Sir Patrick Joseph Henry Hannon

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

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(1874 - 10 January 1963) was an Irish-born

Conservative and Unionist Party The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. The party sits on the Cent ...

politician,

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

and

agriculturalist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for

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from 1921 to 1950 and was active in the British Commonwealth Union. Born in Taverane, Cloonloo near Kilfree Junction,

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

in 1874. Hannon was the eldest son of farmer Matthew Hannon of Kilfree.

Education and early work

Hannon studied at the

Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was a university in Ireland that existed from 1879 to 1909. It was founded in accordance with the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the ...

. Hannon worked in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

from 1896 to 1904, in particular as an officer of the

Irish Agricultural Organisation Society The Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS) was an agricultural association in Ireland which advocated, and helped to organise, agricultural cooperativism, including mutual credit facilities. From its establishment by Sir Horace Plunkett ...

. He worked from 1896 to 1904 in the fledgling Irish Cooperative Movement, traveling the country setting up local creameries. From 1901 to 1904 Hannon was Director of the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society. On graduation, his first job was with the Irish Agricultural Organisational Society. He then joined the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society – later to become Greencore and later still part of the giant food group today named Aryzta. From 1902 to 1907 he visited the United States and Canada on behalf of the Irish Industrial Movement. From 1907 to 1909 he was Director of Agricultural Organisation to the government of

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

and a Justice of the Peace. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas J Wynne of

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th-century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. Wi ...

Politics

In 1910, after time spent in South Africa, Sir Patrick moved to England. Hannon contested

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in 1910 as a Unionist. In the period 1910 to 1914, he was an officer of the

Tariff Reform League The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competiti ...

. He was first elected as a

Coalition Unionist The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place soon after British victory in the ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

on 4 March 1921 and entered the House of Commons on 4 March 1921, serving Moseley for almost thirty years. He was also president of the Ideal Benefit Society. He was first elected as a

in a

on 4 March 1921 and served until the

1950 United Kingdom general election The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first to be held after a full term of a majority Labour Party (UK), Labour government. The general election was held on Thursday 23 February 1950, and was also the first to be held following the a ...

. He then moved to the House of Lords as Sir Patrick Hannon. In 1925/6 he was President of the Birmingham Branch of the

British Fascists The British Fascists (originally called the British Fascisti) were the first political organisation in the United Kingdom to claim the label of fascism, formed in 1923. The group had lacked much ideological unity apart from anti-socialism for mo ...

Life

Hannon was a devout Catholic throughout his life. He funded part of the rebuilding of St. Dunstan’s Roman Catholic Church in Kings Heath and was the treasurer of the Apostleship of the Sea, an agency of the Catholic Church in support of seafarers. He was the administrative initiator of the Imperial Pioneers, later the British Commonwealth Union. He had a successful business career, being chairman, of amongst other companies, B.S.A. and Jaguar. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' recalled his unique ambitions: “For half a century he was an aggressive salesman for the Empire and the Commonwealth”. He led many campaigns to aid British world trade as president of the National Union of Manufacturers from 1935 – 1953. Sir Patrick was knighted in 1946 and, having survived a Labour landslide in 1945, retired from the House, undefeated, in 1950. He died in London on 10 January 1963.

Bibliography

Papers of Sir Patrick Joseph Henry Hannon MP (1874-1963)
UK Parliament Archives Catalogue, Retrieved 2008-07-16
Hannon, Sir Patrick Joseph Henry
(2008) ''Who Was Who 1897-2007'', Retrieved 16 July 2008 *Capie, F. (1998)
The Sources and Origins of Britain's Return to Protection, 1931-2
, in , ''p.''250 (

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

) *

F. W. S. Craig Frederick Walter Scott Craig (10 December 1929 – 23 March 1989) was a Scottish psephologist and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations, compilin ...

, ''Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833-1987'' * Martin Pugh, Hurrah for the Blackshirts!': Fascists and Fascism in Britain between the Wars'', London: Pimlico, 2006

External links

*
Patrick Hannon's autobiographical notes
at Senate House Library, University of London
Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Sir Patrick Joseph Henry Hannon MP (1874-1963)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannon, Patrick 1874 births 1963 deaths 20th-century Anglo-Irish people English fascists English industrialists UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts