T. P. Gill

Who was T. P. Gill?

Thomas Patrick Gill was a prominent member of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the late 19th and early 20th century and a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons representing the South Louth constituency unopposed from 1885 to 1892. His uncle Peter was an unsuccessful election candidate in 1868 in Co. Tipperary.

A native of Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, he was the eldest son of Robert Gill, a Civil Engineer. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and became a journalist. Married in 1882 to Annie Fennell of Dublin, they had three children.

Gill was a close friend and political ally of Charles Stewart Parnell. After the death of Parnell he remained with the Irish Parliamentary Party. He worked closely with Horace Plunkett in founding the Irish co-operative movement and in 1907 was appointed Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Irish Forestry. He also served on a number of governmental committees concerning agriculture and agricultural production which led to the formation to both the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction which became the forerunner of the Irish Department of Agriculture and the Vocational Education Committees. He was President of the Irish Technical Instruction Association from 1925 to 1929.