Isaac Butt

Isaac Butt, the author and politician, Justin McCarthy commented, ''wasted his iron constitution between over-work and over-relaxation''. In truth, his failing was to fall foul of ''history'' and ''historians'' thus leaving a dented reputation to posterity. A brilliant graduate of Trinity College Dublin, sometime holder of the Whately Professor of Political Economy in his old college, gifted advocate at the Irish and English Bars, MP for both English and Irish constituencies, head of the amnesty movement for release of Fenian prisoners, leader of the tenant movement for reform of the land laws and a founder and first chairman of the Home Rule Party in the 1870s number amongst his involvements, successes and disappointments. He began his political career as a Protestant Conservative then gradually shifted to popular national ideals though this progression stemmed from a consistent desire to better conditions in his native land. This study addresses the themes underpinning Butt''s career, suggesting that he is a complex figure who is best understood in the context of an age before mass mobilisation of popular sentiment and one who attempted with varying successes to guide the nation along a path where its peoples shared mutual respect and tolerance. In the short-run he seemed an anachronism but over the longer-term many of his hopes were enshrined in twenty-first century Ireland. See more