John Redmond as Home Rule Leader

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Evaluation of John Redmond’s Leadership of the Home Rule Party (1900 – 1912) Thomas Wakely The following essay is the evaluation of John Redmond’s leadership of the Home Rule Party during the period of 1900 to 1912. Redmond was extremely loyal to Parnell. He was a great admirer of Parnell and his character. During the divorce case, Redmond would stay true and supportive to him. Upon Parnell’s death, he would become leader of the Parnellite section of the group. This group distanced itself from the Liberals to become a more independent force within Westminster. The Parnellites were a very weak sect of Home Rule, losing the support of the Catholic Church, and in the 1892 general election; they only won nine seats. The Anti – Parnellites were much stronger, but eventually split into three different groups, achieving 72 seats in the election. Redmond was very non confrontational and hoped to achieve most of Home Rule’s goals by pleasing as many as he could. Since the loss of the Catholic Church’s support, he began to gain support from protestants showing he was willing to defy the Church is he needed to. John Redmond | Davitt | Healy | O’Brien | Parnellite Party | The largest anti – Parnellite party | His followers leftthe party | United Irish League | Redmond wanted to win over the support of the Irish Unionists and Conservatives. He took part in the recess committee of ’95 and ’96 which led to the establishment of the department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland in 1899. In 1898, 100 years after the Irish Revolution, many looked to Home Rule and their arguments as being irrelevant. The disunity and petty arguments of the Home Rule party were becoming unacceptable in Irish Society and when faced with the possibility of lost support and extinction of the party, Home Rulers had no option but to undergo negotiations for party unity. It was
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