Following the failure of the 1867 Rebellion, the IRB had reorganised. They elected a Supreme Council of eleven members, which became re- sponsible for the organisation of the movement during the following decades. The then leader of the IRB, Charles Kickham, argued that the IRB should wait for another oppor- tunity to strike at British rule in Ireland by staging another re- bellion. However, some Fenians were unwilling to wait. They decided instead to run in the 1874 election with the Home Rulers in the hope that this might further the Fenian cause.
Disruption in parliament as Joseph Biggar and other Home Rule MPs delay the passage of Bills.
The five Fenian Home Rule MPs were led by Joseph Biggar. He decided to pursue a tactic of parliamentary obstruction, making long, pointless speeches to delay the passage of Bills and slow down the business of parliament.
Butt disagreed with Biggar’s tactics, but because he was often absent he had lost control of his party members. Parliamentary obstruction, however, got the Home Rule Party noticed, both at Westminster and back in Ireland. In 1875 Biggar and his obstructionists received the support of a new Home Rule MP, Charles Stewart Parnell.
Charles Kickham.
A typical fair in the late 1800s, Bantry, Co. Cork. MOVEMENTS FOR POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORM, 1870–1914
