George Nesbitt
Senator
In office
December 1922 – September 1925
Personal details
Bornc.1870/71
Kimmage, Dublin, Ireland
Died1954 (aged 82–83)
Dublin, Ireland
Political partyIndependent
SpouseEnid Nesbitt

George J. Nesbitt (c. 1870/71–1954)[1][2][3] was an Irish businessman and Free State senator from Kimmage, Dublin.[4][5]

He was educated at Synge Street CBS and University College Dublin.[6] He was manager of Kernan & Co, a mineral water producer in Camden Street.[1][3][7][8] He married Enid (b.1880/81) in 1906 or 1907.[1] He was a member of the National Literary Society and a founding member of the Irish National Theatre (now the Abbey Theatre).[9] He was among those who left the Theatre in 1906 to form the Theatre of Ireland (Cluithcheoirí na hÉireann), where he served as stage manager.[10][11]

In 1916, he was active in the Irish National Aid Association, which supported republicans killed or imprisoned after the Easter Rising and their dependents.[12] In 1918 he was appointed co-treasurer of Sinn Féin, alongside Jennie Wyse Power, after the previous board were arrested during the "German Plot" scare.[3][13] During the Irish War of Independence, he was interned in Ballykinler camp, where he staged a play on Easter Sunday 1921.[14] In 1922, he was among the founders of Irish Photoplays, which financed three feature films.[15]

He was a member of the Seanad of the Irish Free State from its creation in 1922, being 26th of the 30 senators elected by the Third Dáil.[2][16] He was an Independent, though generally supportive of the government of Cumann na nGaedheal.[5] He nominated himself for re-election in the 1925 Seanad election, finishing 59th of 76 candidates for 19 seats.[2][5]

He died in 1954.[6]

Sources

References

  1. ^ a b c "Residents of a house 36 in Terenure (Terenure, Dublin)". 1911 Census. National Archives of Ireland. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "George Nesbitt". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "Sinn Féin national fund [censored] Trustees Appeal". Holdings. National Library of Ireland. 1918. Retrieved 30 December 2013. George J. Nesbitt, 88 & 89 Lower Camden St., Dublin.
  4. ^ "The Irish Senate: List of Members". The Catholic Press. Sydney, Australia. 25 January 1923. p. 23. Retrieved 30 December 2013. George Nesbitt, merchant and manufacturer, Kimmage-road, Dublin; was treasuror of Dependents' Fund established after the 1916 rising, and was prominently identified with Sinn Féin.
  5. ^ a b c Coakley, John (September 2005). "Ireland's Unique Electoral Experiment: The Senate Election of 1925". Irish Political Studies. 20 (3): 261–268. doi:10.1080/07907180500359327. S2CID 145175747.
  6. ^ a b "Members of the First Seanad: Biographies – Nesbitt, George". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Residents of a house 11 in Rathmines Road (Rathmines & Rathgar East, Dublin)". 1901 Census. National Archives of Ireland. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Kernan & Co., Mineral Water Manufacturers". The Industries of Dublin. Historical, statistical, biographical. An account of the leading business men, commercial interests, wealth and growth. London: S. Blackett. 1887. p. 65.
  9. ^ Vandevelde 2005, p.81
  10. ^ Vandevelde 2005, p.119
  11. ^ Russell, Jane (1 January 1987). James Starkey/Seumas O'Sullivan: A Critical Biography. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 103. ISBN 9780838632659. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  12. ^ Matthews 2010, pp.161–3
  13. ^ Matthews 2010, p.217
  14. ^ Walsh, Louis J. (1921). "On my keeping" and in theirs : a record of experiences "on the run", in Derry Gaol, and in Ballykinlar Internment Camp. Dublin: Talbot Press. p. 95. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  15. ^ Flynn, Arthur (2005). The Story Of Irish Film. Currach Press. p. 24. ISBN 9781856079143.
  16. ^ "Result of elections to Seanad". Dáil Éireann debates. 8 December 1922. pp. Vol.2 No.3 p.3 cc.41–42. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
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