Samuel Kyle (7 November 1884 – 12 May 1962) was an Irish

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist and politician. He was born into a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

family at 57 Riga Street in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

on 7 November 1884, he was the son of Samuel Kyle, a draper, and Jane Wilson. Kyle joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

. Michael Farrell, ''Northern Ireland: The Orange State'' He became active in the

Workers' Union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, eventually becoming a full-time organiser for the union. At the 1918 general election, he stood in Belfast Shankill for the

Belfast Labour Party The Belfast Labour Party was a political party in Belfast, Ireland from 1892 until 1924. It was founded in 1892 by a conference of Belfast Independent Labour Party, Independent Labour activists and trade unionists. Labour ran the Ulster Unionis ...

.Northern Ireland Parliamentary Elections Results: Biographies
/ref> While unsuccessful, he was a prominent figure in the 1919 Belfast strike, and gained election to

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

in 1920. The Labour Representation Committee became the main section of the

Northern Ireland Labour Party The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987. Origins The roots of the NILP can be traced back to the formation of the Belfast Labour Party in 1892. Previously, in 1885 ...

(NILP), and Kyle was elected for the party at the 1925 Northern Ireland general election, to represent Belfast North, standing in opposition to partition. For the next four years, he acted as the leader of the NILP, pursuing a policy of working with sympathetic Nationalist Party MPs, and the

independent Unionist Independent Unionist is a label sometimes used by candidates in British elections to indicate their support for British unionism. It is most popularly associated with candidates in elections for the Parliament of Northern Ireland. Such candi ...

s Tommy Henderson and James Woods Gyle, to oppose the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

. After Nationalist Joe Devlin was suspended from the Parliament for attacking the Unionist Party as "villains, bullies, conspirators and ruffians", he led the NILP in joining with the Nationalists and two independent Unionist MPs in walking out, earning them suspensions from the body. Following the restructuring of constituencies, Kyle stood in Belfast Oldpark at the

1929 Northern Ireland general election The 1929 Northern Ireland general election was held on 22 May 1929. Like all previous elections to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, it produced a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party. It was the first held after the abolition of pro ...

, but was unsuccessful, losing by just 189 votes. In 1932, Kyle became the Irish secretary of the Amalgamated

Transport and General Workers Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900,000 members (a ...

and moved to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. In 1940, he was the President of the

Irish Trades Union Congress The Irish Trades Union Congress (ITUC) was a union federation covering the island of Ireland. History Until 1894, representatives of Irish trade unions attended the British Trades Union Congress (TUC). However, many felt that they had little i ...

. In 1943, he was elected on the

Labour Panel The Labour Panel is one of five vocational panels which together elect 43 of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann, the senate of the Oireachtas (the legislature of Ireland). The Labour Panel elects eleven senators. Election Article 18 of the Const ...

of the Irish Senate, and sat as an Irish Labour Party member. He was re-elected in 1944, serving for five years in total. He was married to Mary H. Kyle; and they had three sons and two daughters. He died on 12 May 1962 in Dublin, aged 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Sam 1884 births 1962 deaths Independent Labour Party politicians Labour Party (Ireland) senators Trade unionists from Belfast Leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland 1925–1929 Members of the 4th Seanad Members of the 5th Seanad Northern Ireland Labour Party members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland Protestant Irish nationalists Members of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland for Belfast constituencies Labour Panel senators