Editing Isaac Butt

{{Short description|Irish nationalist politician and barrister}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=January 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix   = 
| name               = Isaac Butt
| native_name        = 
| native_name_lang   = 
| honorific-suffix   = {{postnominals|country=GBR|QC|MP}}
| image              = Portrait of Isaac Butt.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| smallimage         = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| alt                = 
| caption            = Isaac Butt, portrait by [[John Butler Yeats]]

| order              = 
| office             = 1st Leader of the [[Home Rule League]]
| term_start         = 21 November 1873
| term_end           = 5 May 1879
| alongside          = <!--For two or more people serving in the same position from the same district.  (e.g. United States Senators.)-->
| vicepresident      = 
| viceprimeminister  = 
| deputy             = 
| predecessor        = 
| successor          = [[William Shaw (Irish politician)|William Shaw]]

| order2             =  <!--Can be repeated up to eight times by changing the number-->
| office2            =  [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Limerick City (UK Parliament constituency)|Limerick]]
| term_start2        =  1871
| term_end2          =  1879
| alongside2         =  [[George Gavin]]<br /><small>(to 1874)</small><br />[[Richard O'Shaughnessy (MP)|Richard O'Shaughnessy]]<br /><small>(from 1874)</small>
| predecessor2       =  [[Francis William Russell]]<br />[[George Gavin]]
| successor2         =  [[Daniel Fitzgerald Gabbett]]<br />[[Richard O'Shaughnessy (MP)|Richard O'Shaughnessy]]
| constituency2      =  <!--Can be repeated up to eight times by changing the number-->
| majority2          =  <!--Can be repeated up to eight times by changing the number-->

| office3            =  [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Youghal (UK Parliament constituency)|Youghal]]
| term_start3        =  1852
| term_end3          =  1865
| predecessor3       =  [[Thomas Chisholm Anstey]]
| successor3         =  [[Joseph Neale McKenna]]

| birth_date         = 6 September 1813
| birth_place        = Glenfin,<br /> [[County Donegal]],<br /> [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]
| death_date         = 5 May 1879 (aged 65)
| death_place        = [[Clonskeagh]],<br /> [[Dublin]],<br /> [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]
| restingplace       = 
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| birthname          = 
| citizenship        = 
| nationality        = 
| party              = [[Home Rule League]]<br /><small>(from 1873)</small>
| otherparty         = [[Home Government Association]] <small>(1870–73)</small><br />[[Irish Conservative Party]]<br /><small>(until 1870)</small>
| spouse             = 
| partner            =  <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
| relations          = 
| children           = 
| parents            = 
| residence          = 
| alma_mater         = [[Trinity College Dublin]]
| occupation         = Professor, lawyer, politician, and [[Queen's Counsel]]
| profession         = 
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}}

'''Isaac Butt''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|QC|MP}} (6 September 1813&nbsp;– 5 May 1879) was an [[Irish people|Irish]] [[barrister]], editor, politician, [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]], economist and the founder and first leader of a number of [[Irish nationalist]] parties and organisations. He was a leader in the [[Irish Metropolitan Conservative Society]] in 1836, the [[Home Government Association]] in 1870, and the [[Home Rule League]] in 1873. Colin W. Reid argues that Home Rule was the mechanism Butt proposed to bind [[Ireland]] to [[Great Britain]]. It would end the ambiguities of the [[Acts of Union 1800|Act of Union of 1800]]. He portrayed a federalised [[United Kingdom]], which would have weakened Irish exceptionalism within a broader British context. Butt was representative of a constructive national unionism.<ref>Colin W. Reid, "‘An Experiment in Constructive Unionism’: Isaac Butt, Home Rule and Federalist Political Thought during the 1870s." ''English Historical Review'' 129.537 (2014): 332-361.</ref> As an economist, he made significant contributions regarding the potential resource mobilisation and distribution aspects of protection, and analysed deficiencies in the Irish economy such as sparse employment, low productivity, and misallocation of land.<ref>Alan O’Day, "Isaac Butt and Neglected Political Economists." in ''English, Irish and Subversives Among the Dismal Scientists '' (2010): 375+.</ref> He dissented from the established [[Ricardian economics|Ricardian]] theories and favoured some [[welfare state]] concepts.<ref>R.D.  Collison Black,  "The Irish dissenters and nineteenth-century political economy." ''Hermathena'' 135 (1983): 120-137. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23040824 online]</ref> As editor he made  the ''Dublin University Magazine'' a leading Irish journal of politics and literature.<ref>Wayne E. Hall, "The 'Dublin University Magazine' and Isaac Butt, 1834-1838." ''Victorian Periodicals Review'' 20.2 (1987): 43-56.</ref>

==Early life==

Butt was born in 1813 in Glenfin, a district bordering the Finn Valley in [[County Donegal]] in [[Ulster]], the northern [[Provinces of Ireland|province]] in [[Ireland]]. Glenfin is a short distance west of [[Ballybofey]], a town in East Donegal. He was born into an [[Ulster Protestants|Ulster Protestant]] family, being the son of a [[Church of Ireland]] [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]], and was descended from the [[O'Donnells of Tyrconnell]],{{sfn|Spence|1996|p=}} through the Ramsays.{{sfn|Burke|2009|p=155}} Butt received his secondary school education at [[Royal and Prior School|The Royal School]] in [[Raphoe]] in the Laggan district of East [[County Donegal|Donegal]], and at [[Midleton College]] in [[County Cork]], before going to [[Trinity College Dublin]] (TCD), at the age of fifteen,<ref>''Alumni Dublinenses: a register of the students, graduates, professors and provosts of [[Trinity College Dublin|Trinity College in the University of Dublin]] (1593–1860)'', [[George Dames Burtchaell]]/[[Thomas Ulick Sadleir]] p. 123: Dublin, Alex Thom and Co, 1935</ref> where he was [[List of Scholars of Trinity College Dublin|elected a Scholar]], and president of the (extern) [[College Historical Society]].<ref name="Monitor"/> Whilst there he co-founded the ''[[Dublin University Magazine]]'' and edited it for four years. For much of his life he was a member of the [[Irish Conservative Party]], and he founded the conservative ''Ulster Times'' newspaper.<ref name="Monitor">{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-dec-27-1913-1340776 |title=Life Story of Isaac Butt - His Early Career - Political Opponent of O'Connell |work=[[The Monitor and New Era]] |location=[[London]] |date=27 December 1913 |page=6 |via=[[NewspaperArchive.com]] |access-date=3 September 2019}}</ref> He became [[Whately Professor of Political Economy]] at Trinity in 1836 and held that position until 1841.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Irish Times |date=26 August 2008| page =15|title= An Irishman's Diary|first= Frank|last= Bouchier-Hayes}}</ref>

==Legal career==

After being called to the bar in 1838, Butt quickly established a name for himself as a brilliant [[barrister]]. He was known for his opposition to the [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalist]] leader [[Daniel O'Connell]]'s campaign for the repeal of the Act of Union.{{sfn|Doran|2003|pp= 25-26}} He also lectured at Trinity College, Dublin, in political economy. His experiences during the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] led him to move from being an [[Unionists (Ireland)|Irish unionist]] and an [[Orange Institution|Orangeman]]{{sfnp|Jackson|2003|pp=25–26|ps=}} to supporting a [[Federalism|federal]] political system for the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] that would give Ireland a greater degree of self-rule. This led to his involvement in Irish nationalist politics and the foundation of the [[Home Rule League]]. Butt was instrumental in fostering links between constitutional and revolutionary nationalism through his representation of members of the [[Fenian]]s Society in court.

==Political career==

He began his career as a [[Tory (British political party)|Tory]] politician on [[Dublin Corporation]]. He was [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Youghal (UK Parliament constituency)|Youghal]] from 1852 to 1865, and for [[Limerick City (UK Parliament constituency)|Limerick]] from 1871 to 1879 (at the [[1852 United Kingdom general election|1852 general election]] he had also been elected for the English constituency of [[Harwich (UK Parliament constituency)|Harwich]], but chose to sit for Youghal).

The failed [[Fenian Rising]] in 1867 strengthened Butt's belief that a federal system was the only way to break the dreary cycle of inefficient administration punctuated by incompetent uprisings.{{sfnp|Lyons|1978|p=42|ps=}} Having defended the leaders of the [[Fenians|Fenian]] revolt, Butt then from June 1869 became president of the Amnesty Association formed to secure the release of imprisoned Fenians,{{sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=30-31}} supported actively amongst others by [[Philip Francis Johnson|P. F. Johnson]].

In 1870 Butt then founded the [[Home Government Association|Irish Home Government Association]]. This was in no sense a revolutionary organisation. It was designed to mobilise public opinion behind the demand for an Irish parliament, with, as he put it, "full control over our domestic affairs".{{sfnp|Lyons|1978|p=42|ps=}} He believed that Home Rule would promote friendship between Ireland and her neighbour to the east.

In November 1873 Butt replaced the Association with a new body, the [[Home Rule League]], which he regarded as a pressure-group, rather than a political party. In the [[1874 United Kingdom general election in Ireland|general election]] the following year, 60 of its members were elected, forming then in 1874 the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]]. However, most of those elected were men of property who were closer to the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] cause.{{sfnp|Lyons|1978|p=46|ps=}} In the meantime [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] had joined the League, with more radical ideas than most of the incumbent Home Rulers, and was elected to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in a by-election in [[Meath (UK Parliament constituency)|County Meath]] in 1875.{{sfnp|Lyons|1978|p=49|ps=}}

Butt had failed to win substantial concessions at [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Westminster]] on the things that mattered to most Irish people: an amnesty for the Fenians of 1867, fixity of tenure for tenant-farmers and Home Rule. Although they worked to get Home Rulers elected, many Fenians along with tenant farmers were dissatisfied with Butt's gentlemanly approach to have bills enacted, although they did not openly attack him, as his defence of the Fenian prisoners in 1867 still stood in his favour.{{sfnp|Lyons|1978|p=55|ps=}} However, soon a Belfast Home Ruler, [[Joseph Gillis Biggar]] (then a senior member of the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood|IRB]]), began making extensive use of the ungentlemanly tactic of "obstructionism" to prevent bills being passed by the house.

==Declined influence==

When Parnell entered [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] he took his cue from [[John O'Connor Power]] and Joseph Biggar and allied himself with those Irish members who would support him in his obstructionist campaign. MPs at that time could stand up and talk for as long as they wished on any subject. This caused havoc in Parliament. In one case they talked for 45 hours non-stop, stopping any important bills from being passed. Butt, ageing, and in failing health, could not keep up with this tactic and considered it counter-productive. In July 1877 Butt threatened to resign from the party if obstruction continued, and a gulf developed between himself and Parnell, who was growing steadily in the estimation of both the Fenians and the Home Rulers.{{sfnp|Lyons|1978|pp=70–75|ps=}}

The climax came in December 1878, when Parliament was recalled to discuss the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War|war in Afghanistan]]. Butt considered this discussion too important to the [[British Empire]] to be interrupted by obstructionism and publicly warned the Irish members to refrain from this tactic. He was fiercely denounced by the young Nationalist [[John Dillon]], who continued his attacks with considerable support from other Home Rulers at a meeting of the Home Rule League in February 1879. Although he defended himself with dignity, Butt, and all and sundry, knew that his role in the party was at an end.{{sfnp|Lyons|1978|p=86|ps=}} [[Richard Barry O'Brien|Barry O'Brien]], in his biography of Parnell, interviews 'X' who relates: 'It was very painful. I was very fond of Butt. He was himself the kindest-hearted man in the world, and here was I going to do the unkindest thing to him.'{{sfn|Stanford |2011| p=84|loc= endnote 196}}

Butt, who had been suffering from bronchitis, had a stroke the following May and died within a week. He was replaced by [[William Shaw (Irish politician)|William Shaw]], who in turn was replaced by [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] in 1880.

==Personal life==

Butt amassed debts and pursued romances. It was said that at meetings he was occasionally heckled by women with whom he had fathered children.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=31}} He was also involved in a financial scandal when it was revealed that he had taken money from several Indian princes to represent their interests in parliament.

He died on 5 May 1879 in [[Clonskeagh]] in Dublin. His remains were brought by train, via [[Strabane]], to [[Stranorlar]] in the east of [[County Donegal]], where he is buried in a corner of the [[Church of Ireland]] cemetery beneath a tree by which he used to sit and dream as a boy.

Despite his chaotic lifestyle and political limitations, Butt was capable of inspiring deep personal loyalty. Some of his friends, such as [[John Butler Yeats]] (father of the poet [[W. B. Yeats]]) and the future Catholic [[Bishop of Limerick]], [[Edward Thomas O'Dwyer]], retained a lasting hostility towards Parnell for his role in Butt's downfall.

In May 2010 the Church of Ireland (Anglican) parishes of Stranorlar, Meenglass and Kilteevogue instigated an annual memorial Service and Lecture in Butt's honour, inviting members of the professions of law, politics and journalism to reflect aspects of his life. Speakers have included Dr. Joe Mulholland, Senator David Norris, Dr. Chris McGimpsey and Prof. Brian Walker. His grave has been restored and the memorial now includes a wreath.

==In literature==

* The novel ''Hogan MP'' by [[May Laffan]] Hartley features a hostile portrait of Butt as "Mr. Rebutter". The eponymous protagonist, John O'Rooney Hogan, shares some traits and background of [[John O'Connor Power]].{{sfn|Stanford |2011| pp=121–122|loc= Part Three}}
*Butt briefly appears in [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison's]] [[alternate history]] novels ''[[Stars and Stripes trilogy]]''.

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|escutcheon = Quarterly 1st & 4th Gules on a chevron engrailed between three estoiles Or a trefoil Vert between two lozenges of the first (Butt) 2nd Azyre three bars counterchanged Or on a canton Gules a lion's head erased Argent (Cox) 3rd Argent an eagle displayed and in chief between two pellets a cross crosslet fitchee Sable (Ramsay) the cross crosslet being adopted in commemoration of a descent through the Ramsays from the family of O'Donnell.
|motto = Possunt Quia Posse Videntur
|notes = Granted 14 August 1856 by Sir John Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000547581/StaffViewMARC#tabnav |title=Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol. F |publisher=National Library of Ireland |accessdate=28 June 2022 |page=98}}</ref>
|crest = A horse's head erased Argent charged on the neck with a trefoil Vert the headand mane plaited Or on the head a lume of three ostrich feathers of the first.}}

==References==

{{reflist|30em}}
{{refbegin}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Burke|first=Bernard |title=The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMmX7QdO-OkC&pg=PA155|year=2009|publisher=Heritage Books|isbn=978-0-7884-3719-9}}
*{{citation |last=Doran |first=Michael |title=Movements for political and Social Reform, 1870–1914 (Irish Leaving Cert History Textbook) |year=2003 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson }}
* >Hall, Wayne E. "The 'Dublin University Magazine' and Isaac Butt, 1834-1838." ''Victorian Periodicals Review'' 20.2 (1987): 43–56. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20082250 online]
*{{cite book|last=Jackson|first= Alvin|title=Home Rule: An Irish History 1800—2000|pages=30–31|publisher= Phoenix Press |date=2003|isbn=0-75381-767-5}}
*{{citation |last=Lyons |first=F. S. L. |author-link=F. S. L. Lyons  |title=Charles Stewart Parnell |year=1978 |publisher=Fontana/Collins |isbn=0-00-635324-X}}
* McCaffrey, Lawrence J. "Isaac Butt and the Home Rule Movement: A Study in Conservative Nationalism." ''Review of Politics'' 22.1 (1960): 72–95. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1405267 online]
* Moss, Laurence S. "Isaac Butt and the early development of the marginal utility theory of imputation." ''American Journal of Economics and Sociology'' 69.1 (2010): 210–231. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40607754 online]
* O’Day, Alan. "Isaac Butt and Neglected Political Economists." in ''English, Irish and Subversives Among the Dismal Scientists '' (2010): 375+.
* Reid, Colin W. "‘An Experiment in Constructive Unionism’: Isaac Butt, Home Rule and Federalist Political Thought during the 1870s." ''English Historical Review'' 129.537 (2014): 332-361. [http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/16702/1/EHR_Reid_2013REVISED.pdf online]
* Spence, Joseph. "Isaac Butt, Irish nationality and the conditional defence of the Union, 1833–70." in D. George Boyce ed. ''Defenders of the Union: A Survey of British and Irish Unionism Since 1801'' (Routledge, 2002) pp.&nbsp;73–97.
*{{cite journal|first=Joseph |last=Spence|title=Allegories for a Protestant Nation: Irish Tory Historical Fiction, 1820–1850|journal= Religion & Literature|volume= 28|issue=2|pages= 59–78|date= Summer 1996|jstor=40059665}}
* {{cite book|last=Stanford|first= Jane |date=2011|title=That Irishman: The Life and Times of John O'Connor Power |publisher=The History Press |location=Ireland|isbn=978-1-84588-698-1}} , Part One pp.&nbsp;39–40, 43–46, Part Two, 'Parliamentary Manoeuvres,' pp.&nbsp;43–46.
* Thornley, David. ''Isaac Butt and home rule'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1964).
* [[Terence de Vere White|White, Terence de Vere]], ''The Road of Excess'', Dublin, 1946.

===Primary sources===
* Butt, Isaac. ''Irish federalism : its meaning, its objects, and its hopes'' (1870) a primary source; [https://archive.org/details/irishfederalismi00butt online]
* Butt, Isaac. ''The Irish people and the Irish land: a letter to Lord Lifford, with comments on the publications of Lord Dufferin and Lord Rosse'' (J. Falconer, 1867) [https://books.google.com/books?id=z7F6UQnoA1MC&dq=isaac+butt&pg=PA1 online].
* Butt, Isaac. ''Land Tenure in Ireland: A Plea for the Celtic race'' (J. Falconer, 1866) [https://books.google.com/books?id=BHsZAAAAYAAJ&dq=isaac+butt&pg=PA5 online].
* Butt, Isaac. ''Protection to Home Industry: Some Cases of Its Advantages Considered: the Substance of Two Lectures Delivered Before the University of Dublin, in Michaelmas Term, 1840: to which is Added an Appendix, Containing Dissertations on Some Points Connected with the Subject'' (Hodges and Smith, 1846) [https://books.google.com/books?id=WgxgAAAAcAAJ&dq=isaac+butt&pg=PA3 online]
* Butt, Isaac. ''Home Government for Ireland: Irish Federalism! Its Meaning, Its Objects, and Its Hopes'' (Irish home rule league, 1874) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1b7RSGFpp0C&dq=isaac+butt&pg=PA3 online].
{{refend}}

==External links==

{{Commons category|Isaac Butt}}
{{wikisource author}}
*{{NPG name}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-isaac-butt | Isaac Butt }}
*[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1874/jun/30/committee#S3V0220P0-01816 Butt's speech on the union in 1874]

{{S-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Thomas Chisholm Anstey]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = Member of Parliament for [[Youghal (UK Parliament constituency)|Youghal]]|years  =[[1852 United Kingdom general election|1852]] – [[1865 United Kingdom general election|1865]]}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Joseph Neale McKenna]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Francis William Russell]] and<br />[[George Gavin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title  = Member of Parliament for [[Limerick City (UK Parliament constituency)|Limerick]]|with = [[George Gavin]], to 1874 | with2  = [[Richard O'Shaughnessy (MP)|Richard O'Shaughnessy]], from 1874|years=1871–1879}}
{{s-aft|after  = [[Daniel Fitzgerald Gabbett]] and<br />[[Richard O'Shaughnessy (MP)|Richard O'Shaughnessy]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Nationalist Party leaders}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butt, Isaac}}
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[[Category:People educated at Midleton College]]
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