The passionate socialism of Davitt and the popular and strategic leadership of Parnell were to provide focus to the largest working class movement since O’Connell’s Catholic Association. O’Connell showed that the use of small contributions from a huge number of people made it possible to fund an organisation capable of matching the established parties who were amply funded by a small number of very rich people. The main purpose of the INL branch in Huddersfield was to raise money for the Irish Parliamentary Party and to provide relief for the evicted tenants. It mostly did this by individual subscriptions, organising social dances and the receipts from a bagatelle table (kind of bar billiards) in their rooms in Corporation Street. The tactics of the INL during the land war outlined by Parnell during a keynote speech at Ennis Co. Clare in Sept. 1880 were later called ‘boycott’ - “by putting him into a kind of moral Coventry, by isolating him from the rest of his kind as if he were a leper of old”. These tactics resulted in substantial agrarian violence culminating in the suppression of the Irish National Land League and the imprisonment of its leaders in October 1881.
After the Irish National Land League was suppressed it was replaced by the Irish National League in 1882. The club in Huddersfield became the Irish National League of Great Britain - Huddersfield Branch. It is said that every important Irishman in the town belonged to this club. This new organisation was more directly under the control of Parnell and the Irish Party dedicated to constitutional rather than revolutionary change. The club remained particularly focused on Irish affairs especially home rule. It was extremely political at this time regularly arranging for national figures to come and talk to the membership at the rooms in Corporation Street or if a large number were expected then using the Town Hall or the Friendly and Trades Club.
When the split came in 1890, owing to Parnell’s affair, each branch had to vote on whom to support. A special meeting was held in Corporation Street. The room was packed with each side putting forward speakers. It was commonly expected that the branch would vote for Parnell. However, at the meeting a young man named Goderic Keane spoke passionately for half an hour against Parnell’s suitability to lead a catholic country. As a result Huddersfield voted in favour of Justin McCarthy and to censure Parnell. Dewsbury and Batley branches followed the lead of Huddersfield. Goderic Keane later entered college, said his first Mass at St Patrick’s, in Huddersfield, and in time became the Catholic Bishop of Jerusalem.
The Irish National League Club in Huddersfield lost some momentum after the split, as the Parliamentary Party remained totally divided. However the local club, though it censured Parnell in the above vote, remained loyal to the Parnellites under John E Redmond. In 1898 William O’Brien set up the United Irish League in Westport Co Mayo, again focusing on the plight of small farmers in the West of Ireland. The Irish National League Club in Huddersfield became The United Irish League of Great Britain - J E Redmond branch. It is not known when the INL club moved to Albion Street and later to John Street, but before the club moved from Albion St it was known as the United Irish League Club. Albion Street then was located more or less as it is now at the bottom side of the Registrars Office. John Street is no more. It ran from Buxton Road (now New St) opposite Princess St right through the Civic Centre to Manchester St, which was a continuation of the present Market Street through where the Planning Office is now.
The John Street lease ran out towards the end of 1910. The club then moved to Devonshire Chambers at the King St. end of Victoria Lane. The doorway to the building is still preserved at the lower side of the River Island shop. The club had a billiard room here, I think for the first time. They moved in on 1st Sept. There is a minute requiring Richard Allison the previous secretary to return all the books from John Street. I wonder if he ever did. They are not available now.
Two years later the club was on the move again - this time to 31 Zetland Street. A lease was negotiated by Jas Healy and Tom Joyce with Mr Andrew Fillans of Halifax, and a contract arranged on 29th Sept 1912 for 14 years at £19.0.0 per year. 31 Zetland Street had been used as a Club in the 1890’s by the Conservatives and afterwards by the Catholic Association. This was the beginning of a very long association with Zetland Street - first as tenant until the lease ran out and then as owner. In time the League were to purchase adjoining properties - 33 Ramsden St., 29 Zetland St., 39 Rice St., 31 Ramsden St and 20 Zetland St across the road.
Throughout all this time since the fall of Parnell the Irish League Club remained political in focus. It continued to support the Irish Party, lobbied the Liberal Party, made known its concerns about Home Rule and put forward members in the local elections. It brought Mr J P Boland MP to Huddersfield on St Patrick’s Day 1914 to open a new room at the club and deliver a talk at the Friendly and Trades Club. It liked to think of itself as part of a movement to which all the members were committed. The motto of the League was “Unity is Strength”. All their efforts seemed to be about to bear fruit with the passing of the Home Rule bill for the third time on 25th May 1914.
Anticipating the result, the Irishmen of Huddersfield marched through the town the following night. They had 1000 handbills printed for distribution and purchased 300 torchlights. The procession started at 9.30 pm in St Joseph’s school yard on Commercial Street (now in the middle of the University campus) and proceeded along Castlegate (bottom of Kingsgate), up Beast Market, up Kirkgate into Westgate. It stopped for a while underneath the Borough Liberal Club in Westgate (first floor above the newsagents and the shoe repair shop) and it is reported that the cheering from both sides was great. It continued on along Upperhead Row, (Bus Station) Manchester St, and down Ramsden St to the Club at Zetland St. It must have been a tremendous night, a night to remember. Two days later the committee decided to frame the telegram they received from the Irish Party announcing the result and display it in the clubroom.
Their euphoria was short lived. The First World War intervened. The membership were unanimous in support of Redmond’s policy on recruitment. 164 young members of the Irish League Club in Zetland St became OHMS. This represented over a third of the membership. Having regard for the spread of age in members it must have meant every able-bodied member. 9% did not return. ‘May the Lord have mercy on their Souls’. A further 3% returned disabled. The Roll of Honour Board at the Centre acknowledges their contribution. It was unveiled by Fr McCarthy, parish Priest of St Joseph’s, in Zetland St on 8th March 1920.
This marked the end of a glorious period in the history of the Irish League in Huddersfield, the end of a political movement, committed to change, supporting and supported by upwards of 86 MP’s in the House of Commons. It did achieve change particularly in the area of land reform. It also brought great speakers to Huddersfield to argue their case in public and justify the contributions of the ordinary working class members.
In the General Election of 1918 Sinn Fein swept the boards in Ireland with 73 seats. After the Treaty in 1922 the United Irish League held its last convention in Leeds in 1923. It voted to rename itself as the Irish Democratic League of Great Britain and so the IDL Clubs were born. T P O’Connor MP, self-styled voice of the Irish in Britain and soon to be father of the House, was installed as President.

Background

1923 to Present