1884 - 1885 AD

1884 AD The Irish Parliamentary Party now insisted on pledges from their Candidates who were standing for the British Westminster Parliament, stating that they would sit, act and vote only on behalf of the Irish Parliamentary Party and resign from their seat if they did not agree with any of the Party's policies and also the Franchise Act was then passed in the British Westminster Parliament, which added a further 500,000 new household voters in Ireland, which further strengthened the position of the Irish Home Rulers, but brought home to the upper class non - Catholics in Ireland that their previous Ascendancy position of British Imperial backed superiority was no longer secure, and this would colour their view of Irish Home Rule in the future also. 

     Michael Cusack, a schoolmaster, founded the Gaelic Athletic Association as a non - political association at Thurles in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster Province, for the propagation of Irish Sports under it's first patron Croke the Catholic Archbishop of Cashel, and 4 out of the 7 original founders were also to be Fenians and it then began the reverse of what had been previously the policy of those in authority in England over the Centuries of banning all Irish Sports by banning "foreign" games themselves. 

     The Irish Catholic Bishops together with Charles Stewart - Parnell now agreed to push for the right of Irish Catholics to receive an education.  

     Dr. Brownrigg became the Catholic Bishop of Ossory in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster. 

     In England, John Daly threw a bomb onto the Treasury Bench of the British House of Commons this year to express his personal feelings over the situation in Ireland, and he was subsequently sentenced to Life Imprisonment. 

    The Belfast industrial revolution now occurred in the north - east of the Ulster Province in ship building and textiles.

1885 AD The British Liberal Government was back in under William Gladstone with a majority, and Charles Stewart - Parnell by now had 85 Irish Home Rulers in the British Westminster Parliament who were often to ironically hold the balance of power in the Parliament, while 18 other seats went to the Ulster Unionists who were totally opposed to Irish Home Rule who joined forces instead with the Opposition Conservatives and there had also been a Redistribution Act brought in, but it had, had no effect on the number of Irish M.P.'s who still retained the same amount of members, even though the population in Ireland had decreased.

     John Devoy in America in the meantime was making full use of the Clann na Gael / The Organization there and was constantly pushing for total Irish Independence, an Irish Republic, and for the land of Ireland to be personally owned by the Irish themselves.

June 9th: The British Liberal Government still under William Gladstone was by now degenerating, due to their internal disagreements, until finally they were to lose their majority altogether, and this was to bring about the ironic situation were both the Liberals and the Opposition Conservatives were now looking towards Charles Stewart - Parnell and the Irish Parliamentary Party for support. (So much for being lost in the numbers.) while the British General Election was held over due to the changes still to be made on account of the Franchise Act and Redistribution Act, which had not yet been completed. Charles Stewart - Parnell was fully committed to Irish Home Rule first, to which he was more disposed then to land purchase, and he met with the newly appointed British Viceroy Lord Carnarvon who had been responsible previously for establishing a federal self - government in Canada in 1867 AD, who encouraged Charles Stewart - Parnell to believe that a Conservative Government might grant Ireland a status within the United Kingdom, similar to the one the Canadian Province held within the Dominion. Charles Stewart - Parnell then approached William Gladstone to see what the Liberals would offer, but although William Gladstone now saw that Irish Home Rule was inevitable he still refused to commit to it, so Charles Stewart - Parnell decided to continue to deal with the Conservatives as this seemed to be his best option at this particular time.

November: In the following General Elections for the Westminster Parliament 85 Irish Home Rule M.P.s were elected again to represent Ireland with Thomas Power - O Connor elected for the Scotland division of Liverpool in  England, which was to then be held by him until 1929 AD, and among those seats they also won, were 17 out of the 33 seats in the Ulster Province, so he was able to form a solid party as their overall leader and this gave the Irish Nationalists the balance of power in the British House of Commons at Westminster, as there were 335 Liberals also successful against 249 Conservatives with the difference in numbers being the Irish Parliamentary Party members under his leadership. His only options were that he could keep one or the other out of government, but could only be responsible for putting in the Liberals, and although the Irish Parliamentary Party were still the minority party they were to be the cause of the Tory Conservative Government returning to power when he threw his support behind them. The Conservatives were now in as the British Imperial Government until 1886 AD under the leadership of Robert Cecil / Marquess / Lord Salisbury and they began positively at first in response dropping the current Irish Coercion Act that was being being carried out in Ireland immediately, and began a scheme for land purchase from the Land Lords for resale to the Irish tenant farmers under the Ashbourne Act, which was named after the British Lord Chancellor in Ireland who had put it forward.

    The scheme for the purchase of the Estates held by the various Land Lords in Ireland was carried out under Windham Wyndham - Quin the British Colonial Under Secretary in Ireland, who later on was to become the British Lord Chancellor there also, but  this time  the "total amount" of the holding was advanced to the tenants to be repaid over 49 years @ 4%, which also included the interest and the capital repayment, with the amount to be repaid only amounting to 70% of the former rent that was originally paid, and this enabled many of the Irish tenant farmers to be able buy back the land and within 3 years the amount of 5,000,000 pounds appropriated for the scheme had been spent, and a new grant was to be made to carry it on, and despite these reasonable terms, up until 1891 AD, only 4,000 farms a year on average were actually able to be purchased.   

December: Those in close contact with William Gladstone who was now the Liberal Opposition leader, knew that he was finally ready to support Irish Home Rule, as he had already privately informed Robert Cecil / Lord Salisbury, the Conservative Government's Prime Minister, that if they brought it in he would support it, but on the other hand the Conservative British Government themselves had already decided not to follow Lord Carnarvon's previous line on allowing Dominion status for Ireland, and therefore disregarded William Gladstone's offer of supporting Irish Home Rule.

December 17th: Herbert Gladstone, the son of William Gladstone, released his father's positive intention of bringing about Irish Home Rule to the press with good intentions, and this knowledge then re - united the members of the Liberal Party and Irish Parliamentary Party.

    After all the previous years, since the time of James Stephens, a new leader now finally appeared on the Irish Republican scene in Ireland in the form of John O Leary who became the President of the I.R.B. / Irish Republican Brotherhood who would to retain the position now it until 1907 AD. 

     John Dillon, the previous Irish Parliamentary Party M.P. for Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster, who was destined to also eventually become it's leader, now became the M.P. for East Mayo in Southern Connacht until 1918 AD and John Redmond who was the Irish Parliamentary Party M.P. for North Wexford in the south - east of Southern Leinster, who was also to become their leader after him, was called to the Bar and Thomas Power - O Connor was still the Irish Nationalist M.P. for Liverpool in England, who would retain his seat there until 1929 AD, and become known in the British Westminster Parliament as the "Father of the House."

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