Grattan, Henry (1746-1820), an Irish politician, led a movement that temporarily freed Ireland’s Parliament from British control. He was an eloquent orator and a distinguished spokesman for Irish independence.
Grattan studied law at Trinity College in Dublin and in 1775 became a member of the Irish Parliament. In 1782, he led a successful effort to overturn the British government’s Declaratory Act of 1720, a law that affirmed the supremacy of the British Parliament over the Parliament of Ireland. Although a Protestant, Grattan also condemned long-standing laws that prohibited Roman Catholics from voting and holding political office. Three-fourths of Ireland’s people were Catholics.
After the Declaratory Act was repealed, people called the independent Irish legislature “Grattan’s parliament.” British fears of Irish rebellion, however, caused Britain to pass the Act of Union in 1800. This act ended the Irish Parliament and merged Ireland with Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Grattan was born on July 3, 1746, in Dublin. He died on June 4, 1820.
