T.M. Healy

Irish politician
Also known as: Tim Healy, Timothy Michael Healy
Quick Facts
In full:
Timothy Michael Healy
Byname:
Tim Healy
Born:
May 17, 1855, Bantry, County Cork, Ire.
Died:
March 26, 1931, Dublin (aged 75)
Political Affiliation:
Sinn Féin
Role In:
Home Rule

T.M. Healy (born May 17, 1855, Bantry, County Cork, Ire.—died March 26, 1931, Dublin) was a leader in the campaigns for Irish Home Rule and for agrarian reform, who served as the first governor-general of the Irish Free State.

Working in England first as a railway clerk and then from 1878 in London as parliamentary correspondent of the Nation, Healy took part in Irish politics and was associated with Charles Stewart Parnell, the chief Irish Nationalist. After being arrested for intimidation in connection with the Land League, he was promptly elected as member of Parliament for Wexford (1880).

In Parliament Healy became an authority on the Irish land question, and the “Healy Clause” of the Land Act of 1881, which protected tenant farmers’ agrarian improvements from rent increases imposed by landlords, not only made him popular throughout nationalist Ireland but also won his cause seats in Protestant Ulster. He broke with Parnell in 1886 and generally remained at odds with subsequent leaders of the Irish Parliamentary Party (commonly called the Irish Nationalist Party), though he was a strong supporter of proposals for Irish Home Rule. Meanwhile, he had been called to the Irish bar in 1884 and became a queen’s counsel in 1899.

Dissatisfied with both the Liberals and the Irish Nationalists after the Easter Rising in 1916, Healy supported Sinn Féin after 1917. Because he was regarded as an elder statesman by the British and Irish governments, he was proposed by both sides in 1922 as governor-general of the new Irish Free State, a post that he held until his resignation and retirement in 1928.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Quick Facts

Home Rule, in British and Irish history, movement to secure internal autonomy for Ireland within the British Empire.

The Home Government Association, calling for an Irish parliament, was formed in 1870 by Isaac Butt, a Protestant lawyer who popularized “Home Rule” as the movement’s slogan. In 1873 the Home Rule League replaced the association, and Butt’s moderate leadership soon gave way to that of the more aggressive Charles Stewart Parnell. Demands for land reform and denominational education were added to the Irish program, and Parnell’s obstructionist tactics in the British Parliament publicized his country’s grievances. Prime Minister William E. Gladstone was converted to Home Rule by 1885, but it was rejected by Parliament in 1886. Gladstone introduced a second Home Rule Bill in 1893; it was defeated in the House of Lords. The third bill had to wait for another Liberal ministry (the Conservatives had attempted to “kill Home Rule by kindness,” to undermine its program by effecting moderate reforms); its introduction in 1912 inflamed the militant opposition of both unionists (led by Edward Carson) and republicans in Ireland. The bill became law Sept. 18, 1914, but was inoperative for the duration of World War I. After years of conflict, a system akin to Home Rule was established in the six counties of Ulster (Northern Ireland) by the Government of Ireland Act (1920). By the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) the remaining 26 counties in the south achieved dominion status; the nominal link with the British Commonwealth was further eroded in 1937 and was severed in 1949.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeff Wallenfeldt.