Paddy Agnew (Stormont MP)

For other people named Paddy Agnew, see Paddy Agnew (disambiguation).

Paddy Agnew (1878 – fl. 1958) was a politician in Northern Ireland.

Agnew was brought up a Roman Catholic and held nationalist views. However his politics were also leaning towards labourism, and he had clashes with more conservative Catholic politicians.

He formed the Armagh Employed and Unemployed Association in 1932, and the following year set up a local branch of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. Generally unemployed due to poor health, Agnew organised mental health workers and in 1937 founded the Armagh Federation of Labour.[1]

Agnew was elected unopposed for South Armagh at the 1938 Northern Ireland general election, as the incumbent Republican and the local Nationalist Party both boycotted the election.[2] He won a seat on Armagh County Council in 1939 from Nationalist Senator Thomas McLaughlin.[1]

Agnew lost his Parliamentary seat at the 1945 general election.[3] However, he held his County Council seat, and also won a seat on the newly re-established Armagh City Council, which he held until 1958.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Mary T. McVeigh, "A Working Class Hero Archived 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine", The Other View
  2. ^ Michael Farrell, Northern Ireland: The Orange State
  3. ^ "Biographies of Members of the Northern Ireland House of Commons". Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2007.