Isaac Butt (6 September 1813-5 May 1879) was the leader of the Irish Home Rule League and its MP for Youghal from 1852 to 1865 (succeeding Thomas Chisholm Anstey and preceding Joseph Neale McKenna) and for Limerick from 1871 to 1879 (succeeding Francis William Russell and preceding Daniel Fitzgerald Gabbett).
Biography[]
Isaac Butt was born in Glenfin, County Donegal, Ireland in 1813, and he came from an Anglican family. He worked as a professor of political economy at Trinity College from 1836 to 1841, and he became a lawyer in 1838. Originally a supporter of Irish unionism within the United Kingdom, the Great Famine convinced him to advocate for Home Rule. Originally a Tory member of the Dublin Corporation, he served as the Home Rule League MP for Youghal from 1852 to 1865 and for Limerick from 1871 to 1879. In 1874, the Home Rule League merged into the Irish Parliamentary Party. Butt tried to mobilize popular support for his moderate movement, and the ageing Butt was soon surpassed as the leader of the Home Rule movemetn by Charles Stewart Parnell during the 1870s. He died in 1879 at the age of 65.