Conor O'Kelly

Conor O'Kelly (1873 - 13 October 1915) was an Irish Parliamentary Party Member of Parliament.

Born in Claremorris, County Mayo, he became a leading member of the United Irish League and was elected the first chairman of Mayo County Council in 1899.^[1][2] He was dismissed as a Justice of the Peace in 1899 for expressing support for the Boers in the South African War.^[3]

In 1900, he was elected Member of Parliament for North Mayo as candidate for the United Irish League, receiving more than twice as many votes as his opponent, industrialist William Martin Murphy, a supporter of the Healyite party.^[4]

In December 1905, O'Kelly was accused with two others of pressurising a tenant farmer to give up a farm which he had taken over from another who had been evicted. The defendants were released when the jury could not agree on a verdict.^[5] Having held his seat unopposed in 1906, he was re-elected in the local government elections in 1908 despite attacks on him by supporters of the clerical faction.^[6]

In the January 1910 general election, he ran in South Mayo against the sitting MP, John O'Donnell, of the All-for-Ireland League, and lost by 441 votes.^[7] In the December election that year, O'Kelly was reported to have been considered again as a candidate but rejected because of his differences with the local clergy.^[8]

Notes

1. ↑ Conor O'Kelly MCC MP
2. ↑ 'Biographies of New Members', The Times, Wednesday, Oct 24, 1900
3. ↑ The Times, Friday, Dec 08, 1899
4. ↑ 'The Polls', The Times, Monday, Oct 15, 1900; The Times, Wednesday, Oct 24, 1900
5. ↑ 'Ireland. The Nationalist Convention', The Times, Thursday, Dec 07, 1905
6. ↑ 'The Mayo Elections', The Times, Friday, Jun 12, 1908
7. ↑ 'Progress of the Election', The Times, Monday, Jan 24, 1910
8. ↑ 'The Fight in County Mayo', The Times, Friday, Dec 02, 1910

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Conor O'Kelly