Joseph Johnston (Irish politician)

Joseph Johnston
Senator
In office
14 August 1951 – 22 July 1954
ConstituencyNominated by the Taoiseach
In office
18 August 1944 – 21 April 1948
In office
27 April 1938 – 8 September 1943
ConstituencyDublin University
Personal details
Born(1890-08-20)20 August 1890
County Tyrone, Ireland
Died26 August 1972(1972-08-26) (aged 82)
Dublin, Ireland
Political partyIndependent
Spouse
Clara Wilson
​
(m. 1914)​
Children2, including Roy
EducationRoyal School Dungannon
Alma mater

Joseph Johnston (20 August 1890 – 26 August 1972) was an Irish academic, farmer, writer and politician.

He was born in 1890 in Toomog townland, Castlecaulfield, County Tyrone,[1] to John Johnston, a national school teacher, and Mary Geddis. He came from a Presbyterian family of Ulster-Scots descent.[2]

He was educated at Dungannon Royal School (1902–1906), Trinity College Dublin (1906–1910, BA (Mod) in Classics) and Lincoln College, Oxford (1910–1912).[3]

He supported Home Rule and was the author of Civil War in Ulster (1913) and The Nemesis of Economic Nationalism (1934).[1] He became Professor of Applied Economics in Trinity College Dublin in 1939.[1]

He was first elected to Seanad Éireann as an independent member in 1938 by the Dublin University constituency.[4] He was re-elected to the 2nd and 3rd Seanad but lost his at the 1943 election. He was elected to the 5th Seanad in 1944 and lost his seat at the 1948 election. He was nominated by the Taoiseach to the 7th Seanad in 1951 and lost his seat at the 1954 election.[4]

In 1914 he married Clara Wilson, a teacher from Ballymahon, County Longford; and they had two children.[5] His son was the theoretical physicist Roy Johnston, a republican activist who was later a member of the Official Irish Republican Army.[5] His daughter, Maureen Carmody, was a member of the National Executive of the Irish Labour Party for many years, and at one time an elected Labour member of Nenagh Town Council.[6]

Books

  • 1913 – "Civil War in Ulster - Its Objects & Probable Results", Sealy, Byers and Walker, Dublin
  • 1925 – "A Groundwork of Economics"
  • 1934 – "The Nemesis of Economic Nationalism", P.S. King & Son, London
  • 1951 – "Irish Agriculture in Transition", Hodges Figgis / Blackwell, Dublin
  • 1962 – "Why Ireland Needs the Common Market", Mercier Press, Cork
  • 1966 – "Irish Economic Headaches: A Diagnosis", Aisti Eireannachta
  • 1970 – "Bishop Berkeley's Querist in Historical Perspective", Dundalgan Press, Dundalk

References

  1. ^ a b c "Prof. Joseph Johnston SFTCD". Irish Association for cultural, economic and social relations. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  2. ^ "General Registrar's Office" (PDF). IrishGenealogy.ie. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Joseph Johnston". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Joseph Johnston". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  5. ^ a b McElroy, Gerry. "Johnston, Joseph". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  6. ^ Slevin, Gerry. "Former Nenagh UDC member dies". Nenagh Guardian. Independent.ie. Retrieved 23 April 2003.