Maurice Dockrell (Unionist politician)
Sir Maurice Dockrell | |
|---|---|
Dockrell in 1921 | |
| Member of Parliament for Dublin Rathmines | |
| In office 1918–1922 | |
| Preceded by | New constituency |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 December 1850 County Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 5 August 1929 (aged 78) County Dublin, Ireland |
| Political party | Irish Unionist Alliance |
| Other political affiliations | Unionist Anti-Partition League |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 7, including Henry and George |
| Relatives |
|
| Education | Portora Royal School |
| Alma mater | Trinity College Dublin |
Sir Maurice Edward Dockrell (21 December 1850 – 5 August 1929) was an Irish businessman and politician from Dublin.[1]
Early life
Maurice was the son of Thomas Dockrell and Anne Morgan Brooks, born on 21 December 1850 in Monkstown, County Dublin.[1] He was the fifth of ten children. Three of his siblings died in childhood and are buried with his parents in Mount Jerome Cemetery. His father Thomas, was a carpenter and timber merchant at Bishop Street in Dublin.[1] Dockrell was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, where he was a notable swimmer, and at Trinity College Dublin, before entering his father's firm around 1865.[1]
Politics
Dockrelle contested the Dublin St Patrick's constituency at the 1885 United Kingdom general election but was decisively defeated by William Martin Murphy.[1] Dockrell was critical of the strikers during the 1913 Dublin lock-out, referring to the strikes as "largely due to feeble government".[2]
At the 1918 general election, he was elected as Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament for Dublin Rathmines from 1918 to 1922. The 1918 election was a watershed in Ireland. Following the Easter Rising in 1916, Sinn Féin had grown in popularity, eclipsing the Irish Parliamentary Party. Sinn Féin candidates treated the election as an Irish general election, pledging not to take their seats in the British House of Commons, but to unilaterally establish a separate parliament in Dublin.
At the election, the Dublin University constituency returned two Unionists, and Dockrell was the only other Irish Unionist returned outside Ulster. Rather than joining Sinn Féin in the First Dáil, Dockrell took his seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. On 28 June 1921 Dockrell was one of five Unionist leaders invited by to a meeting to discuss the future government of Ireland by the Irish leader Éamon de Valera.[3]
Personal life
He married Margaret Shannon on 27 July 1875 in Dublin Ireland. They had seven children, including Henry Morgan Dockrell and George Dockrell. Margaret Dockrell was a suffragist, philanthropist, and councillor. His son Henry Morgan Dockrell was later a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD), and his grandsons Percy and Maurice Dockrell were also long-serving Fine Gael TDs. He was knighted in 1905.[1] Maurice ran the Dockrell family business of builders' providers in Dublin.
He died on 5 August 1929 in Dublin.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Dempsey, Pauric J.; Boylan, Shaun. "Dockrell, Sir Maurice Edward". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
- ^ Report of the Royal Commission on the Rebellion in Ireland. Darling and Son Ltd. 1916. p. 73.
- ^ Macardle, Dorothy (1965). The Irish Republic. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 473.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Maurice Dockrell
- . . Dublin: Alexander Thom and Son Ltd. 1923. p. – via Wikisource.