The Irish Democratic League Club: Haslingden Davitt Branch

Not content with building a church and school, the local Irish formed a club around 1880. Among the promoters were several Fenians, now won over to peaceful political action following the success of Davitt’s Irish Land League and the mobilisation of the main wings of Irish nationalism under the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell. At Haslingden the club first met in rented premises in Rakefoot, moving later to a house in Marsden Square, and finally to the present building in George Street in 1911. From its inception the club has been affiliated with the national body, be it the Land League of Great Britain, the National League, the United Irish League, and, since 1923, the Irish Democratic League. Davitt’s name has always figured in the club’s name, and locally the club is invariably referred to as the Land League, probably the only one to continue with such a designation anywhere.

For well over a century the club has provided a venue for the social and political aspirations of the local Irish. Apart from dispensing drinks the club has provided mental cultivation by way of a library and newsroom. In the early days readers were appointed to read accounts from the Irish press of events at home. Lecturers and speakers visited from time to time: in 1898 J G Swift MacNeill, MP, was the speaker at a banquet held to commemorate the 1798 rising; while the ‘the leader of the Irish race at home and abroad,’ John Redmond, MP, came shortly after the club had moved to George Street. TP O’Connor, MP, who headed the Irish organisation in Britain, made several visits over the years. Politically the club supported the Liberal party at elections, given that party’s stance on Home Rule. One of the foremost club members, Denis Cartin, was elected to the newly-formed Haslingden borough council in 1891, serving on that body for twenty years. After World War I however, the demand for more radical change found expression in a switch to Labour, and in 1919 another club member, Patrick Laffy, was elected to the council in the Labour interest.

The club marked the formation of the Irish Free State with a field day for the children of St Mary’s. And the restyled Irish Democratic League announced a scheme to grant financial aid to children selected to attend secondary schools. Other incentives were devised for the pupils at St Mary’s school. The highlight of the year in club’s social calendar was always St Patrick’s day. ‘Haslingden,’ asserted the late John Bourke, was ‘the custodian of Davitt’s memory,’ and in support of this he could point to the installation of the organ at St Mary’s in 1908, made possible mainly through the generosity of club members; the Davitt centenary celebration in 1946; and the Wilkinson Street memorial on the site of Davitt’s old home. (Later still, a street near the club, was named Davitt Close; while in 1996 the club made sure that the 150th anniversary of Davitt’s birth did not pass unnoticed.)

Social and political changes over the years have affected the Haslingden club. That it has survived says a lot for the dedication and loyalty of a small band of members who have managed to ‘keep the flag flying,’ during a period of great change. The building betrays signs of its age and the present committee are so confident the club has a future that they are about to embark on an ambitious scheme of refurbishment that has been supplemented with a significant grant from the Irish heritage agency.

(For more see: J Dunleavy, ‘The story of Lancashire Irish club,’ Irish Studies in Britain, Spring-Summer 1986).