Garrett Byrne

Who was Garrett Byrne?

Garrett Michael Byrne was an Irish nationalist and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party represented Co. Wexford, 1880–83, and West Wicklow, 1885-92. He was a strong supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell.

Byrne was born at Arklow, Co. Wicklow, in 1829. He was a great-grandson of Garrett Byrne of Ballymanus, a leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. He was the second son of Joseph Byrne of Ballybrack, Co. Dublin and of Mary Anne Byrne, second daughter of Garrett Byrne of Dungarvstown, Co. Wicklow. He was educated privately and at Leopardstown College. In 1855 he married Sarah Dillon, second daughter of James Dillon, a Wicklow merchant. She died in 1875.

At an early age Byrne was overseer for the contractors building the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway. He was then the Liverpool agent for a Dublin brewery. In 1856 he was appointed an officer of Customs and Surveyor to the Board of Trade at Liverpool.

He was selected as one of two Irish Home Rule Parnellite candidates for Wexford at the general election of 1880 over the sitting Home Ruler Keyes O'Clery, who was backed by the Catholic clergy.