1. John Dillon was an Irish politician from Dublin, who served as a Member of Parliament for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
35 Facts About John Dillon
1. 2.
John Dillon was born in Blackrock, Dublin, a son of the former "Young Irelander" John Blake Dillon.
3.
John Dillon was educated at Catholic University School, at Trinity College Dublin and at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
4.
John Dillon afterwards studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, then ceased active involvement in medicine after he joined Isaac Butt's Home Rule League in 1873, winning notice in 1879 when he attacked Butt's weak parliamentary handling of Irish Home Rule.
5.
John Dillon became a leading land reform agitator as a member of the original committee of the Irish National Land League, spearheading the policy of "boycotting" advocated by Michael Davitt with whom he was allied in close friendship.
6.
John Dillon entered the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1880 as member for County Tipperary, and was at first an ardent supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell.
7.
John Dillon travelled to the United States with Parnell on a fund-raising mission for the Land League.
8.
John Dillon represented the constituency without a break until 1918.
9.
John Dillon was one of the prime movers in the Irish Land League's famous Plan of Campaign instigated by Timothy Healy and organised by Timothy Harrington, which provided, that in the case of excessive rents the tenant should pay his rent to the Land League instead of the landlord, and in case of eviction be supported by the general fund.
10.
John Dillon was compelled by the Court of Queens Bench in December 1886 to find securities for good behaviour, but two days later he was arrested while receiving rents on Lord Clanricarde's estate at Portumna, County Galway.
11.
John Dillon was released in September, and in the spring of 1889 sailed for Australia and New Zealand, where he collected funds for the Nationalist party.
12.
John Dillon returned to Ireland by way of Boulogne, where he and William O'Brien held long and indecisive discussions with Parnell after his divorce crisis over his continued leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
13.
John Dillon was one of his strongest opponents and joined the majority anti-Parnellite block, the Irish National Federation, with Justin McCarthy becoming its leader.
14.
John Dillon Redmond led the minority pro-Parnellite Irish National League after Parnell's death later in 1891.
15.
When home rule became postponed after the Conservative Party returned to power in 1895, John Dillon took the opportunity to expel Healy from his influence in the party.
16.
John Dillon opposed Horace Plunkett in his attempts to bring Unionists and Nationalists together, and his efforts to help small farmers through his cooperative movement.
17.
In 1897 John Dillon opposed in the House of Commons the Address to Queen Victoria on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee, on the ground that her reign had not been a blessing to Ireland, and he showed the same uncompromising attitude in 1901 when a grant to Lord Roberts was under discussion, accusing him of systematised inhumanity.
18.
John Dillon was suspended on 20 March 1902 for violent language addressed to Joseph Chamberlain, calling the then Colonial Secretary a "damned liar".
19.
John Dillon was present in January 1898 when William O'Brien launched his "United Ireland League" from an agrarian platform in Ballina, County Mayo.
20.
The year was eventful with the attainment of the Local Government Act 1898 which put the administration of local affairs into Irish hands, not at all favoured by John Dillon before attaining full Home Rule.
21.
John Dillon played a decisive role in opposing O'Brien's "doctrine of conciliation" in Irish politics, especially during the 1902 Land Conference and after O'Brien won the subsequent Wyndham Land Purchase Act 1903.
22.
John Dillon's theory was that agrarian unrest better favoured achieving Home Rule by putting relentless pressure on landlords and the government.
23.
John Dillon subsequently gained control of the UIL through his protege, its new secretary Joseph Devlin, MP for Belfast West, with whom John Dillon always maintained a close alliance.
24.
The Home Rule Movement, influenced very greatly by John Dillon, reverted to a narrow traditional stand, which opposed any chance of an inclusive nationalism and failed to include new interests within Catholic society.
25.
John Dillon suffered occasional health incapacities causing irregular attendance at Westminster, particularly when his wife died in 1907 though after the Liberals returned to power in 1906, he was more often consulted.
26.
Likewise John Dillon condemned O'Brien's new All-for-Ireland League's proposals for concessions to Ulster as encouraging their demands.
27.
John Dillon remained inflexible at various meetings, including the 1914 Buckingham Palace Conference's endeavour to settle the problem of Ulster.
28.
John Dillon intervened with David Lloyd George to halt the 90 sentences of execution pronounced by "field court-martial" under martial law by General Maxwell after he declared the rebellion "treason in time of war".
29.
John Dillon told Scott his party must support Conscription or lose the election.
30.
John Dillon insisted that if they went ahead they would "fill the whole country" with the same type of radicals, as opposed to imprisonment.
31.
John Dillon attacked the Government in the House of Commons and declared that the rebels were "wrong", but had fought "a clean fight".
32.
John Dillon declined a nomination to the Irish Convention on Home Rule in 1917.
33.
John Dillon attempted to persuade the Government in July 1918 to implement Irish self-government by introducing a motion for self-determination in the Commons.
34.
John Dillon got married in 1895 to Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Justice J C Mathew, who bore him six children.
35.
John Dillon died in a London nursing home at the age of 76, on 4 August 1927, and was buried four days later in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin.