William Joseph Corbet

William Joseph Corbet (12 December 1824 – 1 December 1909) was an Irish nationalist politician and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party for Wicklow, 1880-85, and for East Wicklow 1885-92 and 1895-1900. He was also a mental health administrator, author and noted dog breeder.

Third son of Robert Corbet of Ballykaneen, Co. Offaly (Queen’s County), by Alice, youngest daughter of John Mulhall of Clonaslee, Co. Offaly, he was educated at Broadwood Academy, Lancashire. He worked for 30 years in the Irish Lunacy Office, as a Clerk in 1847-53 and Chief Clerk, 1853-77. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA) in 1874. In the 1880 general election he was elected as one of two Home Rule League members for Co. Wicklow. In the following 1885 general election he was elected by a much larger majority for the new Wicklow East constituency, and again in 1886. In the enlarged Irish Parliamentary Party, he was much older than most of his fellow MPs, who were typically born around the time of the Irish Famine in the later 1840s.

When the Irish Parliamentary Party split in December 1890 over Parnell’s leadership, Corbet was one of the minority who supported Parnell. At the subsequent general election in 1892, he lost his seat to an Anti-Parnellite, John Sweetman, coming third after the Unionist candidate. However, at the the general election on 22 July 1895, at the age of 70, he fought back and won the Wicklow East seat by the narrow majority of 87 votes over the Unionist, the Anti-Parnellite this time coming third. This was in spite of the fact that John Sweetman, having changed allegiance, had contested the seat as a Parnellite at a by-election in April 1895 and lost.

Corbet retired from Parliament at the election of 1900.

He was an enthusiastic sportsman from boyhood and owner of a famous breed of Irish red setters. He used to go shooting with Parnell, who was a fellow Wicklow resident; Parnell's brother John Howard Parnell described Corbet as Charles's 'great sporting chum'. [John Parnell (1916), p.281] John Parnell also quoted a verse 'In Memory of the Chief' which Corbet wrote for the card issued on the first anniversary of Charles Parnell's death, 6 October 1892. [John Parnell (1916), p.254.]

He married first, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Jennings (she died in 1870), and second Marie, daughter of David Fitzhenry.

References

Writings

* "Songs of My Summer Time" (published under the pseudonym 'Harry Wildair'), Dublin, 1864
*"The Battle of Fontenoy: A Historical Poem", Dublin, McGlashan & Gill, 1871 (revised ed. 1885)
*Ode for the Centenary of Thomas Moore, 1879
*‘On the statistics of insanity, past and present’, "Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland", Vol.VI, Part XLVI, 1873/74, pp.382-94
*'Is Ireland a Nation?', The Irish Question No.19, London, Irish Press Agency, 1887
*'On the Increase of Insanity', "American Journal of Insanity", 50: 224-38, 1893
*'The Increase of Insanity', "Fortnightly Review", January 1893, pp.7-19
*"What is Home Rule?"
*"Parnellism or Healyism – Which?"

Note: The last two publications are listed in "Who Was Who" but no details are given and they do not appear to be available in British or Irish libraries.

ources

*"Freeman's Journal", 3 December 1909
*John Howard Parnell, "Charles Stewart Parnell: A Memoir", London, Constable, 1916
*Michael Stenton & Stephen Lees, "Who's Who of British Members of Parliament", Vol.2 1886-1918, Sussex, Harvester Press, 1978
*Brian M. Walker (ed.), "Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922", Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 1978
*"Who Was Who, 1897-1916"

External links

* [http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/5714 ‘On the statistics of insanity, past and present’]
* [http://www.jagdhunde-lohmann.de/streifzugdurchdiejahrhunderte/geschichte.html German-language article on development of the Irish setter, including the role of W. J. Corbet]