The Irish Unionist Alliance (also known as the Irish Unionist Party) was a Unionist party founded in Ireland in 1891 to oppose plans for Gladstonian and Parnellite Home Rule for Ireland. The party was led for much of its life by Colonel Edward James Saunderson and later by the William St John Brodrick, Earl of Midleton. In total, eighty-six members of the House of Lords affiliated themselves with the Irish Unionist Alliance, although its membership was small.
The party aligned itself closely with Liberal Unionists and the Conservative Party to campaign to prevent the passage of a new Home Rule Bill. Among its most prominent members were Dublin barrister, Edward Carson, and founder of the Ireland's Co-operative movement, Horace Plunkett. Its electoral strength was largely (though not exclusively) Dublin-based, with it electing MPs from constituencies in the south Dublin area and for the Dublin University constituency. As late as 1929 there was a Unionist majority on Rathmines district council.
Read more about Irish Unionist Alliance: Ulster Unionism, Southern Unionists
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