Stephen O'Mara (senator)
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Stephen O'Mara (26 December 1844 – 26 July 1926[1][2]) was an Irish nationalist politician and businessman from Limerick.
Personal life
O'Mara's father James owned a bacon factory in the city, and Stephen entered the family business.[1] His brother Joseph O'Mara became an opera singer. Stephen marred Ellen Pigott in 1867.[1] They had 12 children, of whom the first three died of diphtheria in 1872.[1] Sons James and Stephen, Jnr became prominent Irish republicans and radicalised their father's later political views.[1]
Political career
O'Mara's father was an early supporter of Isaac Butt, and Stephen joined Limerick Corporation c.1880, becoming the first Nationalist Mayor of Limerick in 1885.[1][3] He served again the following year,[3] and headed a campaign to raise funds for an organ for the Limerick Athenaeum.[4] In a by-election in February 1886, he was returned unopposed as Irish Parliamentary Party MP for Queen's County Ossory.[1] He did not stand in the July 1886 general election. He was High Sheriff of Limerick city in 1888, 1913, and 1914.[3]
O'Mara took the Parnellite side when the Irish National League split in the 1890s.[1] In 1908, he resigned as trustee of the Party's funds.[1] In the 1918 general election, O'Mara supported Sinn Féin as it eclipsed the less radical Irish Parliamentary Party.[1] His sons were active in the Irish War of Independence; in the Irish Civil War, Stephen Snr was pro-Treaty,[1] as was son James; Stephen Jnr was anti-Treaty, though relatively conciliatory. In the 1925 election to the Free State Seanad, O'Mara was elected on the 65th and final count.[5] He died the following year.
References
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External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Stephen O'Mara
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Queen's County Ossory 1886 – 1886 |
Succeeded by William Archibald Macdonald |
