Charles McGleenan
Charles McGleenan (1894 – 1974 fl.1966) was a farmer and a Republican politician in Northern Ireland.
McGleenan was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence. He was interned in Newbridge Prison, but successfully escaped. He subsequently worked as a farmer of apples.[1]
At the 1935 UK general election, McGleenan stood in Armagh as an Independent Republican, winning 32.4% of the vote.[2] He joined the Anti-Partition League of Ireland (APL) when it was founded in 1945.[1]
In May 1950, the APL conference voted down a motion calling for abstentionism from the Parliament of Northern Ireland. McGleenan had been a supporter of the motion, and when a local convention selected him as their candidate for the South Armagh by-election, 1950, this was in clear opposition to party policy. Despite this, the executive did not intervene,[3] and McGleenan was able to easily defeat an Irish Labour Party candidate.[4]
McGleenan did not take his seat,[1] but did join with the Nationalist Party MPs Cahir Healy, Joe Connellan and Edward McCullagh in lobbying for admission to the Dáil, as elected representatives of territory it claimed.[3] A motion from Con Lehane proposing this was rejected; later in the year, a more modest proposal of McGleenan's to gain a right of audience in the Dáil or the Seanad Éireann was put by Seán MacBride, but was also lost.[5][6]
McGleenan held his seat in an uncontested election in 1953, but stood down at the 1958 general election.[4] At the 1966 UK general election, McGleenan stood again in Armagh, on this occasion taking 28% of the vote.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons
- ↑ Armagh (1935): ElectionsIreland.org
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Michael Farrell, Northern Ireland: The Orange State
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Northern Ireland Parliamentary Election Results: Counties: Armagh
- ↑ The Round Table, Vol XLI (1951)
- ↑ Dáil Éireann - Volume 126 - 19 July, 1951: Committee on Finance - Six-County Oireachtas Representation
- ↑ Armagh 1950-1970, Northern Ireland Elections
| Parliament of Northern Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for South Armagh 1950 - 1958 |
Succeeded by Edward George Richardson |
