Hugh Heinrick

Hugh Heinrick (1831-1877) was a journalist and teacher and a campaigner for Home Rule in Ireland. Born in County Wexford, he moved to mainland Britain, first to Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland and then to the Aston district of Birmingham, where he settled and worked as a schoolmaster. He was very much involved in the Irish Home Rule movement in the late 19th century, being Secretary to the Irish Home Rule MPs during the General Election of 1874 in which the Home Rule League won 59 seats. He was a frequent speaker at public meetings about Irish Home Rule and wrote a number of newspaper articles on the subject. In 1871, he was Editor of the ‘Irish Vindicator’, a newspaper devoted to the cause of Irish Home Rule, published in London.

In 1872, he published a series of articles titled: "A Survey of the Irish in England" in ‘The Nation’, a patriotic Irish newspaper published in Dublin. In this work, he examined the lives of the Irish immigrants who had settled in mainland Britain in terms of their numbers, their occupations and their social and political status. These articles were collated and re-published in 1990 by Alan O’Day.[1] In 1874, Heinrick followed his newspaper articles with "What is Home Rule?"[2] and in 1882 with "The Irish in England",[3] both published by John Denvir.

In 1874, a general election returned 59 MPs who were part of the Home Rule League, making it the third largest group in the British parliament at the time. On 5 September 1874, ‘The Nation’ carried a report of a "complimentary dinner" to Mr Hugh Heinrick, Secretary to the Irish Home Rule MPs. Isaac Butt, leader of the Parliamentary Home Rule League, presided and was supported by "many members of Parliament".

In 1875, he was the first Editor of the ‘United Irishman’, the newspaper of the Irish Home Rule Confederation.[4] He is mentioned in John Denvir's "The Life Story of an Old Rebel",[5] where he is described as “an able journalist” and “a brilliant writer”.

Hugh Heinrick died in Birmingham on October 6, 1877 after a long period of illness.

References

  1. ↑ Hugh Heinrick (1872). A Survey of the Irish in England (1872). A&C Black. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-1-85285-010-4.
  2. ↑ Hugh HEINRICK (1874). What is home rule?. John Denvir.
  3. ↑ Hugh Heinrick; John Denvir (1882). The Irish in England. John Denvir, 105 Byrom St.
  4. ↑ http://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/oca/Books2009-04/3749323/3749323_djvu.txt
  5. ↑ John Denvir. The Life Story of an Old Rebel. pp. 1–. GGKEY:2P2PC0CFLXA.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, August 20, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.