Patrick Kelly (Irish politician)

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = Patrick Michael Kelly
honorific-suffix =


caption = Patrick Michael Kelly in 1900. Patrick was highly honored for his service in the Boer War for the Life Guards. In London during a visit to the Royal Family in 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany picked out Patrick as the best turned-out horseman and soldier in the regiment.
constituency_MP = Clare
parliament = Ireland
majority =
term_start = 1927
term_end = 1932
predecessor =
successor =
birth_date = Birth date|df=yes|1875|08|13
birth_place = Clonina, near Cree, County Clare, Ireland
death_date = Death date and age|df=yes|1934|11|20|1875|08|13
death_place = Clonina, County Clare, Ireland
nationality = Irish
party = Cumann na nGaedhael
spouse = Bridget Mary Kelly
relations =
children = 8
residence = Clooneenagh Townland, Kilmacduane Parish, County Clare, Ireland
occupation =
profession = Farmer and Politician
net worth =
religion = Catholic


website =
footnotes = [ [http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=5&MemberID=571&ConstID=26 Members Database 1919 - 2005 - Houses of the Oireachtas - Tithe an Oireachtais] . Retrieved on 2008-04-18.]

Patrick Michael Kelly (10 August 1875 – 20 November 1934) was a soldier, farmer and politician, and was a member of the Irish parliament representing the Clare constituency between 1927 and 1932.

Biography

Patrick Michael Kelly was born 10 August 1878. He was the eldest son of Tom Ban Kelly and Bridget Davoren and the grandson of the successful landowner, Pat Mor Kelly, and Bridget Gibson from Fortview in County Clare. As a soldier he was a member of the Household Cavalry, with whom he distinguished himself with honours in the Boer War. After the war he returned to County Clare to take over the farm at Clonina and eventually to enter political life. Patrick was known as a leader during Ireland’s struggle for independence from Britain in the early 20th century.

Patrick was privately educated at home until 1889, when at the age of 14 he was sent to the Jesuit Mungret College in Limerick where he stayed until 1891. He then became a medical student at Cork University, but clearly retained a bent for adventure. In 1893, at the age of 18, Patrick joined the British army to fight in the Boer War in South Africa. Patrick's cousin, General Sir Thomas Kelly-Kenny, appointed him to the 1st Regiment of Life Guards for the campaign during the Second Anglo-Boer war of 1899–1901. The size of South Africa meant that cavalry became an invaluable tool for the generals of both sides. Patrick’s cavalry unit was very effective and helped win one of their most significant victories of the Boer War at Paardeberg. Patrick had a very successful career in the First Lifeguards and he was Mentioned in Despatches, receiving the Queen's South Africa Medal with six clasps, for his efforts in the Relief of Kimberley and the battles of Paardeberg, Wittebergen, Driefontein, Diamond Hill and Johannesburg.

In the 1920's Patrick turned his attention to politics becoming a member of the Cumann na nGaedheal party. In the Irish general election, June 1927, his party performed poorly, winning just 47 seats of the 153 seats. However, Patrick was elected to the 5th Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (legislature) of the Irish Free State. Patrick Kelly, along with Eamon de Valera, were elected as members for County Clare. The 23 June 1927 issue of Dáil Éireann [23 June 1927 issue of Dáil Éireann] , which document Parliamentary debates, listed the following Deputies returned to serve in the Dáil representing the Clare Constituency: Patrick Michael Kelly, Eamon de Valera, Thomas Falvey, Patrick Houlihan and Pádraig Hógáin. These Teachtaí Dála (Members of Parliament) served until September of that year, and the 5th Dáil is the shortest Dáil in the history of the state, lasting only 98 days. Following victory in two by-elections, the Taoiseach, W. T. Cosgrave called a snap election in September 1927. Cumann na nGaedheal regained most of the ground lost in June, winning 62 seats and 39% of the vote. In the September election for the 6th Dáil which started on 11 October 1927 Patrick was re-elected along with Eamon de Valera (Fianna Fáil), Patrick Houlihan (Fianna Fáil), Martin Sexton (Fianna Fáil) and Pádraig Hógáin (An Pairtí an Lucht Oibre). Patrick received 5,647 votes, and de Valera received a massive 13,903 votes and both were elected to the parliament, based on the proportional representation system of the Irish parliament.

The country had remained extremely divided for most of the 1920s and 1930s and politics was a dangerous game. In 1934, at the young age of 59, Patrick's political life was brought to a strange and sad conclusion when he died of Pneumonia and Septicemia, while he was on the farm. Patrick left his wife, Bridget, and eight children, the youngest of which was just one year old.

Patrick's friend Paddy J. Egan of Tullamore, wrote the following glowing appreciation of Patrick in the Mungret Annual in 1935:

"I remember Pat Kelly very well at Mungret. He was one of the personalities amongst the Lay Boys of the College about 1890. A bright, breezy, and always cheerful lad, very original and liked by all of us, he was one of the few chaps the mention of whose name provoked smiles of affection in all directions. I would not describe him as a worshipper at the shrine of discipline; in fact, I know that he held somewhat elastic views when he came to interpret rules and regulations. Apart from his likable disposition, this certainly did contribute something to his popularity. Most of us did not have either his initiative or courage in this respect... I gather that he was personally as popular in the Dail as he was in Mungret years ago. It was with a keen sense of regret that I heard of his death".

References