Dr
Patrick McCartan (13 March 1878 – 28 March 1966) was an
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
republicanIrish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and politician. He was born in
CarrickmoreCarrickmore is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is located in the heart of the county, on an elevated site colloquially known as "The Rock". It had a population of 612 in the 2001 Census. It is centrally located between Cookstown, Dungannon and Omagh.-History:The area is steeped in...
,
County TyroneCounty Tyrone is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland....
in 1873. He emigrated to the
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a young man and became a member of
Clan na GaelFor the Celtic Rock band formerly known as Clan na Gael, see Seven Nations.The Clan na Gael was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican...
in Philadelphia,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
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 HobsonJohn Bulmer Hobson was a leading member of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood before the Easter Rising in 1916...
and
Denis McCulloughDenis McCullough was a prominent Irish nationalist political activist in the early 20th century.-Early career - IRB activist:Born in Belfast, Ireland McCullough was a separatist nationalist from an early age...
with the Dungannon Clubs and the
Irish Republican BrotherhoodThe Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the mid-19th and early 20th centuries...
.
He was also a close friend of Thomas Clarke but they fell out on the eve of the
Easter RisingThe Easter Rising , was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic...
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 KerryCounty Kerry is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster. Kerry is the fifth largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 14th largest in terms of population...
.
Dr
Patrick McCartan (13 March 1878 – 28 March 1966) was an
IrishIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
republicanIrish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and politician. He was born in
CarrickmoreCarrickmore is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is located in the heart of the county, on an elevated site colloquially known as "The Rock". It had a population of 612 in the 2001 Census. It is centrally located between Cookstown, Dungannon and Omagh.-History:The area is steeped in...
,
County TyroneCounty Tyrone is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Ulster and is part of Northern Ireland....
in 1873. He emigrated to the
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a young man and became a member of
Clan na GaelFor the Celtic Rock band formerly known as Clan na Gael, see Seven Nations.The Clan na Gael was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican...
in Philadelphia,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
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 HobsonJohn Bulmer Hobson was a leading member of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood before the Easter Rising in 1916...
and
Denis McCulloughDenis McCullough was a prominent Irish nationalist political activist in the early 20th century.-Early career - IRB activist:Born in Belfast, Ireland McCullough was a separatist nationalist from an early age...
with the Dungannon Clubs and the
Irish Republican BrotherhoodThe Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the mid-19th and early 20th centuries...
.
He was also a close friend of Thomas Clarke but they fell out on the eve of the
Easter RisingThe Easter Rising , was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic...
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 KerryCounty Kerry is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster. Kerry is the fifth largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 14th largest in terms of population...
. 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 FéinSinn Féin is a political party in Ireland. The current party, led by Gerry Adams, was formed following a split in January 1970 and traces its origins back to the original Sinn Féin party formed in 1905. It is a major party of Irish republicanism and its political ideology is left wing...
in the
by-electionA by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections...
s being held throughout Ireland that year.
McCartan contested the by-election in
South ArmaghSouth Armagh was a former UK Parliament constituency in Ireland.-Boundaries and Boundary Changes:This constituency comprised the southern part of County Armagh....
for Sinn Féin but lost out to the
Irish Parliamentary PartyThe Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
candidate through Unionist tactical voting. He was later elected in a by-election in
King's County TullamoreTullamore, a division of King's County, was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885-1918.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 and after the dissolution of Parliament in 1918 the area was part of the King's County constituency.-Boundaries:This...
in 1918. He was re-elected in the 1918 UK general election and at the meeting of the
First DáilThe First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates 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"...
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 McGarrityJoseph McGarrity was born in Carrickmore, County Tyrone, Ireland. He emigrated to the USA in 1892 at the age of 18 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1893 until his death he was a leading member of the Clan na Gael organisation. He also was a successful businessman; however, his...
. They persuaded
Éamon de ValeraÉamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in 20th century Ireland...
to support the Philadelphia branch of Clan na Gael against the New York branch led by
John DevoyJohn Devoy was an Irish rebel leader and exile.-Early life:Devoy was born near Kill, County Kildare. In 1861 he travelled to France with an introduction from T. D. Sullivan to John Mitchel...
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 RepublicThe Irish Republic was a unilaterally declared independent state of Ireland proclaimed in the Easter Rising of 1916 and formally established on 21 January 1919 by Dáil Éireann...
.
He was re-elected for
Leix-OffalyLaois–Offaly is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects five Teachtaí Dála...
in the
1921 general electionTwo elections in Ireland took place in 1921, as a result of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to establish the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The election was used by Irish Republicans as the basis of membership of the Second Dáil...
. He gave the
Anglo-Irish TreatyThe Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the de facto Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence...
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 electionThe Irish presidential election of 1945 was held on 14 June 1945. It was Ireland's first contested presidential election. With the decision of President Douglas Hyde not to seek a second term, Fianna Fáil decided to nominate its deputy leader, the Tánaiste Seán T. O'Kelly as its candidate...
as an Independent candidate and secured 20% of the vote. He became a founder member of
Clann na PoblachtaClann na Poblachta [kˠłan̪ˠ n̪ˠə pʷɔbʷłəxt̪ˠə] , abbreviated CnaP, was an Irish republican political party founded by former Irish Republican Army Chief of Staff Seán MacBride in 1946.-Foundation:...
and contested the
1948 general electionThe Irish general election of 1948 was held on 4 February 1948. The 147 newly elected members of the 13th Dáil assembled on 18 February when the First Inter-Party government in the history of the Irish state was appointed....
without success though was nominated to
Seanad ÉireannSeanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas of Ireland and its members are Seanadóirí . The House is also commonly known unofficially as the Seanad or Senate, and its members as senators....
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 DrewRonnie Drew was an Irish singer and folk musician who achieved international fame during a fifty year career recording with The Dubliners. He was born in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin...
.
Sources
- J. Anthony Gaughan, Memoirs of Senator Joseph Connolly: A Founder of Modern Ireland (1996)
- The O'Brien Press, Kathleen Clarke: Revolutionary Woman (1991)
External links