unopposed for the same constituency at the 1922 general election, this time as a pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TD. He was elected as a Cumann na nGaedhael TD for Mayo South constituency at the 1923 general election. He lost his seat at the June 1927 general election but was elected to the Seanad in 1928.

Members of the First Dáil - John Crowley

John Crowley (1870-1934) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician and medical practitioner.

Crowley received his early education in his home town of Cork. He attended the University of Glasgow and the Royal University of Edinburgh in Scotland where he obtained a medical degree. He practiced medicine for 33 years.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Mayo North constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann.

He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo North and West constituency at the 1921 elections. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it.
He was re-elected unopposed for the same constituency at the 1922 general election, this time as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TD, and he did not take his seat in the Dáil. He was elected as a Republican TD for Mayo North constituency at the 1923 general election and once again he did not take his seat. He did not contest the June 1927 general election.

Dr. Crowley was a devout Catholic. He married Julia Catherine Larkin in 1903. They had five children, four daughters and one son, Finbar, who passed away at the age of 3.

Dr. Crowley died in 1934 at the age of 64. His burial mass was at St. Brigid's CHurch in Ballycastle and presided over by the Most Rev. Dr. Naughton, Bishop of Killala. In attendance at his funeral were 1000 Old IRA members, Mr. P.J. Rutledge, the Minister for Justice, and many other T.D.s. The Minister for Justice, Mr. P.J. Rutledge was also present, as were many T.D.’s. He was buried in Doonfeeny Cemetery with his son Finbar.

A monument for Dr. Crowley was erected on Killala Road in Ballycastle. The inscription on the monument reads:

After Dr. Crowley's death in 1934, a song was written in his tribute:

Oh mourn you true Irishmen An Irish Patriot brave A fearless champion of the cause Today rests in his grave.
Brave Dr. Crowley is no more A true son of Inisfail And many hearts in dear Mayo His loss will long bewail
A gloom o’erspread the district When Dr. Crowley died He loved and much respected was Within the country wide.
From Achills cliffs to Clew Bay shore From the May to Lackan Strand On every side the cry is heard, Brave Crowley is no more.
A noble son of Rebel Cork Where he first saw the light And trod the path of early youth Of truth and virtue bright.
When Ireland’s trumpet call rang out By hill and town and sea, He marched proud with strength held high The banner of Sinn Fein
In Twenty and in Twenty-one Sad but glorious years When Ireland's brooins call rang out He led the volunteers.
A pure forth patriot kind and true He loved his country well In Potter’s cease he long endured The dreary prison cell.
So dear to all who knew him well His loved and honoured comrades His deeds will be remembered round Till Ireland’s one again.
He learned his native language Brilliantly spoke the Gaelic tongue, He read and wrote it fluently The respect of all was won.
Our Parliament was stifled A leader they did need He joined with other members To form the first Dail freed.
In the medical profession His equals they were few O mind, Mayo peasantry He laboured hard for you.
By his friends in Ballycastle He will long remembered be And by his boyhood comrades Down by the River Lee.
That place he left when but a boy So many years ago He made his home here by the sea Where the glen’s great waters flow.
Within Dunfinn Churchyard His body laid to rest Above his tomb are evergreens And yonder yew tree waves.
We pray his soul in heaven rests Among God’s holy angels blest.

Members of the First Dáil - John J. O'Kelly

John Joseph O'Kelly (known as Sceilg, an acronym of his name in Irish: Seán S. Ó Ceallaigh; 1872–26 March 1957) was an Irish politician, author and publisher. He was a former president of the Gaelic League and of Sinn Féin. He was born on Valentia Island off the County Kerry coast.

He joined Sinn Féin at its inaugural meeting on November 5, 1905. Following the 1916 Easter Rising, O'Kelly joined the Irish National League and became treasurer of the Irish National Aid and Volunteers' Dependants' Fund for the relief of prisoners and their families. In February 1917 he was arrested and deported to England where he was interned without trial for several months. On his release O'Kelly was elected to the Provisional Committee of the newly merged Irish National League and Sinn Féin, thereafter called Sinn Féin. He was appointed editor of the influential "Catholic Bulletin".

In the United Kingdom general election, 1918 he was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for Louth by 255 votes in what was the closest contest in Ireland in that election. The closeness of the contest was due to the strong AOH organisation in the county that campaigned for outgoing North Galway MP Richard Hazleton of the Irish Parliamentary Party.

O'Kelly took his seat in Dáil Éireann as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála and was elected Leas-Cheann Comhairle (vice) Ceann Comhairle in 1919-21. He was Secretary for Education in the Government of the 2nd Dáil. From 1919 to 1923, he was President of the Gaelic League. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty that was ratified by the Dáil in January 1922, and refused to accept the legitimacy of the Irish Free State established in December 1922. He and others maintained that the Irish Republic continued to exist and that the rump of the Second Dáil, composed of those anti-Treaty TDs who had refused to take their seats in what became the Free State parliament, was the only legitimate government for the whole of Ireland. He was elected to the Third Dáil but abstained from taking his seat. After the resignation of Éamon de Valera as president of Sinn Féin in 1926, O'Kelly was elected in his place and remained in this position until 1931.

He was a prolific author on Irish language and history topics, editing Banba, The Catholic Bulletin and An Camán. He was intensely religious and a conservative Roman Catholic. Many of his speeches and writings contained anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic content. In 1916, members of Ireland's Jewish community protested after the Bulletin published a series of articles by Fr. T.H. Burbage accusing the Jewish community of carrying out ritual murders; O'Kelly refused to apologise for the articles. O'Kelly opposed members of the IRA fighting against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. In 1938, he was one of seven remaining abstentionist Second Dáil TDs who transferred the "authority" of what they believed was the "authority" of the Government of the Irish Republic to the IRA Army Council (see Irish republican legitimatism).

In 1938, he visited Germany, later publishing his impressions in the Irish Independent.

O'Kelly died in Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, on 26 March 1957, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery on March 28.

Members of the First Dáil - Patrick McCartan

Patrick McCartan

Patrick McCartan (13 March 1878 – 28 March 1966) was an Irish republican and politician. He was born in Eskerbuoy, near Carrickmore, County Tyrone to Bernard McCartan and Bridget Rafferty. He emigrated to the USA as a young man and became a member of Clan na Gael in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and edited the journal Irish Freedom. He returned to Ireland some years later and qualified as a doctor. He also continued working with nationalist politics and worked closely with Bulmer Hobson and Denis McCullough with the Dungannon Clubs and the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

He was also a close friend of Thomas Clarke but they fell out on the eve of the Easter Rising, when McCartan sent word that the Tyrone volunteers would not rise until they received confirmation that the Pope had received word that a Rising was due to take place and that the German guns had landed in County Kerry. McCartan was arrested after the Rising and interned in an open prison in England. In 1917 he took "French leave" to return to Ireland and assist Sinn Féin in the by-elections being held throughout Ireland that year.

McCartan contested the by-election in South Armagh for Sinn Féin but lost out to the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate through Unionist tactical voting. He was later elected in a by-election in King's County Tullamore in 1918. He was re-elected in the 1918 UK general election and at the meeting of the First Dáil was appointed Sinn Féin’s representative in the USA where he would remain until 1921. While in the USA, he renewed his acquaintance with his fellow Carrickmore native Joseph McGarrity. They persuaded Éamon de Valera to support the Philadelphia branch of Clan na Gael against the New York branch led by John Devoy and Judge Daniel Colohan in their struggle to focus the resources of the Friends of Irish Freedom to Irish independence rather than domestic American politics. McCartan also assisted with the development of the American Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic.

He was re-elected for Leix–Offaly at the 1921 elections. He gave the Anglo-Irish Treaty his reluctant support though in the course of the Dáil debates, saying he would not "Vote for Chaos." He blamed all the Cabinet for the document and claimed that "The Republic of which Mr. de Valera was President is dead." He quit politics for the next twenty years through disillusionment.
He contested the 1945 Presidential election as an Independent candidate and secured 20% of the vote. He became a founder member of Clann na Poblachta and contested the 1948 general election without success though was nominated to Seanad Éireann that same year and remained a Senator until 1951.

In 1932, he published a book With De Valera in America.

McCartan's daughter, Deirdre, was married to Irish Folk musician Ronnie Drew.

Members of the First Dáil - Art O'Connor

Arthur (Art) O'Connor (1888 – 10 May 1950) was an Irish politician, lawyer and judge. He was born in 1888, the second son of Arthur O'Connor of Elm Hall, Celbridge, Co. Kildare (1834-1907) and his second wife Elizabeth (née Saul). He was educated at Blackrock College, Co. Dublin. He obtained the dispensation which was at that time required by Catholics in order to study engineering at the then almost exclusively Protestant Trinity College, Dublin, from which he duly graduated in 1911.

O'Connor was elected Sinn Féin MP for Kildare South in the 1918 general election. In January 1919 Sinn Féin MPs, who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann. In the 1st Dáil, he was appointed Substitute Director of Agriculture during the absence of Robert Barton. In the 2nd Dáil he held the position of Minister of Agriculture from 26 August 1921 to 9 January 1922. O'Connor subsequently opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and joined the Republican side. He lost his Dáil seat in 1923 general election and failed to be elected again in 1927. He retired from politics, returned to Trinity College Dublin to study law, after graduating in law he was called to the bar, subsequently appointed as Senior Counsel, eventually being appointed Circuit Judge for Cork city.

He never married and died suddenly at his family home, Elm Hall in 1950, and is buried in Donacomper Cemetery, Celbridge. His brothers were also involved in the Irish Republican movement and his sister Fanny was a member of Cumann na mBan. His brother Daniel was the State Solicitor for Kildare. He was a first cousin of Seamus O'Connor, a Dublin solicitor who was also involved in the Irish Republican movement (one of those who met at Wynns Hotel, Dublin on 11 November 1913 to found the Irish Volunteers) and who was later appointed the Sheriff of the City of Dublin.

Members of the First Dáil - Domhnall Ua Buachalla

Domhnall Ua Buachalla

Domhnall Ua Buachalla (English: Daniel Richard (Donal) Buckley; 5 February 1866 – 30 October 1963) was an Irish politician, shopkeeper and member of the First Dáil who served as third and final Governor-General of the Irish Free State and later served as a member of the Council of State.

Ua Buachalla was from Maynooth in County Kildare and ran a combined grocery, bicycle shop and pub in the town. He was an Irish language activist and member of Conradh na Gaeilge. In 1907, he was arrested and had his groceries seized when he refused to pay a fine for having his grocery wagon painted with Domhnall Ua Buachalla (his name in the Irish language), as the law required grocery wagons to be registered only in the English language.

He was a member of the Irish Volunteers and took part in the 1916 Easter Rising. He was imprisoned afterwards and released in 1917. Like many Rising survivors, he joined Sinn Féin, a small separatist party that was wrongly blamed by the government for the Easter Rising. In the aftermath of the Rising, survivors led by Éamon de Valera took over the party and used it as a vehicle to struggle for the establishment of an Irish republic. Ua Buachalla was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for Kildare North at the 1918 general election. He served in the First Dáil (1918–1921), and was re-elected to the Second Dáil in 1921 as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Kildare–Wicklow. He sided with de Valera and opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He fought in the Four Courts in the Civil War. He was captured and imprisoned in Dundalk jail, he was released by the Anti-Treaty troops in August 1922. He lost his seat at the 1922 general election, and was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1923 general election.

A minor political figure, he joined Fianna Fáil on its foundation in 1926 and was elected as a Fianna Fáil TD for the constituency of Kildare at the June 1927 general election only to lose that seat in the general election of 1932, which ironically his party won. He was chosen by Éamon de Valera to become Governor-General of the Irish Free State following James McNeill's resignation in November 1932.

De Valera explicitly instructed Ua Buachalla as governor-general to keep a low public profile, and not to fulfil any public engagements. This was part of de Valera's policy to make the governor-generalship an irrelevance by reducing it to invisibility. While he continued to give the Royal Assent to legislation, summon and dissolve Dáil Éireann and fulfil the other formal duties of the governor-generalship, he declined all public invitations and kept himself invisible, as advised by "his" Government. In fact in his period in office he performed only one public function: the receipt of the credentials of the French Ambassador in the Council Chamber, Government Buildings, 1933, on behalf of the King, George V.

However with the King's permission, de Valera subsequently had that duty moved from the Governor-General to his own post of President of the Executive Council. (One of the few other occasions Ua Buachalla was mentioned at all in public was when, in the aftermath of the death of King George V in January 1936, he had to reply to messages of condolence sent to the Irish people by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of State. One of King George V's titles was King of Ireland, hence the message of sympathy.)

On de Valera's instruction, Ua Buachalla did not reside in the official residence of the Governor-General, the Viceregal Lodge (now called Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence of the President of Ireland). Instead a house was rented for his use. The official English title "Governor-General" was largely replaced by the official Irish title "Seanascal" or its direct translation Seneschal; however, "Governor-General" remained the legal form used in official English-language documents and proclamations.

Ua Buachalla fell out with de Valera over the manner of his exit from office, in December 1936. De Valera sought to use the abdication crisis surrounding King Edward VIII to amend the Irish Free State Constitution to abolish the Crown and governor-general. Having done so, he faced a threat of a court case from Ua Buachalla, who had been left personally liable for the remaining one year's expensive private lease on his residence, following the sudden abolition of his office. In practice, between 1933 and December, 1936, the Irish State had paid Ua Buachalla expenses from which he paid the rent on his expensive residence, one which they even picked for him.

From December 1936, however, the state insisted that it had no responsibility for paying for the residence. But he on de Valera's explicit advice, had leased the residence for a full five years, his expected term of office, meaning that there remained one year's outstanding lease, for a residence he could not now afford and for which had no need now in any case, now that he was no longer governor-general. Eventually de Valera was forced to grant Ua Buachalla a large pension and pay his outstanding rent and expenses to stop a potentially highly embarrassing court case going ahead. Ua Buachalla attended the inauguration of the first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, in Dublin Castle in June 1938.

One myth according to The Cynics guide to Irish History regarding the abolition of his office, was that de Valera had called Ua Buachalla over the telephone. De Valera simply said to Ua Buachalla; "You're abolished". Because of Ua Buachalla’s failing hearing, he had misinterpreted what de Valera had said and replied, "You’re an even bigger one."

Ua Buachalla and de Valera subsequently patched up their differences, and in a symbolic act of apology, de Valera, when elected President of Ireland in 1959 appointed Ua Buachalla to his advisory Council of State.

He however returned to Maynooth to continue running his family hardware store, founded in 1853, which closed in October 2005 and bore the full Irish language spelling of his surname. The road beside this store is named after him, although translated to English, as Buckley's Lane. The building has been demolished, but the frontage - featuring notable 60 degree sloping windows - has been preserved.

Domhnall Ua Buachalla died, aged 97, in a nursing home in Dublin. He was given a state funeral and buried in Laraghybryan Cemetery in Maynooth, with the graveside oration delivered by President Éamon de Valera.

Members of the First Dáil - Fionán Lynch

Fionán Lynch (Irish: Fionán Ó Loingsigh; 17 March 1889 – 3 June 1966) was an Irish revolutionary, barrister, politician and judge.

Fionán Lynch was born in Cahersiveen, County Kerry in 1889 and educated in Rockwell College and Blackrock College. He qualified as a national school teacher in 1912 and joined the Gaelic League the same year. He produced a translation of Molière’s “Le Maladie Imaginaire” into Gaelic for the league. He was a founder member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) that same year. He was a friend of Michael Collins. Lynch fought in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916 in the Four Courts garrison with Commandent Edward Daly in North King Street. Daly was executed and Captain Fionán Lynch was sentenced to death but commuted to 10 years Penal Servitude. He was imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol and later in Mountjoy. He was one of the last Irish men to speak with Thomas Ashe before he died. He was later interned in prison in England and Wales until the general amnesty in late 1917.

Upon his release Lynch resumed his paramilitary activities and was elected as an abstentionist Sinn Féin Member of Parliament for Kerry South at the 1918 Westminster Election, becoming a Member of the 1st Dáil. At this time one of the safe houses frequently used by Lynch and Collins was at 44 Mounjoy Square, Dublin, the house of Lynch’s aunt Miss Myna McCarthy. As Teachta Dála for Kerry South he spent much time in the county on parliamentary and paramilitary activities. Many meeting were held in Tralee, in the premises of Mr.Thomas Slattery who figured prominently in the National Movement. Here he met Miss Bridget Slattery and they were married in November 1919. They lived in Dublin and awaited the sound of the army Crossley tender which brought the threat of summary arrest under the terms of the amnesty.

He was automatically elected as an abstenionist member of the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and a Member of the 2nd Dáil as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála for Kerry–Limerick West at the 1921 elections. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty like almost all IRB members and during the Dáil Debates criticised some Anti-Treaty TDs. During the Civil War he fought with the Irish Free State Army and rose to the rank of Brigadier. He left the Army in 1923 to concentrate on his political career.

He was elected to the 3rd Dáil at the 1922 general election as a Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TD and at each subsequent general election as a Cumann na nGaedhael and later Fine Gael deputy for the constituencies of Kerry from 1923 to 1937 and Kerry South from 1937 until 1944.

Lynch served as Minister for Education from April to August 1922, as Minister for Fisheries from 1922–1930, and as Minister for Lands and Fisheries from 1930–32. After the entry to power of Fianna Fáil in 1932. In 1937 he was appointed Leas Ceann Comhairle (deputy speaker) of Dail Eireann but suffered serious ill health and relinquished the post in 1938.

He qualified as a barrister after 1932 and remained a TD until his appointment as a Circuit court judge in 1944 to the Irish Speaking Sligo and Donegal Circuit.

He celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the 1916 Rising at Easter 1966, shortly before his death.

Members of the First Dáil - James Crowley

James Crowley (1880 – 21 January 1946) was an Irish nationalist, politician and veterinary surgeon. He was born in County Kerry. He was a member of the Irish Volunteers. He was elected at the 1918 general election as a Sinn Féin MP for the Kerry North constituency.

In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann. At the official roll call, Crowley was marked "fé ghlas ag Gallaibh" (imprisoned by the foreign enemy).

During the War of Independence, he was interned in the Curragh Camp. He was elected at the 1921 elections as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for Kerry–Limerick West and was released after the truce. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted in favour of it. He was re-elected at the 1922 general election as a Sinn Féin TD and subsequently as a Cumann na nGaedhael TD at the 1923 general election for the Kerry constituency. He lost his seat at the 1932 general election and retired from politics.

Members of the First Dáil - Frank Fahy

Francis Patrick (Frank) Fahy (12 January 1880 – 14 July 1953) was an Irish teacher, barrister, and politician. He served for nearly 35 years as a Teachta Dála (TD), first for Sinn Féin and later as a member of Fianna Fáil, before becoming Ceann Comhairle (chairman) for over 19 years.

Fahy was born in Kilchreest, County Galway, a son of John Fahy who taught at the local National School. He was the eldest of 6 children, 5 boys and a girl. After early education at his father's school in Kilchreest he attended Mungret College in Limerick and later studied at University College Galway. He gained a Bachelor of Arts and a H.Dip. in Education, and a Diploma in Science.

From 1906 to 1921, he taught Latin, Irish and Science at Castleknock College (St Vincent's College), Dublin. Fahy qualified as a barrister in 1927 at King's Inns, Dublin and also taught at the Christian Brothers school in Tralee. He was at one time General Secretary of the Gaelic League. He married Anna Barton of Tralee, a metal artist and member of the Cumann na mBan in 1908. They had no children.

Fahy was first elected at the 1918 general election as a Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (MP) for South Galway, but as the party was pledged to abstentionism he did not take his seat in the British House of Commons and joined the revolutionary 1st Dáil Éireann. He was re-elected as TD for Galway in 1921 general election and having sided with the anti-treaty forces following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he did not take his seat in either the 3rd Dáil or the 4th Dáil. He joined Fianna Fáil when the party was founded in 1926, and along with the 42 other Fianna Fáil TDs he took his seat in the 5th Dáil on 12 August 1927, three days before the Dáil tied 71 votes to 71 on a motion of no confidence which persuaded W. T. Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedhael government to call a general election in search of a majority.

After the September 1927 election, Cosgrave was able to form a minority government with the support of the Farmers' Party (Ireland) and some independent TDs. However, in the 1932 general election, Fianna Fáil won just under half of the seats and formed a government with the support of the Labour Party. The first business was of the 7th Dáil was the election of the Ceann Comhairle, and on 9 March 1932 Fahy was nominated for the position by Seán T. O'Kelly, winning the vote by a margin of 74 to 71.

He held the post until Fianna Fáil lost the 1951 election, and at the start of the 14th Dáil he did not offer himself for re-election as Ceann Comhairle. He was replaced by the Labour TD Patrick Hogan. His 19 years in the chair remains the longest of any Ceann Comhairle, and the only other person to exceed 10 years as Ceann Comhairle was his succesor, Patrick Hogan.

The 1932 election was the last which Fahy contested; as Ceann Comhairle, he was automatically re-elected at the next seven elections. When his Galway constituency was divided for the 1937 general election, he was returned unopposed for the new Galway East, and similarly in 1948 for the new Galway South constituency.

Fahy died in 1953 and was buried in Dublin at Deans Grange Cemetery. The Galway South by-election held after his death was won by the Fianna Fáil candidate Robert Lahiffe.

Members of the First Dáil - Liam Mellows

Liam Mellows

Liam (William Joseph) Mellows (25 May 1895 – 8 December 1922; surname often misspelled as Mellowes) was an Irish Nationalist and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England, Mellows grew up in County Wexford in Ireland. He was active with the IRB and Irish Volunteers, and participated in the Easter Rising in County Galway, and the War of Independence. Elected as a TD to the First Dáil, he rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty and was captured by pro-Treaty forces during the Irish Civil War. Mellows was executed by Free State forces in 1922.

Mellows was born in Manchester, England to William Joseph Mellows, a British Army non-commissioned officer, and Sarah Jordan, of Inch, County Wexford, where he grew up. His family moved to Fairview, Dublin in February 1895 when Sergeant Mellows was transferred there; however, Liam remained in Wexford with his grandfather Patrick Jordan due to ill health. He attended the military school in Wellington Barracks in Cork and the Portobello garrison school in Dublin, but ultimately refused a military career much to his father's disappointment, instead working as a clerk in several Dublin firms.

A nationalist from an early age, Mellows approached Thomas Clarke, who recruited him to Fianna Éireann, an organisation of young republicans. Mellows was introduced to socialism when he met James Connolly at Countess Markiewicz's residence, recuperating after his hunger strike. Connolly was deeply impressed and told his daughter Nora 'I have found a real man'. He was active in the IRB and was a founder member of the Irish Volunteers, being brought onto its Organising Committee to strengthen the Fianna representation. He was arrested and jailed on several occasions under the Defence of the Realm Act. Eventually escaping from Reading Jail he returned to Ireland to command the "Western Division" (forces operating in the West of Ireland) of the IRA during the Easter Rising of 1916. He led roughly 700 Volunteers in abortive attacks on Royal Irish Constabulary stations at Oranmore, and Clarinbridge in county Galway and took over the town of Athenry. However, his men were very badly armed and supplied and they dispersed after a week, when British troops and the cruiser Gloucester were sent west to attack them.

After this insurrection failed, Mellows escaped to the USA, where he was arrested and detained without trial in the "Tombs" prison, New York, on a charge of attempting to aid the German side in the First World War. This was in the context of incidents like the Black Tom and Kingsland explosions where German agents had bombed neutral American ports and industrial facilities.

After his release in 1918, he worked with John Devoy and helped to organise Éamon de Valera's fund raising visit to America in 1919–1920. He returned to Ireland to become Irish Republican Army "Director of Supplies" during the Irish War of Independence, responsible for buying arms. At the 1918 general election of December, he was elected to the First Dáil as a Sinn Féin candidate for both Galway East and for North Meath. (According to United Kingdom law, these were Westminster constituencies but Sinn Féin did not recognise them as such, but rather took them as de facto Dáil Éireann constituencies).

He considered the Anglo-Irish Treaty as signed to be a betrayal of the Irish Republic, saying, in the Treaty Debates of 1921–22:

“We do not seek to make this country a materially great country at the expense of its honour in any way whatsoever. We would rather have this country poor and indigent, we would rather have the people of Ireland eking out a poor existence on the soil; as long as they possessed their souls, their minds, and their honour. This fight has been for something more than the fleshpots of Empire.”

A conference of 9 TDs was deputed to meet privately on 5 January 1922 to resolve the dispute and to achieve a unified front by compromise. The four other anti-Treaty TDs said there was agreement but Mellows did not, and was seen thereafter by pro-Treaty TDs as one of their most implacable opponents. The following day the Dáil voted to approve the Treaty by a majority of 64 to 57. Details on the private conference and the private Dáil session debate were not made public until the 1970s.

He wrote a social programme based on the Dáil's Democratic Programme of 1919 aimed at winning popular support for the anti-Treaty cause Mellows was one of the more strident TDs on the approach to the Irish Civil War. On 28 April 1922 he told the Dáil:

"There would no question of civil war here now were it not for the undermining of the Republic. The Republic has been deserted by those who state they still intend to work for a Republic. The Volunteers can have very little faith at this moment in the Government that assembles here, because all they can see in it is a chameleon Government. One moment, when they look at it, it is the green, white and orange of the Republic, and at another moment, when they look at it, it is the red, white and blue of the British Empire. We in the Army, who have taken this step, have been termed “mutineers,” “irregulars,” and so forth. We are not mutineers, because we have remained loyal to our trust. We are not mutineers except against the British Government in this country. We may be “irregular” in the sense that funds are not forthcoming to maintain us, but we were always like that and it is no disgrace to be called “irregulars” in that sense. We are not wild people."

In June 1922, he and fellow republicans Rory O'Connor, Joe McKelvey and Richard Barrett, (among others) entered the Four Courts, which had been occupied by anti-Treaty forces since April. However, they were bombarded by pro-Treaty Free State forces and surrendered after two days. Mellows had a chance to escape along with Ernie O'Malley, but did not take it. (See also Battle of Dublin).

Imprisoned in Mountjoy Gaol, Mellows, O'Connor, McKelvey and Barrett were executed by firing squad on 8 December 1922, in reprisal for the shooting of TD Seán Hales.

Mellows is commemorated by statues in Oranmore and Eyre Square in Galway, in the official name of the Irish Defence Forces army barracks at Renmore (Dún Úi Maoilíosa) and in the naming of Mellows Bridge in Dublin. He is also commemorated in the names of two hurling clubs (one in Galway, and one in Wexford), and by Unidare RFC in Ballymun and their "Liam Mellows Perpetual Cup".

Mellows is buried in Castletown cemetery, County Wexford, a few miles from Arklow. An annual commemoration ceremony is held at his grave site, in which a wreath is laid by a member of the Liam Mellows Commemoration committee. "Mellows Avenue" in Arklow is named in his honour.

Members of the First Dáil - Seán O'Μahony

Seán O'Μahony (also John O'Mahoney) (1864 – 28 November 1934) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician and member of the First and Second Dáil.

He was born in Thomastown, County Kilkenny. A successful businessman he was a tea merchant and a commercial traveller. His company, John O'Mahoney & Co., was located on Middle Abbey St., and was destroyed during the 1916 Easter Rising. It subsequently reestablished on Parnell Square. He subsequently purchased and ran Fleming's Hotel which was located at 31-32 Gardiner Place, Dublin. A close friend of Arthur Griffith, he became an organiser for Sinn Féin and was elected to Dublin Corporation for the party.

He participated in the Easter Rising and was subsequently interned at Frongoch and Lincoln Jail.

He remained with Sinn Féin after it was re-constituted as a republican party at the 1917 Ard Fheis.

He was arrested during the German Plot of 1917 and was jailed in Lincoln Gaol in England. While imprisoned he was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh South in the 1918 general election. He was released from prison in 1919 and attended the proceedings of the First Dáil. He was re-arrested at the Sinn Féin offices in November 1919 and was imprisoned for three months in England. He would be arrested several more times throughout the Anglo-Irish War and his hotel was used as a meeting place by Sinn Féin members throughout the time.

He was elected in the 1921 General Election to the Second Dáil for Fermanagh and Tyrone. As a result of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 this election was to provide the membership of two assemblies: the Southern Ireland House of Commons and the Northern Ireland House of Commons. The eight seat Fermanagh-Tyrone constituency was one of several in the Northern Ireland House of Commons. As members of Sinn Féin did not recognise either assembly he and the other five Sinn Féin TDs continued to attend the Dáil. During the debates on the Anglo-Irish Treaty he opposed ratification of the document and voted against ratification. He left the Dáil with Éamon de Valera and the other Anti-Treaty TDs.

As the only member of the Second Dáil not elected to the Southern Ireland House of Commons, his status in the Third Dáil in 1922 was unclear. O'Mahoney was not invited to attend the opening of the Provisional Parliament. De Valera was keen for him to attend since if he had been refused entry it would have demonstrated, in the minds of Anti-Treaty supporters, that the assembly was not an All-Ireland Dáil. In the end O'Mahoney did not attend, but his case was taken up by Laurence Ginnell. He remained an abstentionist MP to Stormont until the Northern Ireland general election, 1925, when he did not stand for re-election.

He remained with Sinn Féin after the 1926 split, serving on the party's Ard Chomairle until his death.

He died in 1934. His funeral was attended by representatives of Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Army, Fianna Fáil, Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan, and Mná na Poblachta. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

He was survived by his wife, and a son, Malachy, and a daughter, Máire.　

Members of the First Dáil - Thomas Kelly

Thomas Kelly

Thomas (Tom) Kelly (13 September 1868 – 20 April 1942) was an Irish Sinn Féin and later Fianna Fáil politician. He was a book and picture dealer before entering politics. He was a founder member of Sinn Féin and was elected to Dublin City Council. Kelly was arrested after the 1916 Easter Rising and sent to prison in England, and after becoming seriously ill, he was released back to Dublin.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Dublin St Stephens's Green constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann.

He was re-elected unopposed at the 1921 elections for the Dublin South constituency. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty but was too ill to attend the Dáil vote. He served as substitute Minister for Labour from 19 March 1919 to end of October 1919. He was again re-elected at the 1922 general election as a member of Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin but did not take his seat in the Dáil.

He did not join Cumann na nGaedhael along with other pro-Treaty Sinn Féin TDs in 1923, nor did he contest the 1923 general election. In 1930 he joined Fianna Fáil and was elected as a Fianna Fáil Teachtaí Dála (TD) at the 1933 general election for Dublin South. He remained a TD and councillor until his death in 1942.

Members of the First Dáil - Constance Markiewicz

Constance Georgine Markiewicz

Constance Georgine Markiewicz, Countess Markiewicz (née Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), was an Irish Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil politician, revolutionary nationalist, suffragette and socialist. In December 1918, she was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons, though she did not take her seat and along with the other Sinn Féin TDs formed the first Dáil Éireann. She was also one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet position (Minister of Labour of the Irish Republic, 1919–1922).

In 1913, her husband moved to Ukraine, and never returned to live in Ireland. However, they did correspond and Kazimierz was present by her side when she died in 1927. As a member of the ICA, Markiewicz took part in the 1916 Easter Rising. She was deeply inspired by the founder of the ICA, James Connolly and she both designed the uniforms of the ICA and composed their anthem, a Polish song with changed lyrics. Markiewicz held the rank of an officer, making her a decision maker, and more importantly, giving her the right to carry arms.

During the Rising, Lieutenant Markiewicz was appointed second in command to Michael Mallin in St Stephen's Green. She supervised the setting-up of barricades as the rising began and was in the middle of the fighting all around Stephen's Green, wounding a British army sniper. Inspired by newsreel footage from the Western Front, they initially began to dig trenches in the Green. British fire from the rooftops of adjacent tall buildings, including the Shelbourne Hotel, however, soon convinced them of the folly of this tactic, and they withdrew to the adjacent Royal College of Surgeons.

Mallin and Markiewicz and their men held out for six days, finally giving up when the British brought them a copy of Pearse's surrender order. The English officer, Captain Wheeler (aka Major de Courcy Wheeler), who accepted their surrender was a relative of Markiewicz.

They were taken to Dublin Castle and the Countess was then transported to Kilmainham Gaol. They were jeered by the crowds as they walked through the streets of Dublin. There, she was the only one of seventy women prisoners who was put into solitary confinement. At her court-martial she told the court, "I did what was right and I stand by it." Her conviction was assured, only her sentence was in doubt. She was sentenced to death, but General Maxwell commuted this to life in prison on; "account of the prisoner's sex." Some sources report that she told the court, "I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me" however the alleged transcript reports that she said "you cannot shoot a woman".

The Countess was released from prison in 1917, along with others involved in the Rising, as the government in London granted a general amnesty for those who had participated in it. It was around this time that Markiewicz, born into the Church of Ireland, converted to Catholicism.

In 1918, she was jailed again for her part in anti-conscription activities. At the 1918 general election, Markiewicz was elected for the constituency of Dublin St Patrick's as one of 73 Sinn Féin MPs. This made her the first woman elected to the British House of Commons. However, in line with Sinn Féin abstensionist policy, she would not take her seat in the House of Commons.

Markiewicz was in Holloway prison when her colleagues assembled in Dublin at the first meeting of Dáil Éireann, the unilaterally-declared Parliament of the Irish Republic. When her name was called, she was described as being "imprisoned by the foreign enemy" (fé ghlas ag Gallaibh). She was re-elected to the Second Dáil in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland elections of 1921.

Markiewicz served as Minister for Labour from April 1919 to January 1922, in the Second Ministry and the Third Ministry of the Dáil. Holding cabinet rank from April to August 1919, she became both the first Irish female Cabinet Minister and at the same time, only the second government minister in Europe. She was the only female cabinet minister in Irish history until 1979 when Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was appointed to the then junior cabinet post of Minister for the Gaeltacht for Fianna Fáil.

Markiewicz left government in January 1922 along with Éamon de Valera and others in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. She fought actively for the Republican cause in the Irish Civil War helping to defend Moran's Hotel in Dublin. After the War she toured the United States. She was not elected in the 1922 Irish general election but was returned in the 1923 general election for the Dublin South constituency. In common with other Republican candidates, she did not take her seat. However, her staunch republican views led her to being sent to jail again. In prison, she and 92 other female prisoners went on hunger strike. Within a month, the Countess was released.
She joined Fianna Fáil on its foundation in 1926, chairing the inaugural meeting of the new party in La Scala Theatre. In the June 1927 general election, she was re-elected to the 5th Dáil as a candidate for the new Fianna Fáil party, which was pledged to return to Dáil Éireann, but died only five weeks later, before she could take up her seat.

She died at the age of 59, on 15 July 1927, possibly of tuberculosis (contracted when she worked in the poorhouses of Dublin) or complications related to appendicitis. Her estranged husband and daughter and beloved stepson were by her side. She was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. Éamon de Valera, the Fianna Fáil leader, gave the funeral oration.

The by-election for her Dáil seat in Dublin South was held on 24 August 1927 and won by the Cumann na nGaedhael candidate Thomas Hennessy.

“One thing she had in abundance—-physical courage; with that she was clothed as with a garment.” —Seán O'Casey
　

Members of the First Dáil - George Gavan Duffy

George Gavan Duffy (Irish: Seórsa Ghabháin Uí Dhubhthaigh; 21 October 1882 – 10 June 1951) was an Irish politician.

George Gavan Duffy was born in Rock Ferry, Cheshire, England in 1882, the son of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy and his third wife, Louise. His half-brother Sir Frank Gavan Duffy (1852–1936) was the fourth Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, sitting on the bench of the High Court from 1913 to 1935.

Duffy qualified as a solicitor and practised in London. He defended Sir Roger Casement at his trial for high treason after the Easter Rising. Although the case was unsuccessful and Casement executed, the trial had an enormous effect on Duffy and in 1917, when he was called to the Irish bar, he came to live in Dublin, where he became immersed in Irish political life.

During the 1918 Westminster Election, Duffy was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for South County Dublin. He was sent to Paris to join Seán T. O'Kelly as an envoy of the self-declared Irish Republic. Duffy published articles and pamphlets urging recognition of Ireland as a sovereign nation at the Paris Peace Conference, which caused increasing embarrassment to the French establishment, who believed his publications were damaging Franco-British relations.

Gavan-Duffy and O'Kelly had the great problem of seeking France's help against Britain when the treaties ending the First World War had not yet been signed; Britain had been France's main ally in the war, in which France had suffered enormous losses. In January 1919, the Sinn Féin-affiliated Irish Republican Army had also started the Irish War of Independence against Britain. Further, the British position was that it was preparing a new system of Irish Home Rule which would be effected after the Peace Conference, and that it had tried to solve the Irish Question at the Irish Convention in 1917 which Sinn Féin had boycotted. Sinn Féin had joined in the campaign against conscription in 1918 and applauded the 1916 Easter Rising. In consequence the French government saw the Sinn Féin movement as hostile to its interests. A final letter of June 1919 demanding recognition and addressed to the French prime minister Georges Clemenceau, the chairman of the Peace Conference, was not replied to.

Finally, after publishing a letter he had sent to Clemenceau in protest against the maltreatment of Terence MacSwiney in prison, Duffy was banished from Paris. He then went to Rome and from there travelled through Europe on behalf of the Ministry of the Irish Republic, without securing its recognition.

When Éamon de Valera chose his plenipotentiaries to negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 Duffy was chosen due mainly to his legal expertise. He protested against signing the Treaty but did so reluctantly, becoming the last person to sign. During the debates which followed in Dáil Éireann, Duffy stated that he would recommend the Treaty reluctantly but sincerely as he saw no alternative for the achievement of independence. He also placed the onus on the people who were responsible for drafting the Constitution of the Irish Free State to frame it in accordance with the terms of the Treaty. He disagreed, however, with Griffith’s decision to show the draft constitution to Lloyd George who immediately ordered that references to the King had to be inserted as well as an Oath of Allegiance.

On 21 December 1921 he gave his main reason for supporting the treaty, the impact of renewed war on the people, concluding:

"You may gamble on the prospects of a renewal of that horrible war, which I for one have only seen from afar, but which I know those who have so nobly withstood do not wish to see begun again without a clear prospect of getting further than they are to-day. We are told that this is a surrender of principle. If that be so, we must be asked to believe that every one of those who have gone before us in previous fights, and who in the end have had to lay down their arms or surrender in order to avert a greater evil to the people, have likewise been guilty of a breach of principle. I do not think an argument of that kind will get you much further. No! The solid principle, the solid basis upon which every honest man ought to make up his mind on this issue, may be summed up in the principle that we all claimed when it was first enunciated by the President, the principle of government by the consent of the governed. I say that no serious person here, whatever his feelings, knowing as he must what the people of this country think of the matter, will be doing his duty if, under these circumstances, he refuses to ratify the Treaty. Ratify it with the most dignified protest you can, ratify because you cannot do otherwise, but ratify it in the interests of the people you must."

This prompted Duffy to resign but he was compelled to remain in office, serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs from January 1922 to July 1922. On the outbreak of the Irish Civil War he resigned when the Provisional Government refused to effect a court order for habeas corpus in favour of George Plunkett, (a son of George Noble Plunkett), who was detained without charge.

Duffy's tenure in office was cut short by his decision to resign again when the Executive Council of the Irish Free State abolished the Republican Courts and executed his good friend Erskine Childers. He stood in the 1923 general election as an independent candidate but failed to be re-elected.

Duffy returned to the Irish Bar and built up a large practice and was engaged in some notable constitutional cases such as the Land Annuities controversy in which he claimed that the Irish Free State could not be bound either in honour or in law to hand over annuities to Britain. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 1930 and Judge of the High Court in 1936. He acted as an unofficial legal advisor to de Valera during the drafting of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland and was consulted on many issues pertaining to it. He was also a member of the commission to set up the second house of the Oireachtas, Seanad Éireann, in 1937.

In 1946, at the height of his legal career, he was appointed President of the High Court, a position he held for the rest of his life.

Duffy died at his home in Bushy Park Road, Terenure on 10 June 1951.

Members of the First Dáil - Frank Lawless

Frank J. Lawless (Irish: Próinsias Laighléis; 10 Oct 1870 – 16 April 1922) was Sinn Féin member (Teachta Dála) of the Dáil Éireann for Dublin County North, 1919-1922. He was a farmer at Saucerstown, Swords, Co. Dublin, and a member of a widely connected North County family identified with the National movement. He was an early member of Sinn Féin and of the Gaelic League. In the general election of December 1918, he was elected as part of the Sinn Féin landslide, defeating the Nationalist J. J. Clancy who had sat for the County Dublin North seat since 1885, by 9,138 to 4,428.

Frank Lawless took part in the Easter Rising of 1916, being second in command under Thomas Ashe in the fight at Ashbourne, County Meath. Two of his sons were also combatants on that occasion. As a result he was condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted to 10 years penal servitude. He was imprisoned at Lewes with Harry Boland. He was released in the general amnesty of 1917. He was again arrested in connection with the “German Plot” and was confined in Usk prison. He was paroled to permit him to take part in the 1918 election, was present at the declaration at Balbriggan but returned to Usk prison on the same day. After his release from Usk he was interned in Ballykinlar Camp.

Like the other Sinn Féin members, Lawless did not take his seat at Westminster but took part in the revolutionary First Dáil. He was re-elected to the Second Dáil, 1921-22 for the new County Dublin constituency. He was one of the majority of 64-57 who voted in favour of ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in the critical debate of 7 January 1922. He died three months later at the age of 50 from injuries received when the pony trap in which he was riding was accidentally upset. He was buried with full military honours at Killossory Cemetery, Rollestown. He was married with six sons and five daughters.

Members of the First Dáil - Sean T. O'Kelly

Sean T. O'Kelly

Seán Thomas O'Kelly (Irish: Seán Tomás Ó Ceallaigh; 25 August 1882 – 23 November 1966) was the second President of Ireland (1945–1959). He was a member of Dáil Éireann from 1918 until his election as President. During this time he served as Minister for Local Government (1932–1939) and Minister for Finance (1939–1945). O'Kelly served as Vice-President of the Executive Council from 1932 until 1937 and was the first Tánaiste from 1937 until 1945.

O'Kelly was born in Dublin at 55 Wellington Street in the north inner-city Dublin. He was educated at the Richmond Street Irish Christian Brothers School, a short walk away. O'Kelly joined the National Library of Ireland in 1898 as a junior assistant. The same year, he joined the Gaelic League, becoming a member of the governing body in 1910 and General Secretary in 1915.

O'Kelly joined Sinn Féin, then a small dual-monarchist, capitalist party, immediately at its inception in 1905. He became an honorary secretary of the movement from 1908, remaining in the post until 1925. In 1906 he was elected to Dublin Corporation, and retained the seat until 1924.

In March 1915, O'Kelly went to New York City, to inform Clan Na Gael of the plans for a rising in Dublin by the Irish Volunteers. Pádraig Pearse appointed O'Kelly to be his Staff Captain in preparation for whenever the insurrection would take place.

After the Easter Rising in 1916, O'Kelly was gaoled, released, and re-arrested. He escaped from detention in Fairfield in Britain, and returned to Ireland.

O'Kelly was elected Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (MP) for Dublin College Green in the 1918 British general election. Along with other Sinn Féin MPs he refused to take his seat in the British House of Commons. Instead they set up an Irish parliament, called Dáil Éireann, in Dublin. O'Kelly served as Ceann Comhairle (Speaker) of the First Dáil.

He also served as the Irish Republic's envoy, demanding recognition of the Republic and its admittance to the post-World War I peace treaty negotiations at Versailles. While this request to Clemenceau was sincere, it naively ignored the fact that France and Britain had been allied for the previous four years. In May 1920 he sent a memorandum on the Irish political situation to Pope Benedict XV.

O'Kelly was a close associate of Éamon de Valera, who served variously as President of Dáil Éireann/Príomh Aire (prime minister from April 1919 to August 1921) and President of the Republic (from August 1921 to January 1922). As with de Valera, he opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed by representatives of the British and Irish Republic's governments in December 1921.

When de Valera resigned as President of the Republic on 6 January 1922, O'Kelly returned from Paris to Ireland to try to negotiate a compromise, whereby de Valera could return to the presidency. A furious de Valera turned down the offer and ordered O'Kelly to return to Paris.
During the Irish Civil War, O'Kelly was in jail until December, 1923. Afterwards he spent the next two years as a Sinn Féin envoy to the United States.

In 1926, when de Valera left Sinn Féin to found his own republican party, Fianna Fáil, O'Kelly followed him, becoming one of the party's founding members. In 1932, when de Valera, having won that year's general election, was appointed President of the Executive Council (prime minister of the Irish Free State) he made O'Kelly his Minister for Local Government. O'Kelly earned a controversial reputation over his key role in attempts to publicly humiliate the then Governor-General of the Irish Free State, James McNeill. Stunts such as withdrawing the Irish Army's band from playing at diplomatic functions which the Governor-General attended, or in one notorious case the sight of O'Kelly and Defence Minister Frank Aiken storming out of a diplomatic function at the French Legation when McNeill, the guest of honour, had arrived, damaged O'Kelly's reputation and image, particularly when the campaign backfired.

McNeill published his correspondence on the issue with de Valera making de Valera appear foolish, before resigning and leaving de Valera with the task of choosing a new Governor-General, an embarrassing situation for a politician who had tried his best to avoid any association with the office. To the surprise of many, O'Kelly's was not among the names considered for the office. It is not known for certain, but suspicion rests on O'Kelly's controversial membership of a right-wing Roman Catholic organisation, the Knights of Columbanus, which de Valera suspected had a source in the cabinet. The talkative, tactless, fanatically religious whiskey-drinking O'Kelly matched the bill, perhaps through indiscretions rather than deliberate actions. However O'Kelly was not made Governor-General, the post instead going to the former Fianna Fáil TD, Domhnall Ua Buachalla from County Kildare, who would be the last Governor-General.

O'Kelly left the cabinet in 1945 when he was elected President of Ireland in a popular vote of the people, defeating two other candidates. O'Kelly's most famous faux pas occurred during a state visit to the Vatican, when in a breach with standard protocol, he told the media of Pope Pius XII's personal opinions on communism. The resulting row strained relationships between Pope Pius and Joseph Stalin.

O'Kelly was elected unopposed to the presidency a second time in 1952. During his second term, he visited many nations in Europe and addressed the United States Congress in 1959. He retired at the end of his second term in 1959, to be replaced by his old mentor, Éamon de Valera.

O'Kelly did not refer any Bills to the Supreme Court under Article 26 of Bunreacht na hÉireann. He convened a meeting of the Council of State in 1947, to consider whether Part III of the Health Bill, 1947 — which provided the basis for the Mother and Child Scheme — should be referred, but he decided against doing so.

He dissolved the Dáil on four occasions (in 1948, 1951, 1954 and 1957). On each occasion the Taoiseach who advised him to do so (de Valera in the first and third cases, and John A. Costello in the other two) had not been formally defeated in a Dáil vote in a manner showing a loss of support by a majority of TDs. Therefore, under Article 13.2.3° of Bunreacht na hÉireann, O'Kelly had no discretion to refuse to act on their advice to dissolve. A more complex case occurred however in 1949 when the First Inter-Party Government was defeated in a snap Dáil vote on a financial measure due to the absence of a number of Government TDs.

O'Kelly was advised by the Secretary to the President, Michael McDunphy that had Costello requested a dissolution, he could have refused it. However Costello, on the basis that the loss of the vote was accidental (due to a mistake by the party whips), not evidence of a shift in voting, opted to reintroduce the measure the following morning, rather than seek a dissolution. With all Deputies present this time the Government won the vote. McDunphy later changed his mind and in the files on the event concluded that the President could not have refused a dissolution because the loss had merely been a technical loss, not an actual decision by the Dáil to vote against the government.

On his retirement as president in 1959, he was described as a "model President" by the normally hostile Irish Times newspaper. Though controversial, the diminutive O'Kelly was widely seen as a genuine and honest, albeit tactless.

He died on 23 November 1966, at the age of 84, fifty years after the Easter Rising that first brought him to prominence. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

He was survived by his second wife, Phyllis. They married in 1936 and had no children. His first wife was Phyllis' sister, Mary Kate Ryan of Tomcoole, County Wexford.

Mary Kate and Seán were married from 1918 until Mary Kate's death in 1934. One of Mary Kate and Phyllis's brothers was Fianna Fáil minister, James Ryan while another sister was married to Fine Gael leader General Richard Mulcahy.

Members of the First Dáil - Seán Hayes

Seán Hayes (otherwise known as John Hayes; died 1941), was a Sinn Féin member of Dáil Éireann in Ireland. He was a newspaper editor (the Cork County Southern Star of Skibbereen) and political propagandist.

He was elected unopposed for Cork West in 1918. He did not take the seat he had won in the United Kingdom House of Commons, but like other members of his party he joined the revolutionary First Dáil 1919-1921. He represented the constituency of Cork Mid, North, South, South-East and West 1921-1923. He became a member of the pro-Treaty faction of Sinn Féin before the Irish general election, 1922. He did not seek re-election at the 27 August 1923 general election.

Hayes was arrested during a raid on party offices in Dublin, in November 1919. As a result he was sentenced to three months imprisonment. He was re-arrested in 1920.

He had a total of 12 children - all deceased at this time. He died 1941. He was a member of the IRA in addition to Sinn Féin and Dáil Éireann. He was also reputedly a member of Tom Barry's Flying Column in West Cork.

Members of the First Dáil - Diarmuid Lynch

Diarmuid Lynch (10 January 1878 – 9 November 1950) was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Sinn Féin member of the First Dáil.

Lynch, initially named Jeremiah, was born in Granig, Tracton, Co Cork. His mother died while he was young and his father, who had remarried, died when his Diarmuid was thirteen years of age.
In his autobiography, Lynch recalls being taken to a political meeting in Cork city by his father in 1886 which was addressed by Charles Stewart Parnell. He also describes attending a monster Land League rally at Minane Bridge which was addressed by William O'Brien and Dr. Charles Tanner MP. He was politically influenced by his teachers, particularly Michael McCarthy, head master at Knocknamana National School.

Like other ambitious rural Irishmen of his generation, such as Michael Collins and JJ Walsh, Lynch found employment in the Postal service. He began working as a sorting clerk in the Cork GPO and studied at Skerry’s College for entrance to the British Civil Service. In an open competitive examination he secured a place as a "Boy Clerk" at the Mount Pleasant money order office, London. Mount Pleasant would play a very significant part in the growth of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), because it was here that individuals such as Michael Collins, Sam Maguire and others first became acquainted. Lynch himself would become a member of the IRB Supreme Council. While in London he played hurling with the London Gaels.

Lynch accepted an offer of employment from his uncle Cornelius Dunlea in New York. His skill as an organiser was soon recognised having joined the New York Philo-Celtic Society in the Summer of 1897. By December of that year, he had been elected secretary. Within a short period, membership in the organisation had almost quadrupled. The primary function of the society was the preservation of the Irish language and culture in the Irish-American nationalist community. Lynch "was convinced that restoration of the Irish language would increase the self respect of the Irish people." His activities in New York, and in particular his work for the Irish language, saw him elevated to the position: of the State President of the Gaelic League of the State of New York, and it was this role which would bring him to the attention of the Clan na Gael leadership of John Devoy and Daniel F. Cohalan, two of the most important figures in Irish-American politics. It was Lynch and his persuasive powers that influenced Judge Cohalan to accept "that the propagation of the language, instead of hindering the objective of the Clan, was essential to its achievement."

As Lynch's reputation grew so did his sphere of influence and before he returned to Ireland in 1907, he could boast a circle of friends which included: Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, Dr Thomas Addis Emmet, Col Richard O'Sullivan Burke, John J. Breslin and Thomas Clarke.

Having spent almost eleven years in America, Lynch decided to return to Ireland. He had been back in 1902 for a short period, when, with the aid of Liam de Róiste, he had organised an Irish cultural feis at Minane Bridge.

On his return to Ireland, he was employed by Thomas McKenzie & Sons, Dublin, a large wholesaler of agricultural supplies. He later joined the IRB at the invitation of Seán T. O'Kelly. By 1911 he had been appointed to the IRB Supreme Council as the Divisional Representative for Munster.

Lynch played a role in the planning of the Easter Rising. He was chosen by Patrick Pearse go to the Tralee area and identify the best area to land German arms. Lynch reported directly to Pearse that Fenit would be the most secure location for the proposed landing. At this time, he was the only member of the IRB Supreme Council to attend meetings of the even more secret IRB Military Council.

After Eoin MacNeill cancelled the orders for the planned manoeuvres over the Easter period, Lynch attended a hastily arranged meeting at 27 Hardwick Street, which also included Pearse, Thomas McDonagh, Joseph Mary Plunkett, Seán Mac Diarmada, at which it was decided to go ahead with the Rising.

Lynch was aide-de-comp to James Connolly and Staff Captain in the GPO during the Rising. He was also considered to be the last man to leave the GPO. Initially sentenced to death, his sentence was, like Éamon de Valera's, commuted to life, because of his American citizenship. Lynch was sent to prison in England, but was released from Pentonville Prison on 16 June 1917.

Immediately following his release, Lynch became active again, and along with Michael Collins and Thomas Ashe, participated in the reorganisation the IRB. After the 1917 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, Lynch, like Collins, held three senior posts in the IRB, Sinn Féin and in the Irish Volunteers.
His position as Sinn Féin food controller resulted in his deportation to England in 1918. During this period much of the Irish agricultural produce was being sent to Britain to support the war effort. Lynch ordered that a specific shipment of pigs at the North wall ready for shipment to England be slaughtered for the Irish market and the money given to owners of the stock. He was arrested and sentenced to deportation, but before this was enforced he was secretly married. His fiancée Mary Quinn and a priest were smuggled into Dundalk Jail and Lynch was married. This event was a propaganda coup as the British authorities had originally refused permission for the marriage.

Lynch was deported to America and shortly afterwards was appointed Secretary of the Friends of Irish Freedom, originally set up to raise funds and lobby in Washington DC to promote the Irish cause for independence. Under his tenure the organisation became a nation-wide organisation, and as a result of its lobbying, Congress voted 216 to 41, on 4 March 1919, to adopt the following motion: "That it is the earnest hope of the United states of America that the peace conference, now sitting in Paris, in passing upon the rights of various peoples, will favourably consider the claims of Ireland to the right of self-determination." While this was not what the recognition of the Irish Republic which Lynch, Devoy and Colohan had sought, it was a call for Ireland to present its case at the Versailles Peace Conference.

In the 1918 general election after Eugene Crean MP stood down, Lynch was returned unopposed while in absentia in America. He became Teachta Dála (TD) in the First Dáil for Cork South East.
The arrival of Éamon de Valera to America was followed by the establishment of a rival organisation to the Friends of Irish Freedom. On 6 August 1920, Lynch resigned his Dáil seat in disgust, stating that: "Differences have arisen since July 1919, between De Valera and the recognised leaders of the movement here as to the proper conduct of the campaign in America for the recognition of the Irish Republic and these circumstances have governed my actions in resigning."

De Valera and Lynch would again become embroiled in a bitter battle in which began 1929, when associates of De Valera tried unsuccessful to claim the funds which the Friends of Irish Freedom had since raised in 1919 and 1920 and which had remained unused. De Valera sought to claim this money to establish the [Irish Press]. Lynch's eventual victory in the case was attributable to his record-keeping and organisational skills.

Lynch played no part in the Irish Civil War, but along with his IRB comrade Seán O'Hegarty, made several unsuccessful attempts to stop it. In an impassioned letter, written in 1922 to the members of Friends of Irish Freedom, he wrote: "Our influence may be exercised towards securing for Ireland the greatest need of the moment – Peace."

In 1933, he returned to Ireland, living initially in Mallow but settling in Tracton. He contributed to the work of the Bureau of Military History in collecting witness statements from those who had taken part in the War of Independence and in reviewing historical publications. He attempted to run for the Senate in 1944 but was not successful.

Members of the First Dáil - Thomas Hunter

Thomas Hunter (died 11 March 1932) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Cork North East constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann, though Hunter did not attend as he was in prison.

He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork East and North East constituency at the 1921 elections. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it. He stood unsuccessfully as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin candidate for the same constituency at the 1922 general election.

Members of the First Dáil - David Rice Kent

David Rice Kent (Ceannt)

David Rice Kent (died November 1930) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.

He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin MP for the Cork East constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann, though Kent did not attend. He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork East and North East constituency at the 1921 elections. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it.

He was re-elected for the same constituency at the 1922 general election, this time as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TD, and he did sit in the Dáil from this time onwards. He was elected as a Republican TD for Cork East constituency at the 1923 general election. He was elected as one of five Sinn Féin TDs at the June 1927 general election. He did not contest the September 1927 general election.

His brother William Kent was also a TD in the 1920s and 1930s.

Members of the First Dáil - James Joseph Walsh

James Joseph Walsh, generally referred to as J.J. Walsh, (20 February 1880 – 30 November 1948) was Postmaster General, (later Minister for Posts & Telegraphs) of the Irish Free State from 15 October 1923 - 23 June 1927. He was also a senior G.A.A organiser and Irish Cumann na nGaedhael politician. Later, he was closely associated with Irish based pro-German initiatives during the Second World War, frequently expressing his views with Anti-Semitic rhetoric.

J.J. Walsh was born in the townland of Rathroon, near Bandon, County Cork.His family came from a farming background, 'working a substantial holding of medium but well-cultivated land'. Until the age of fifteen, Walsh attended a local school in Bandon, but by his own account 'as far as learning went, I may as well have been at home'. Together with his school-friend P.S. O'Hegarty, he passed the Civil Service exams for the Postal service. He later worked locally as a clerk in the Post Office. Like O'Hegarty, he spent three years in London at King's College, studying for the Secretary's Office ' a syllabus (which) differed little from the Indian Civil Service' . While O'Hegarty succeeded in his studies, Walsh did not, and returned to Cork where a friend, Sir Edward Fitzgerald, arranged work for him on the Entertainments Committee of the Cork International Exhibition.

Walsh was active in the Gaelic Athletic Association, promoting Gaelic games in many areas, but particularly in Cork city and county. His interest in organised sports had a strong political dimension.
　

I happened to be one of those who realised the potentialities of the G.A.A. as a training ground for Physical Force. Contamination with the alien and all his works was taboo. I gathered around me a force of youthful enthusiasts from the University, Civil Service and Business. With this intensely organised instrument, war was declared on foreign games which were made to feel the shock so heavily that one by one, Soccer and Rugby Clubs began to disappear.

He was also instrumental in establishing the 'revived' Tailteann Games.

He participated in the Easter Rising in 1916; one of the small group of Hibernian Rifles that reported to James Connolly in the G.P.O.. He was arrested following the general surrender and sentenced to death after Court Martial at Richmond Barracks. This was almost immediately commuted to life imprisonment, but he was released the following year under a general amnesty.
Walsh was elected as a Sinn Féin MP in the 1918 general election for the Cork City constituency. As a member of the 1st Dáil he was arrested for partaking in an 'illegal' government. He was released in 1921 and supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and went on to become a founder-member of the new political party, Cumann na nGaedhael. Walsh served as Postmaster General from 1922 until 1924 and joined the cabinet of W. T. Cosgrave between 1924 and 1927, after the office was reconstituted as the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. He was elected at every election for the Cork Borough constituency until 1927 when he retired from government.

During World War II, known at the time in Ireland as 'The Emergency', Walsh's connections with fascism, including his association with Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, brought him to the attention of G2, the Intelligence branch of the Irish Army. Their request to the Minister for Justice, Gerald Boland, to place a tap on his phone was, however, refused.

Members of the First Dáil - James Lennon

This starts the list of those not pictured in the official photograph of the First Dáil.

James Lennon (died 13 August 1958) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.

He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin MP for the Carlow constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann, though Lennon did not attend as he was in prison.

He again elected unopposed for the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency at the 1921 elections. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it. He stood unsuccessfully as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin candidate at the 1922 general election.

Members of the First Dáil - Seán Etchingham

Seán Etchingham: Sixth Row: Right

Seán Redmond Etchingham (died 23 April 1923) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician. . Etchingham was a member of the Irish Volunteers, Sinn Féin, the Gaelic League and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Etchingham was first elected as a Sinn Féin candidate for Wicklow East at the 1918 general election. As with the other Sinn Féin MPs, he did not take his seat in the British House of Commons, sitting instead in the revolutionary First Dáil, which met in the Mansion House, Dublin in January, 1919. He was later appointed to the government as Secretary for Fisheries.

It is interesting to note that Seán Etchingham, who was elected to the constituency of Wicklow East, was born at Ballinatray, Courtown, in 1870, and he died at Courtown Harbour on April 23rd 1923. In the official photograph of the first Dáil, Etchingham is the only Wexford man present on that auspicious occasion. Etchingham, the first Wexford-man to hold a ministry, was a journalist with THE ECHO newspaper.

He was re-elected in the 1921 election but retired from politics at the next election. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in the Dáil debates and again at the Volunteer Executive. He was arrested during the Irish Civil War. During his imprisonment his health deteriorated and he died later that year in prison.

This ends the Members of the First Dáil (from the official photograph).

Members of the First Dáil - Philip Shanahan

Philip Shanahan

Philip (Phil) Shanahan was an Irish Sinn Féin politician, who was elected to the United Kingdom House of Commons in 1918 and served as a Teachta Dála in Dáil Éireann from 1919 to 1922.
He lived in Dublin, where he was a Licensed Vintner, maintaining a long tradition by Tipperary men in the capital.

He was involved in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916. This led to him having legal difficulties over the licence of his public house. Shanahan consulted the lawyer and politician Timothy Healy who commented: -

"I had with me to-day a solicitor with his client, a Dublin publican named Phil Shanahan, whose licence is being opposed, and whose house was closed by the military because he was in Jacob's during Easter week. I was astonished at the type of man - about 40 years of age, jolly and respectable. He said he "rose out" to have a "crack at the English" and seemed not at all concerned at the question of success or failure. He was a Tipperary hurler in the old days. For such a man to join the Rebellion and sacrifice the splendid trade he enjoyed makes one think there are disinterested Nationalists to be found. I thought a publican was the last man in the world to join a rising! Alfred Byrne, M.P., was with him, and is bitter against the Party. I think I can save Shanahan's property."

He was elected for Dublin Harbour at the 1918 general election (defeating Alfred Byrne). Like other Sinn Féin MPs he did not take his seat at Westminster, but became a member of the revolutionary Dáil. He represented Dublin Harbour in the First Dáil 1919-1921. He was arrested and detained in custody by the British government in April 1920 but was released in time to attend the next meeting of the Dáil on 29 June 1920.

In 1921, a general election was held for the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. Republicans used this as an election for the Second Dáil. Shanahan was elected unopposed for the four member Dublin Mid West constituency. He was defeated at the 1922 general election to the Third Dáil, as a member of the Anti-Treaty faction of Sinn Féin (which opposed the creation of the Irish Free State in the place of the Republic declared in 1919).

Members of the First Dáil - Peter Galligan

Peter Galligan: Fifth Row: Far Right

Peter Paul Galligan (20 June 1888 – 14 December 1966) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician. A member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers, he was sent to Wexford from Dublin during the Easter Rising to ensure that the volunteers in the area rose to support those in Dublin. He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin MP for Cavan West at the 1918 general election.

In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled in the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann, though Galligan did not attend as he was in prison. He was re-elected as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan constituency at the 1921 elections. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted in favour of it. He did not contest the 1922 general election and retired from politics.

Members of the First Dáil - Robert Childers Barton

Robert Childers Barton

Robert Childers Barton (4 March 1881 – 10 August 1975) was an Irish lawyer, soldier, statesman and farmer who participated in the negotiations leading up to the signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. His father was Charles William Barton and his mother was Agnes Childers. His wife was Rachel Warren of Boston, daughter of Fiske Warren. His first cousin and close friend was Robert Erskine Childers.

He was born in County Wicklow into a wealthy Irish Protestant land-owning family; namely of Glendalough House. Educated in England at Rugby and Oxford, he became an officer in the Dublin Fusiliers on the outbreak of the First World War. He was stationed in Dublin during the 1916 Easter Rising and resigned his commission in protest at the heavy-handed British government suppression of the revolt. He then joined the Republican movement

Charles William Barton (father) was born on 13 July 1836. He married Agnes Alexandra Frances Childers, daughter of Rev. Canon Charles Childers, on 26 October 1876. He died on 3 October 1890 at age 54.

At the 1918 general election to the British House of Commons, he was elected as the Sinn Féin member for West Wicklow. Arrested in February 1919 for sedition, he escaped from Mountjoy Prison on St. Patrick's Day (leaving a note to the governor explaining that, owing to the discomfort of his cell, the occupant felt compelled to leave, and requesting the governor to keep his luggage until he sent for it). He was recaptured in January 1920 and sentenced to three years' imprisonment, but was released under the general amnesty of July 1921.

He was appointed Minister for Agriculture of the Irish Republic, then of Economic Affairs. Barton was one of the Irish delegates, along with his cousin, to travel to London for the legendary Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. He reluctantly signed the Treaty on 6 December 1921, defending it "as the lesser of two outrages forced upon me and between which I had to choose." He nevertheless was firmly committed to the Irish Republic and despite signing the Treaty rejected it.

He won election to Dáil Éireann in June 1922, but did not take his seat and left politics for the law, becoming a judge. He was chairman of the Agricultural Credit Corporation from 1934–1954. Barton died at home in County Wicklow on 10 August 1975, at the age of 94, the last surviving signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Éamon de Valera, who was also heavily involved with the Treaty, died only nineteen days later, on 29 August 1975.

Glendalough House, run by Barton for over 70 years right up until his death, is still considered one of Ireland's most notable properties; alongside nearby Powerscourt Estate. The house was the center of numerous political meetings and gatherings from 1910 to 1922. It's also been featured as a location in many large Hollywood films including Excalibur, Saving Private Ryan, and Braveheart.

Barton's grandfather, Thomas Barton, also of Glendalough House, was the founder and owner of the award winning Langoa & Barton vineyards in France. Since 1836, the vineyards have been under the control of the Barton family. The Châteaux Langoa & Léoville Barton passed to the Straffan branch of the Barton family and are currently managed by Anthony Frederick Barton and his daughter, Lilian Anna Barton. He was preceded by his uncle, Major Hugh Ronald Barton ("Ronald"), Chairman, Barton & Guestier, wine shippers, Bordeaux. The Straffan Estate was sold by Captain Frederick Bertram Barton ("Derick") in 1949, a father to Anthony Frederick and brother to Ronald. He lived in Blackrock, Co. Dublin thereafter.