Joseph Connolly (Irish politician)

Joseph Connolly (19 January 1885 – 18 January 1961) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician.

He was born 41 Alexander Street West Belfast in 1885, parallel to the Falls Road. He was educated at Milford Street School and at St Malachy's College. Joseph Connolly was an ardent nationalist and became a member of the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association. As a result of a personality clash with his father he decided not to join the family business and became apprenticed as an engineer with Coombe, Barbour & Coombe Ltd. After a number of months he gave in his notice and secured a new post in the furniture trade of Maguire & Edwards Ltd. He would subsequently establish a furniture business of his own in the city.

Connolly was a co-founder of the first Freedom Club to propagate Sinn Féin's message in 1911. He was a leader of the Irish Volunteers in Belfast between 1914 and 1916. On 31 January 1916 he married his fiancé, Róisín McGavock, who had completed an Arts Degree at Queen's University Belfast, and they set up home together at Divis Drive near Falls Park. They had eight children together. He was in Dublin for Easter 1916 and Eoin MacNeill sent him to deliver his countermanding order to Drogheda, Belfast and other planned areas of Volunteer mobilisation. After the Easter Rising went ahead anyway in Dublin Connolly was arrested in Belfast and was interned in Knutsford Prison and Reading Gaol.

After his release he helped re-organise Sinn Féin in Belfast. He was selected as a candidate for the party in the 1918 general election for Mid Antrim. Though unsuccessful he polled 2,791 first preferences and saved his deposit. He served on the Commission of Inquiry into the Resources and Industries of Ireland which had been set up by the First Dáil in 1919. From October 1921 to November 1922 he served as Consul General of the Irish Republic to the United States in New York. He disposed of his business in Belfast at this time. One of his chief roles was to combat propaganda from Britain unfavourable to Sinn Féin and the IRA. When the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed he was very cautious in forming an immediate public opinion on it though was nervous about splits in the wider organisation. After the 1922 general election, and the arrival of Professor Timothy Smiddy as an accredited Ambassador in Washington, he was informed that he no longer held any recognition in the eyes of the US Government and so he returned home to Ireland. His family had at this time moved to Dublin and they set up home at Harold's Cross, never returning to Belfast. The Irish Civil War had then commenced and he formally tendered his resignation to the Free State Government.

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