Roger Mary Sweetman (18 August 1874 – 20 May 1954) was an Irish

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 ...

politician and barrister.

Early life

Sweetman was the son of brewer Hugh Sweetman of Roebuck Hall,

Dundrum, Dublin Dundrum (), originally a village in its own right, is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The area is located in the List of Dublin postal districts, postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16. Dundrum is home to the Dundrum Town Centre, the la ...

, from a Catholic family that became prosperous as brewers in the 18th century. His mother was Gertrude Blackney. He was educated at

Downside School Downside School (formally The College of St Gregory the Great, Downside but simply referred to as Downside) is an 11–18 mixed, Roman Catholic, independent, day and boarding school in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, England. It was establish ...

. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

from

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments. The Benchers of King's Inns aw ...

in 1898. An amateur

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player, he won the 1905 East of Ireland championship, and in 1902 reached the final of the Irish Open men's doubles and lost to Sydney Howard Smith in the first round of the Wimbledon singles.

Sinn Féin

Sweetman's cousin John Sweetman was an

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nati ...

MP from 1892 to 1895, who migrated to

and became its second

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in 1908. When John declined on age grounds to stand in the

1918 UK general election The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent ...

in Wexford North, Roger stood instead and unseated Thomas Esmonde of the

. He joined the other Sinn Féin members by refusing to sit in the Westminster House of Commons and in January 1919 attended the inaugural meeting of the

First Dáil First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

at the

Mansion House, Dublin The Mansion House () is a house on Dawson Street, Dublin, which has been the official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin since 1715, and was also the meeting place of the Dáil Éireann from 1919 until 1922. History The first dedicated mayor ...

, which proclaimed itself parliament of an

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( or ) was a Revolutionary republic, revolutionary state that Irish Declaration of Independence, declared its independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdict ...

. In November 1920, breaking ranks with Sinn Féin, Sweetman wrote to the press calling for a truce and peace negotiations in the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

, and criticising

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

actions, in particular the assassinations on Bloody Sunday. He was criticised for this when the Dáil next met on 25 January 1921. Two days later he announced his resignation as

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( ; ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish language, Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The official Engli ...

because of his "radical disagreement with the majority ... on a vital matter of policy". He did not contest the June 1921 election. Thereafter he concentrated on farming, promoting use of Friesian cattle in dairy farming.

Family

In May 1904 Sweetman married Katharine (Kathleen) Mary Kelly, daughter of Thomas Aliaga-Kelly. They lived in

Herbert Park Herbert Park () is the name of a road and a public park in Ballsbridge, Dublin. History The land used for the park was given to the city by the 14th Earl of Pembroke whose family name was Herbert. In 1907, the World Fair known as the Iri ...

, Dublin, and later at Derrybawn House,

Glendalough Glendalough (; ) is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland, renowned for an Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin. From 1825 to 1957, the head of the Glendalough Valley was the site of a galena lead min ...

. They had 11 children, 5 sons and 6 daughters including: Edmund Sweetman, a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

. A nephew was Gerard Sweetman, was Minister for Finance in the 1954–1957 coalition.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweetman, Roger 1874 births 1954 deaths Early Sinn Féin TDs Members of the 1st Dáil Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Wexford constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1918–1922 Irish barristers 20th-century Irish farmers Dairy farmers People educated at Downside School Irish male tennis players

Early life

Sinn Féin

Family

See also

References

External links