Life
1872-1934 [‘Wee Joe’]; b. Hamill St., Belfast, ed. Divis St.
CBS; worke din pub, then became journalist with Irish News; MP,
N. Kilkenny, unopposed, 1902; re-established Ancient Order of Hibernians,
and served as its President from 1905, indefatiguably raising subscriptions
against some degree of clerical opposition; Home Rule MP for West Belfast,
1906-1918, following interval of 15 years; controlled the United Irish
League [UIL], and Board of Erin from 1905; supported Jim Larkin’s
strike-call in Belfast, 1907; accepted Home Rule Bill for Northern nationalists,
1914; supported Redmondite enlistment in World War I; offered chair of
Irish Parliamentary Party, and bowed to John Dillon, 1918; defeated de
Valera in Falls division of W Belfast, 1918; acknowledged leader of Ulster
nationalists therafter, signing agreement with de Valera not to contest
Sinn Féin candidacies, May 1921; continued to sit in Westminster,
leading the Nationalist party there, and did not enter Stormont until
1925, though refusing designation of official opposition; First President
of National League of the North, est. 1928; MP for Fermanagh and Tyrone
at Westminster from 1929, among 11 seats won by Nationalists; led Nationalists
out of Northern Ireland Parliament (Stormont) in protest against Unionist
Govt., 1932; re-entered Stormont, Oct. 1933; founded holiday home for
working women nr. Belfast; his death marked the end of an era for Northern
nationalism; there is a portrait by John Lavery. d. Belfast, 18 Jan.;
called ‘duodecimo Demosthenes’ by Tim Healy. DIB DIH FDA
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Criticism
Eamon Phoenix, Northern Nationalism, Nationalist Politics: Partition
and the Catholic Minority in Northern Ireland 1890-1940 (Ulster Hist.
Foundation 1994). See also D. George Boyce, Nationalism in Ireland (London: Routledge 1982; 1991 Edn.), pp.276-77.
Joe Devlin: What Now - His Confrontation with the British Parliament, February 1919 (Belfast: Athol Books 2007).
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Commentary
St. John Ervine, Craigavon: Ulsterman (London: Allen & Unwin
1949): ‘Joe Devlin, whether we like or dislike his Hibernians,
kept his group intact. He was not as big a man as Craigavon; but there
was quality in him. In any case, he belonged to us, an Ulsterman, and
although we had sharp things to say about him, we would thank Southern
Irishmen to keep their tongues off him.’ (p.539.)
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