Home Government Association becomes the Home Rule League (1873)

The Home Government Association, founded by Isaac Butt in 1870, reconstituted as the Home Rule League in November 1873. This transition transformed a loose pressure group into a formal political party campaigning for Irish home rule. Butt led the organization, though his view of it as a pressure group contrasted with its actual party structure, setting the stage for future leadership changes.

Episodes

Background and detail

Reconstitution as a Party. In November 1873, the loose association reconstituted itself as the Home Rule League, a full political party. This change occurred during a meeting in Dublin. While Butt regarded the new body as a pressure group, it functioned as a political party campaigning for home rule within the United Kingdom, marking a significant evolution in the organization's structure and purpose.

Leadership and Composition. Isaac Butt, who had founded and led the Home Government Association, led the reconstituted League. Charles Stewart Parnell joined the League with more radical ideas than most of the incumbent Home Rulers, and was elected to Parliament in a by-election in County Meath in 1875. Butt had been the first chief of the Home Government Association and later served as president of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain.

People involved

Sources

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