JOHN DILLON DEAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 116, 6 August 1927, Page 9

JOHN DILLON DEAD

IRISH LEADER AN ACTIVE SPIRIT By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright LONDON, Thursday. The death is announced of Mr. John Dillon, the well-known Irish leader, after an operation. His age was 76. — A. and N.Z. John Dillon was born in 1851. A son of John Dillon, M.P., a leader of the Young Ireland Party, he was educated at the Roman Catholic University in Dublin, and became a doctor of medicine. In 1880 he entered the House of Commons as M.P. for Tipperary, and was imprisoned as an ardent Nationalist. From 1883 to 1885 he was without a seat, but in 1885 he was returned from East Mayo, which he represented for over 30 years. Dillon was one of the most active spirits of hi§: party. He took part in the movement called the plan of campaign, visited America and was more than once in prison and more than once was suspended in the House of Commons for violent language. He refused to be lead by Parnell after the divorce case, and in 1896 was made the official leader of the small band of Anti-Parnellites in Parliament. After 1900, when the two sections were united, he was less prominent, but in 1918, on Redmond’s death, he was chosen leader of the Nationalists. After the election of 1918 the triumph of Sinn Fein left him almost without a following.