Joseph O'Doherty

Who was Joseph O'Doherty?

Joseph O'Doherty was an Irish politician. He was born in Derry, Ireland and was educated at St Columb's College and St Patrick's College, Drumcondra where he qualified as a teacher. He later attended King's Inns where he qualified as a barrister.

He was a member of the Irish Volunteers Executive which helped plan the Easter Rising of 1916 and would remain on the Executive until 1921. He was arrested after the Easter Rising.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin Member of Parliament for Donegal North at the 1918 general election defeating his Irish Parliamentary Party opponent. In 1919 Sinn Féin candidates who had been elected in the Westminster election of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann". The establishment of the First Dáil occurred on the same day as the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence.

He was re-elected at the 1921 general election and opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He was subsequently re-elected as Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin and as an abstentionist republican in 1922 and 1923 respectively. He was part of the Republican mission to the United States of America from 1922–24 and 1925–26.