Patrick James Smyth

Patrick James Smyth (Irish name O'Gowan or Mac Gabhainn; 1823/1826 – 12 January 1885), also known as Nicaragua Smyth, was an Irish politician and journalist. A Young Irelander in 1848, and subsequently a journalist in American exile, from 1871 he was an Irish Home Rule Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for Westmeath and from 1880 for Tipperary.

Biography Smyth was born in Dublin in either 1823 or 1826,

Exile Following his involvement in the Young Irelander Rebellion, Smyth fled to New York City alongside John Blake Dillon. Smyth would take up work as a journalist, Smyth used this newfound fortune to fund a daring plan: To rescue fellow Young Irelander John Mitchel from Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), where the British had banished him to for his part in the rebellion. Smyth funded the chartering of a ship and sailed on it personally in June 1853. and was reelected in 1874. At the 1880 general election, he did not seek re-election in Westmeath, but stood instead in Tipperary, where he was elected unopposed. During his time as an MP Smyth is described as having been "an entertaining, if not always effective, orator". Over time Smyth became disenchanted with Butt's approach of simply seeking home rule for Ireland and began to advocate for outright repeal of the Act of Union. In early 1874 Smyth formed the ’82 clubs, a breakaway movement from the Home Rule League (established in November 1873 as a successor to the Home Government Association), to agitate for repeal. The '82 clubs enjoyed the support of the Irish Republican Brotherhood but failed to make much headway outside of the Dublin area. In June 1876 Smyth decried home rule as a "vile conspiracy against the life of the Irish nation". In the 1880 general election Smyth stood in Tipperary on behalf of the Irish Parliamentary Party and won, however Smyth became uneasy within the party upon the election of Charles Stewart Parnell as Chairman in May 1880. Smyth disliked what he viewed as Parnell's autocratic style and, as the Land war intensified, he denounced the Land League as the ‘League of Hell’. By January 1881 he formally seceded from the party, which resulted in the party mounting a vigorous campaign to force him to resign his seat. In late 1881 Michael Davitt described Smyth as "Our Irish National Don Quixote; eccentric, rhetorical and most thoroughly impracticable". He left the House of Commons at the end of 1884, when he was appointed as Secretary to the Irish Loan Fund Board. This made Smyth the last Irish MP who had been elected as a nationalist to accept a place in government, and it further eroded Smyth's popularity.

Smyth died only weeks after his appointment, on 12 January 1885, at his home at 15 Belgrave Square East, Rathmines, Dublin, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.