Richard Anthony | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Senator | |
| In office 22 July 1954 – 22 May 1957 | |
| In office 21 April 1948 – 14 August 1951 | |
| Constituency | Labour Panel |
| Teachta Dála | |
| In office June 1943 – February 1948 | |
| In office June 1927 – June 1938 | |
| Constituency | Cork Borough |
| Lord Mayor of Cork | |
| In office 1942–1943 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1875-10-20)20 October 1875 Clonmel,County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 3 January 1962(1962-01-03) (aged 86) Cork, Ireland |
| Political party | |
| Spouse | 3 |
| Children | 7 |
Richard Sydney Anthony (20 October 1875 – 3 January 1962) was anIrish politician andtrade unionist.
In his teens he joined the printing staff ofThe Cork Examiner, where in time he became alinotype operator. A member of the Cork Typographical Association (president from the 1920s), he became a leading figure in the Cork Workers' Council. In the 1920s he was a member of the national executive of theLabour Party and in 1924 a member of the executive council of theIrish Trades Union Congress.[1]
Anthony stood unsuccessfully for election at the1923 general election. He was first elected toDáil Éireann as aLabour PartyTD for theCork Borough constituency at theJune 1927 general election.[2] He was re-elected as a Labour Party TD at theSeptember 1927 general election.
In 1931, Anthony defied the Labour whip and supported theConstitution (Amendment No. 17) Bill, a measure proposed by thegovernment of W. T. Cosgrave against theIrish Republican Army. The Executive Council sought to establish military courts that were empowered to impose sentences – including capital punishment, without appeal – in response to IRA violence. AlongsideDaniel Morrissey, Anthony broke ranks with Labour, who thought the measures too authoritarian, and voted for the bill, and both of them were expelled from the party.[3][4]
Anthony was elected as anindependent TD at the1932 general election. He was re-elected as an independent TD at the1933 and1937 general elections.[5]
Anthony was well known for hisanti-communist views. In August 1939 he told the forty-fifthIrish Trades Union Congress that he would prefer fascism to a "dictatorship of the proletariat".[1] Earlier that same year, back in April, Anthony had proposed a motion atCork City Corporation congratulatingFranco on "concluding his war against communism and anarchy in Spain".[1]
He lost his seat at the1938 general election but was re-elected at the1943 and1944 general elections as an independent. He re-joined the Labour Party in 1948. He again lost his Dáil seat at the1948 general election but was elected to the6th Seanad on theLabour Panel at the subsequent Seanad election in 1948. He stood at the1951 general election but was not elected. He did not contest the 1951 Seanad election but was elected to the8th Seanad in 1954, again on the Labour Panel. He did not contest the 1957 Seanad election and retired from politics.
He served asLord Mayor of Cork from 1942 to 1943.[6] He married three times; he and his first wife (née Powell from Cork) had seven children.[1]
| Civic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James Allen | Lord Mayor of Cork 1942–1943 | Succeeded by |