John Crowley (Irish politician)

For other people named John Crowley, see John Crowley (disambiguation).

John Crowley (1870–1934) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician and medical practitioner.

Education and medical career

Crowley received his early education in his home town of Cork. He attended the University of Glasgow and the Royal University of Edinburgh in Scotland where he obtained a medical degree. He practised medicine for 33 years.

Political career

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the Mayo North constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann. He was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo North and West constituency at the 1921 elections. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and voted against it.

He was re-elected unopposed for the same constituency at the 1922 general election, this time as an anti-Treaty Sinn Féin TD, and he did not take his seat in the Dáil. He was elected as a Republican TD for Mayo North constituency at the 1923 general election and once again he did not take his seat. He did not contest the June 1927 general election.

Personal life

Crowley was a practising Roman Catholic. He married Julia Catherine Larkin in 1903. They had five children, four daughters and one son, Finbar, who died at the age of 3.

Death

Crowley died in 1934 at the age of 64. His burial mass was at St. Brigid's CHurch in Ballycastle and presided over by the Most Rev. Dr. Naughton, Bishop of Killala. In attendance at his funeral were 1,000 Old IRA members, including P. J. Ruttledge, the Minister for Justice, and many other TDs. He was buried in Doonfeeny Cemetery with his son Finbar.