Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PLUNKETT, SIR HORACE CURZON (1854– )

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 857 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PLUNKETT, See also:SIR See also:HORACE CURZON (1854– ) , Irish politician, third son of See also:Edward, 16th See also:baron Dunsany, was See also:born on the 24th of See also:October 1854, and was educated at See also:Eton and University See also:College, See also:Oxford, of which college he became honorary See also:fellow in 1909. He spent ten years (1879–1889) ranching in See also:Montana, U.S.A., where, together with a substantial See also:fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the See also:work of agricultural See also:education, improvement and development, to which he devoted himself on his return to See also:Ireland in 1889. At first Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together men of all See also:political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish See also:people. In 1894 he founded the Irish Agricultural Organization Society, which accomplished a work of incalculable importance by introducing co-operation among Irish farmers, and by proving to the latter the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management. But already in 1892 he had See also:felt compelled to abandon his non-political attitude, and he entered See also:parliament as Unionist member for See also:south See also:Dublin (See also:county). Continuing, however, his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in See also:August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions should meet to discuss and See also:frame a See also:scheme of See also:practical legislation. The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the " See also:Recess See also:Committee " with Plunkett as chairman, which included men of such divergent views as the See also:earl of See also:Mayo, Mr See also:John See also:Redmond, The O'Conor See also:Don and Mr See also:Thomas See also:Sinclair. In See also:July 1896 the Recess Committee issued a See also:report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing valuable accounts of the systems of See also:state aid to See also:agriculture and of technical instruction in See also:foreign countries. This report, and the growing See also:influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy See also:Council in 1897, led to the passing of an See also:act in 1899 which established a See also:department of agriculture and technical instruction in Ireland, of which the See also:chief secretary was to be See also:president ex officio. Plunkett was appointed See also:vice-president, a position which gave him See also:control of the department's operations. It was intended that the vice-president should be responsible for the department in the See also:House of See also:Commons, but at the See also:general See also:election of 19oo Plunkett lost his seat. An extensively signed memorial, sup-ported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that he might not be removed from See also:office, and at the See also:government's See also:request he continued to See also:direct the policy of the department without a seat in parliament.

He was created K.C.V.O. in 1903. On the See also:

accession of the Liberal party to See also:power in 1906, Sir Horace Plunkett was requested by Mr See also:Bryce, the new chief secretary, to remain at the See also:head of the department he had created. But, having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, Plunkett had incurred the hostility of the Nationalist party, whose resentment had been further excited by the bold statement of certain unpalatable truths in his See also:book, Ireland in the New See also:Century (1904), in which he described the economic See also:condition and needs of the See also:country and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had inaugurated. A determined effort was therefore made by the Nationalists to drive from office the See also:man who had probably done more than any one else of his See also:generation to benefit the Irish people; and in moving a See also:resolution in the House of Commons with this See also:object in 1907, a Nationalist declared that his party " took their stand on the principle that the See also:industrial revival could only go See also:hand in hand with the See also:national See also:movement." The government gave way, and in the summer of 1907 Sir Horace Plunkett retired from office. Since the See also:year 1900 a See also:grant of about £4000 had been made annually by the Department of Agriculture to the Irish Agricultural Organization Society; but the new vice-president, Mr T. W. See also:Russell, who had been himself previously a member of the Unionist See also:administration, withdrew in 1907 this modest support of an association with which Sir Horace Plunkett was so closely identified, and of which he continued to be the guiding spirit. In addition to the publication mentioned, Sir Horace Plunkett published Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), and Rural See also:Life Problems of the See also:United States (191o). See Sir Horace Plunkett, Ireland in the New Century (See also:London, 19o4); Report of the Committee of Inquiry: Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland), (Cd. 3572) (1907).

End of Article: PLUNKETT, SIR HORACE CURZON (1854– )

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PLUNKET, WILLIAM CONYNGHAM PLUNKET, 1ST BARON (1764... 		[next]
PLURALISM (Lat. plus, plures, many, several)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries