Everything about Ernest Blythe totally explained
Ernest Blythe (;
April 13 1889 –
February 23 1975) was an
Irish politician.
Ernest Blythe was born to a
Protestant and Unionist family near
Lisburn,
County Antrim in 1889, the son of a farmer, and was educated locally. At the age of fifteen he started working as a clerk in the Department of Agriculture in
Dublin.
Blythe joined the
IRB . He also joined the
Gaelic League, where his
Irish teacher was
Sinéad Flanagan, the future wife of
Éamon de Valera. In
1909 Blythe became a junior news reporter with the
North Down Herald.
Blythe soon became involved in the activities of the
Irish Volunteers. This led to years of arrests, imprisonment, and
hunger strikes. He spent the
Easter Rising of
1916 in prison. In the
general election of 1918 Blythe was elected as a
TD for North
Monaghan. From then until
1922 he served as Minister for Industry & Commerce. Blythe was a strong supporter of the
Anglo-Irish Treaty and in
1923 he became Minister for Finance in President
W. T. Cosgrave's first government.
Blythe was committed to keeping a balanced budget at all costs, he did however fund the
Ardnacrusha or
Shannon Scheme. There was widespread criticism when he reduced old-age pensions from 10 shillings (50p) to 9 shillings (45p) a week. Blythe also served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and Vice-President of the Executive Council. In the
1933 general election Blythe lost his seat.
Blythe was a senior figure in the
Blueshirts and his support for
Eoin O'Duffy as leader of that organisation (and of the
Fine Gael party) left him a marginal figure, once
Fine Gael rid itself of O'Duffy.
He served in the
Senate until the institution was abolished in 1936. He then retired from politics.
Throughout his life he was committed to the revival of the Irish language. He encouraged
Micheál MacLiammóir and
Hilton Edwards to found an Irish language theatre in
Galway.
Between 1941 and 1967 he served as managing director of the
Abbey Theatre. It was said that he rejected many good plays in favour of those which were more financially rewarding. In 1957 he published an autobiographical account of his life until
1913.
Ernest Blythe died in Dublin on
February 23 1975, aged 85.
Ministerial career
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