Charles Everard Healy (2 December 1877 – 8 February 1970) was an Irish politician. He was a leader of northern nationalists and a self-educated man who made major contributions to Ireland's political, cultural and literary heritage.

Background

Born in

Mountcharles Mountcharles () is a village and townland (of 650 acres) in the south of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. It lies 6 km from Donegal Town on the Killybegs road ( N56). It is situated in the civil parish of Inver ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, Healy became a journalist working on various local papers. He joined the

Irish Republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

organisation

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

at its founding in 1905.

Opposition to partition

Healy later became anti-partitionist and campaigned against the inclusion of

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

and

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

into

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

as they had

Irish nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cult ...

majorities. With the pending

Partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...

, Healy worked with the cabinet of the

Second Dáil The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

(the southern Irish parliament) and, in 1922, was a member of Michael Collins' special advisory committee on the north-east of the iland. In August 1921 Healy was part of a Fermanagh nationalist delegation that met with

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

and made clear their feelings on a Northern Irish parliament: "Fermanagh by a large majority ... resolved that it would not submit to the partition parliament in Ulster". In a letter from

Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...

to de Valera (dated 7 September 1921) regarding the inclusion of Tyrone and Fermanagh into a new northern state, the British prime minister stated that his government had a very weak case on the issue of "forcing these two counties against their will" into Northern Ireland. Following the 22 May 1922 assassination of William J. Twaddell (a Unionist Member of Parliament in Belfast), Healy was

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

for eighteen months along with 300 others under brutal conditions on the prison ship HMS ''Argenta''. Healy is quoted on the reasons for his arrest and internment: "All my life, I have been a man of peace. It is not, therefore, because they feared that I would disturb the peace of Northern Ireland that they dragged me away from my wife and family, but for political reasons. I have been engaged in preparing the case for the inclusion of these areas (Fermanagh and Tyrone) in the Free State. To get me out of the way, local politicians urged my arrest."

Parliamentary representative

While interned on the ''Argenta'', Healy was elected in the

1922 UK general election The 1922 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was won by the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law, which gained an overall majority over the Labour Party, led by J. R. Clynes, and ...

to represent Fermanagh and Tyrone as a Nationalist Party MP, with the support of Sinn Féin. Healy was re-elected in 1923 but remained in custody until February 1924 and was prohibited from entering the western part of Fermanagh (he did not defend his seat). In June 1924 Healy pressed the government to compensate the thousands of Northern Ireland citizens that were forced to flee Belfast during serious sectarian violence (see

The Troubles in Northern Ireland (1920–1922) The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

). Healy was also elected to the

Northern Ireland House of Commons The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The upper house in the bicameral parliament was called the Senate. It was abolished with the p ...

in the

1925 Northern Ireland general election The 1925 Northern Ireland general election was held on 3 April 1925. It was the second election to the Parliament of Northern Ireland. It saw significant losses for the Ulster Unionist Party, although they maintained their large majority. Thi ...

but did not take his seat until 1927 due to the nationalist

abstentionist Abstentionism is the political practice of standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abst ...

policy. In his fight against partition, Healy did not support the use of physical force or abstentionism: "... physical force only consolidates Unionist opinion against us, and result in injury to Catholics as a whole ... if abstention is to become a policy ... it should be abstention from public boards ... as well as refusal to pay rates and taxes. If this policy of civil disobedience is not feasible (and I admit it is not), then abstention from Stormont is just an insincere gesture." In 1928, Healy and the influential nationalist politician Joe Devlin became founder members of the

National League of the North The National League of the North (NLN) was an Irish nationalist organisation active in Northern Ireland. The group was founded in May 1928 on the basis of a radical programme for the "National Unification of Ireland". It was in part an attempt ...

, which was committed to bringing about Irish reunification through consent and parliamentary means. Whenever Healy or Devlin raised issues relating to Northern Ireland (in both the British and Northern Ireland parliaments), they were routinely ruled out of order. In 1929, with the break-up of the large Fermanagh and Tyrone constituency, Healy switched to sit for the new seat of South Fermanagh. In a 1931 by-election, he was again elected for Fermanagh and Tyrone to the Westminster parliament but stood down again in 1935. In a 24 April 1934 speech to the Northern Ireland parliament, Healy made clear his feelings on the ruling Unionist government and its treatment of Catholics:

World War II and beyond

Healy was interned again by the UK government for a year during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, under

Defence Regulation 18B Defence Regulation 18B, often referred to as simply 18B, was one of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during and before the Second World War. The complete name for the rule was Regulation 18B of the Defence (General) Regula ...

, and held in

Brixton Prison HM Prison Brixton is a Category C training establishment men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner- South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Before 2012, it was used as a loca ...

until December 1942. After the war Healy helped launch the broad based

Irish Anti-Partition League The Irish Anti-Partition League (APL) was a political organisation based in Northern Ireland which campaigned for a united Ireland from 1945 to 1958. The organisation aimed to unite Irish nationalists, filling the void left by nationalist group ...

, which worked to foster public and political opinion in Britain and the United States against partition. Healy also worked with the Labour Party in Britain and helped establish the parliamentary pressure group

Friends of Ireland (UK) The Friends of Ireland was a group of British Labour Party Members of Parliament in support of the ending of the partition of Ireland. The group was founded in 1945 by Hugh Delargy. Delargy became its secretary, while Henry McGhee and Richard ...

. In 1945 Healy wrote the widely read anti-partition pamphlet ''The Mutilation of a Nation'', which sold over 10.000 copies. In 1950 he was elected to the British House of Commons for a third time, on this occasion representing Fermanagh and South Tyrone. He was returned to Westminster for the final time in 1952 and held the seat until he stood down in 1955. He left the Northern Ireland House of Commons in 1965, by which point he was the

Father of the House Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously ...

Later life

Healy became an insurance official in

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

but continued to write, his output including journalism, poetry and short stories. He was a correspondent for a number of Irish and American papers. Over the years, Healy wrote hundreds of historical articles, scripts and plays for the Irish, British and United States media. Possessing a special interest in Irish history and folklore, in the 1960s he was a founder of the

Ulster Folk and Transport Museum Both the Ulster Folk Museum and Ulster Transport Museum are situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about east of the city of Belfast. Now operating as two separate museums, the Folk Museum endeavours to illustrate the way of life and traditions ...

.Phoenix and Parkinson, p. 151. He died on 8 February 1970.

References

External links