The Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union (ILPU) was a unionist political organisation in Ireland, established to oppose the Irish Home Rule movement.The Real Dangers of Home Rule (Dublin: Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union, 1887)
The Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union was formed in Dublin in May 1885 by a small number of southern businessmen, landowners and academics.Alvin Jackson, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History (Oxford University Press, 19 Mar 2014), 52. It sought to unite Liberals and Conservatives in the three southern provinces of Ireland on a common platform of maintenance of the union between Great Britain and Ireland. In doing so, it undermined the Conservative Loyal Irish Union, which shut down as a result of the ILPU's founding. From its inception, the ILPU's main opponent was the Irish Parliamentary Party. The ILPU published pamphlets, leaflets and a news sheet, Notes from Ireland, which were distributed widely in Ireland.Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union: Leaflets (Dublin, 1886)James H. Murphy, The Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume IV (Oxford University Press, 1 Sep 2011), 71. The organisation had some success in preventing rivalry between Liberals and Conservatives, and in a number of cases candidates came forward in the 1885 general election simply as ‘loyalists’. A total of 54 of the southern seats were contested by anti-home rule candidates.
The success of the organisation led its leaders to found the Irish Unionist Alliance in 1891, at which point the ILPU ceased to exist as a separate body.
1885 general election
Table shows results for candidates running under a purely "Loyalist" banner.
Constituency Candidate Votes % Position Winning party Mid Cork Arthur St George Patton 106 2.1 2 Irish Parliamentary Party North Donegal Augustus Stewart 952 17.2 2 Irish Parliamentary Party Galway Borough Thomas George Palmer Hallett 164 10.9 2 Irish Parliamentary Party South Kerry Daniel O'Connell 133 4.6 2 Irish Parliamentary Party East Waterford Capt. William Gervaise de la Poer 314 8.7 2 Irish Parliamentary Party South Westmeath Herman Southwood Smith 200 5.2 2 Irish Parliamentary Party
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