Isaac Butt

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Butt, Isaac (1813–79), founder of the home rule movement. Born in Co. Donegal, Butt was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where in 1833 he co‐founded and edited the Dublin University Magazine (see ‘orange young ireland’), and became professor of political economy 1836–40. Conservative in politics, Butt opposed Daniel O'Connell in the repeal debates held in Dublin corporation 1843, and served as Tory MP for Youghal 1853–65. After being called to the bar 1838, however, Butt developed professional links with nationalists, defending the Young Irelanders William Smith O'Brien and T. F. Meagher in 1848 and various Fenians in 1865–8. Thereafter he became involved in nationalist politics, becoming president of the Amnesty Association 1869, and founding the Home Government Association 1870. Butt represented Limerick and led the home rule party in parliament 1870–9.

As a political leader Butt had both significant achievements and failures. His most enduring political contribution was to cast the political demand of constitutional nationalism in the form it was to retain for over forty years, and to mobilize a party at Westminster committed, ostensibly, to achieving it. What was once seen as Butt's conversion to nationalism, however, is now more commonly viewed as part of a coherent strand of Protestant patriotism going back to his days with ‘Orange Young Ireland’. Certainly there was an underlying ideological continuity, a Conservative cast of mind and commitment to the British empire which inhibited his ability effectively to prosecute the home rule cause. Unlike Parnell, who accepted home rule as the best Westminster would deliver, Butt believed it was the most desirable solution to the Irish question and was prepared to wait until a reluctant parliament might concede it; and while the former organized a disciplined party to give effect to his efforts, Butt was too personally and ideologically opposed to parliamentary coercion to exert ruthless leadership.

Bibliography

Thornley, David , Isaac Butt and Home Rule (1964)

James Loughlin

Butt, Isaac (1813–79). Founder of the Home Rule movement. At the outset of his political and legal career, Butt was a vigorous defender of an Orange Toryism. Increasingly, however, his unionism and his commitment to property right were tinctured with a strong national feeling: this was encouraged by the haphazard nature of government action during the years of the Great Famine. Defending the Young Irelanders in May 1848, he urged that the detrimental economic consequences of the British connection might be offset through a subordinate parliament in Dublin. Although he sat for Youghal in the House of Commons (1852–65), he languished for a time on the margins of national politics. His defence of the Fenian conspirators in 1868 restored his patriotic reputation. His federalist sympathies and broad political appeal were most clearly evident in his Home Government Association (1870): he was returned to Parliament in 1871 as a Home Ruler, representing Limerick. Butt helped to create a national organization for his cause through the Home Rule League (1873), but by the time of his death in 1879 he had been superseded by angrier and more militant lieutenants.

Alvin Jackson

Isaac Butt 1813–79, Irish politician and nationalist leader. A member of both the Irish and the English bar, he was a noted conservative lawyer and scholar and an opponent of Daniel O'Connell . After the Irish famine experience of the 1840s, however, he became increasingly liberal, defended participants in the abortive Young Ireland revolt (1848), and entered (1852) Parliament as a Liberal-Conservative. He continually urged land tenure reform, defended the Fenian leaders, and founded (1870) the Home Rule Society. By 1874 the parliamentary group, the Home Rule League, comprised 56 members under his leadership. He remained nominal leader of the Home Rule movement until his death, although effective leadership gradually passed to Charles Stewart Parnell .

Bibliography: See L. J. McCaffrey, Irish Federalism in the 1870's (1962); D. Thornley, Isaac Butt and Home Rule (1964).

Butt, Isaac (1813–79). Founder of the Home Rule movement. At the outset, Butt was a vigorous defender of Orange Toryism. Increasingly, however, his unionism and his commitment to property right were tinctured with a strong national feeling. Defending the Young Irelanders in May 1848, he urged that the detrimental economic consequences of the British connection might be offset through a subordinate parliament in Dublin. Although he sat for Youghal (1852–65), he languished for a time on the margins of national politics. His defence of the Fenian conspirators in 1868 restored his patriotic reputation. He was returned to Parliament in 1871 as a Home Ruler, representing Limerick. Butt helped to create a national organization through the Home Rule League (1873), but by the time of his death he had been superseded by more militant lieutenants.