08/06/2026
in 1886, the first Home Rule Bill was defeated in the British House of Commons.
Home Rule had been the goal of Irish nationalism since the late 1870s. In the case of the first Home Rule Bill, proposed by Prime Minister William Gladstone in April 1886, it would have come close to effectively repealing the 1801 Act of Union. Much local administration would have reverted to the legislation of a new Irish parliament, and even control of the Royal Irish Constabulary would have transferred to the new Irish Home Rule government.
But this first Bill was fraught with issues and hastily drafted. Gladstone's sudden conversion to supporting Home Rule in 1885 had split his Liberal party, with Liberal unionists breaking away to vote against it. Irish Parliamentary Party leader Charles Stewart Parnell saw the Bill's clear issues, but chose to put his party's support behind it as a means of advancing the cause of Home Rule.
The Bill was defeated, however. 341 MPs voted against it, while 311 voted in favour. This triggered parliament's dissolution weeks later and a new general election. It would be 1893 before the Home Rule cause would once again go before the Commons.
To learn more about the origins of Home Rule, the Crisis of 1912-14, and how these issues fed into the 1916 Rising, visit our museum.
