Jeremiah Jordan

Jeremiah JordanJ.P.(1830 – 31 December 1911) was anIrish nationalistpolitician fromCounty Fermanagh.He was aMember of Parliament(MP) from 1885 to 1892, and from 1893 to 1910, taking his seat in theHouse of Commonsof theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Early life[edit]

Jordan was born in Tattenbar, eldest son of Samuel Jordan, farmer, and was educated at the Mullinaburtlin National School, as well as at thePortora Royal SchoolinEnniskillen.^[1]He is buried in AghaveaChurch of Irelandchurchyard, situated about 3 miles outside the village ofMaguiresbridgeinCounty Fermanagh.

A merchant by profession, he became a member of theFermanagh Urban Council,the Enniskillen Board of Guardians, the Fermanagh C.C. and of the Joint Committee of the Asylum forTyroneandFermanagh.^[1]

He was connected withTemperanceand kindred movements for many years. He was a member of theTenant's Association,theLand League,theIrish National Leagueand theUnited Irish League(UIL), successively.^[1]In 1902 he became the first nationalist chairman of Fermanagh County Council.

The local branch of the UIL in Enniskillen which was largely dominated by working-class members was disaffiliated after it criticised merchants who dominated nationalist politics in the town – notably Jeremiah Jordan and his successor, Patrick Crumley – for decorating shops with Union Jacks and subscribing to a military monument.^[2]

Political career[edit]

From 1865, Jordan supported theLiberalparty in Enniskillen municipal and parliamentary elections against the dominant ColeEarl of Enniskillenand CrichtonEarl of Erneinterests. In the early 1870s he joined the Home Rule League ofIsaac Buttand spoke alongside Butt at an Enniskillen meeting in 1873. In 1880 he joined theLand Leagueand helped to secure extensive Protestant support for it in Fermanagh by arguing that it was a law-abiding body whose principal aim was to helpGladstoneandBrightovercome resistance to further land reform.

Most of this Protestant support died away after theLand Law (Ireland) Act 1881and the agrarian violence of 1881–82. After theKilmainham TreatyJordan definitively committed himself to nationalism by joining theIrish National League.

AProtestant Nationalistmember of theIrish Parliamentary Party,Jordan was elected at the1885 general electionas MP for theWestern division of County Clare.His only opponent was aConservative,who won less than 4% of the votes.^[3]He was returned unopposed in1886.^[4]When the Irish Party split in 1891 over the leadership ofCharles Stewart Parnell,Jordan was the first Nationalist MP to call for Parnell's resignation, partly because of his close association with the English Methodist spokesmanHugh Price Hughes.

At the1892 general electionhe did not stand again in West Clare (where the ParnelliteIrish National Leaguecandidate won a large majority),^[5]but inNorth Fermanagh,where he lost the seat to aUnionistcandidate.^[6]However, the election inSouth Meathwas voided after an electoral petition,^[7]and at the resultingby-electionon 17 February 1893, Jordan won the seat^[8]in a close contest with the Parnellite candidate.^[9]

At the1895 general election,Jordan narrowly lost the South Meath seat to Parnell's older brother,John Howard Parnell.^[10]However, he had also stood inSouth Fermanagh,where he was elected with a comfortable majority.^[10]He was returned in that constituency at the1900,1906andJanuary 1910.^[11]By then he was 80 years old, and after suffering a series of strokes he did not contest theDecember 1910 general election.^[11]He died a year later at High Street, Enniskillen, aged 81, according to some accounts, or 83, according to his death certificate.^[12]

Notes[edit]

^^a ^b ^cDirectory:Who was Who, 1897-1916,p.386
^Maume, Patrick,The long Gestation, Irish Nationalist Life 1891-1918,p. 35, Gill & Macmillan (1999)ISBN 0-7171-2744-3
^Brian M. Walker, ed. (1978).Parliamentary election results in Ireland 1801–1922.Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 131.ISBN 0-901714-12-7.
^Walker, op. cit., page 137
^Walker, op. cit., page 144
^Walker, op. cit., page 146
^Walker, op. cit., page 148
^"No. 26376".The London Gazette.24 February 1893. p. 1063.
^Walker, op. cit., page 150
^^a ^bWalker, op. cit., page 155
^^a ^bWalker, op. cit., page 350
^"General Registrar's Office".IrishGenealogy.ie.Retrieved21 December2016.

External links[edit]

Hansard1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Jeremiah Jordan

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of ParliamentforWest Clare 1885–1892	Succeeded by James Rochfort Maguire
Preceded by Patrick Fulham	Member of ParliamentforSouth Meath 1893–1895	Succeeded by John Howard Parnell
Preceded by Patrick McGilligan	Member of ParliamentforSouth Fermanagh 1895–1910	Succeeded by Patrick Crumley

[who-1] Directory:Who was Who, 1897-1916,p.386

[2] Maume, Patrick,The long Gestation, Irish Nationalist Life 1891-1918,p. 35, Gill & Macmillan (1999)ISBN 0-7171-2744-3

[walker-1801-1922-3] Brian M. Walker, ed. (1978).Parliamentary election results in Ireland 1801–1922.Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 131.ISBN 0-901714-12-7.

[4] Walker, op. cit., page 137

[5] Walker, op. cit., page 144

[6] Walker, op. cit., page 146

[7] Walker, op. cit., page 148

[8] "No. 26376".The London Gazette.24 February 1893. p. 1063.

[9] Walker, op. cit., page 150

[Walker,_op._cit.,_page_155-10] Walker, op. cit., page 155

[walker-p350-11] Walker, op. cit., page 350

[12] "General Registrar's Office".IrishGenealogy.ie.Retrieved21 December2016.

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