Hugh Corvin

Hugh Christopher Corvin (25 December 1899 – September 1975) was an Irish republican leader.

Born at 21 Violet Street in Belfast on 25 December 1899, Corvin was the son of Peter Corvin, an RIC constable, and Lucy Mooney.

Corvin began working for the Inland Revenue in Dublin at the age of 15. There, he joined the Gaelic League and the Irish Volunteers, participating in the Easter Rising.

During the Irish War of Independence, Corvin was based in Galway, then, in 1920, he returned to Belfast, where he became quartermaster of the third northern division of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Still working for the Inland Revenue, he later claimed that he was working on the returns of Ulster Unionist Party politician Dawson Bates when he was arrested on Bates' orders, later that year. While inside, he stood for Sinn Féin in Belfast North at the 1924 general election, but took only 3.4% of the votes cast, the party's worst result at the election.

Corvin was released on Christmas Eve 1924, and served in succession as the president, secretary and treasurer of the Belfast branch of the Gaelic League. and later in the decade, he was a leading figure in the Northern Council for Unity, a short-lived split from the Nationalist Party.

Corvin served as Eamon Donnelly's election agent in his campaign for Belfast Falls at a 1942 by-election to the Northern Ireland House of Commons. He took only 2.9% of the vote and a distant fourth place in the contest.

Corvin's son, Donal, became a well known DJ and pop music journalist.