1. Peadar Cowan was an Irish soldier, lawyer, and politician.
16 Facts About Peadar Cowan
1. 2.
Peadar Cowan was a member of the West Cavan Brigade IRA during the Irish War of Independence.
3.
Peadar Cowan's rank was reduced to 2nd Lieutenant during the army cut-backs in 1924, following the end of the Civil War.
4.
Peadar Cowan was promoted to captain in September 1931 and resigned shortly thereafter.
5.
However, by the late 1930s, Peadar Cowan had switched his political outlook and joined the Labour Party.
6.
Peadar Cowan stood unsuccessfully at the 1938,1943 and 1944 general elections in the same constituency.
7.
Wth the prospects of growth for the group slim, it was not long before Peadar Cowan had moved on from them.
8.
Peadar Cowan was first elected to Dail Eireann at the 1948 general election as a Clann na Poblachta Teachta Dala for the Dublin North-East constituency.
9.
Peadar Cowan was expelled from the party in July 1948, after he criticised Ireland's receipt of aid from the Marshall Plan negotiated by party leader Sean MacBride as Minister for External Affairs.
10.
Peadar Cowan supported Noel Browne over the Mother and Child Scheme and stood again as an Independent candidate at the 1951 general election where he retained his seat.
11.
Peadar Cowan was able to prevent the eviction and Dunphy would later recount the episode in an autobiography.
12.
The last eliminated candidate, Victor Carton, petitioned that High Court that Peadar Cowan was ineligible due to being bankrupted and having been sentenced to two years' hard labour within five years of the election.
13.
The petition would have been tried under the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, but in 1961 the High Court struck out the 1882 act as incompatible with the 1937 constitution, so that Peadar Cowan kept his seat.
14.
Peadar Cowan was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1961 general election.
15.
Peadar Cowan married Rosemary Collumb in 1923, and they had seven sons and four daughters.
16.
One of those sons, Rory Peadar Cowan, unsuccessfully contested the Dublin North-East constituency for the Labour party in 1965.