Home Rule, Irish

Home Rule, Irish

Movement to secure internal autonomy for Ireland within the British Empire. The slogan “Home Rule” was popularized in 1870 when the Home Government Association (later the Home Rule League) called for an Irish parliament. It was led from 1878 by Charles Stewart Parnell, whose obstructionist tactics in the British Parliament publicized his country's grievances. The Home Rule bills introduced by Prime Minister William E. Gladstone in 1885 and 1893 were defeated. A third bill became law in 1914 but was militantly opposed by Ulster unionists and republicans in Ireland. A system akin to home rule was established in the six counties of Ulster (Northern Ireland) in 1920. In 1921 the remaining 26 counties in the south achieved dominion status, but the link with the British Commonwealth was severed in 1949.