WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SATURDAY & SUNDAY 25 & 26 July 2020

64 History 90 Circa 1900 United Irish League Derry ribbon badge. Green and orange ribbons and gold bullion tassels. Condition: Very good. The United Irish League (UIL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched on 23 January 1898 with the motto “The Land for the People”. Its objective was land redistribution to be achieved through both agitation and parliamentary reform of land laws. Founded and initiated at Westport, County Mayo by William O’Brien, it was supported by Michael Davitt MP, John Dillon MP, who worded its constitution, Timothy Harrington MP and the Catholic clergy.. By 1901, the UIL claimed 100,000 members. UIL agitation by tenant farmers resulted in the calling of the December 1902 Land Conference, an initiative by moderate landlords led by Lord Dunraven on the one hand andWilliam O’Brien MP, John Redmond MP, Timothy Harrington MP and Ulster’s T. W. Russell MP representing tenant farmers on the other hand. It strove for a settlement by conciliatory agreement between landlord and tenant. After six sittings all eight tenants’ demands were conceded, O’Brien having guided the League, the official nationalist movement, into endorsement of a new policy of “conference plus business”. He followed this by campaigning vigorously for the greatest piece of social legislation Ireland had yet seen, orchestrating the Wyndham Land (Purchase) Act (1903) through Parliament. The Act provided generous bonus-subsidy terms to landowners on sale, the Irish Land Commission, overseeing the low interest annuities. The United Irish League had achieved an enormous victory, but it went into decline over the next decade as first the Irish Parliamentary Party reasserted itself, and then, especially after the 1916 Rising, Sinn Féin dominated Irish politics. Estimate €100-€150 (approx £90-£140) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 90