John Sweetman (9 August 1844 – 8 September 1936) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as an Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation Member of Parliament (MP) in the 1890s, but later radicalised. He was one of the founders of Sinn Féin and was the party's president from 1908 to 1911.
Early life
He was the eldest son of John Sweetman (1805–1859), a Dublin brewer, and Honoria (1804–1879), daughter of Malachy O'Connor (a Dublin merchant).
He was born in County Dublin and educated at Downside School in Somerset. He lived at Drumbaragh, Kells, County Meath. He married Agnes Hanly in Navan, County Meath on 11 September 1895. They had six children, four sons and two daughters.
He was a major investor in the National Press newspaper. The Times of 3 June 1892 mentioned that "Mr John Sweetman of County Meath, who had contributed £1,000 as a donation to the fund for starting the National Press, had been unanimously selected for the Eastern Division". This was at a convention to select Nationalist candidates for the two Parliamentary constituencies in County Wicklow.
He was elected at the 1892 general election as MP for East Wicklow as a member of the Anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation faction of the Irish Parliamentary Party. He became a Parnellite in 1895 and resigned the seat on 8 April 1895. At the resulting by-election 26 April 1895, he stood as a Parnellite candidate but was defeated in a closely fought three-way contest. At the general election in July 1895 he stood in North Meath, where he narrowly failed to unseat the sitting anti-Parnellite MP James Gibney.
Radicalisation
By the early 20th century he had become far more radical. In 1905, speaking at the annual conference of the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland, in response to a paper suggesting the replanting of the waste lands of Ireland as a remedy to emigration, he displayed considerable hostility to the "English" government. The Times reported that he said "it was not for that society to call upon its greatest enemy, the English government, to plant forests. The English government hated the Irish nation as that of Egypt hated the Jewish nation, and they must fight the Government with all the weapons that God had given them, just as Moses had fought the Egyptians. Unfortunately, they had not the power to call down the ten plagues of Egypt upon the English Government, but they could boycott England's manufactures and her Navy and Army".
In 1900, Sweetman denounced Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland, attacked Edward VII for taking the Oath of Coronation oath, and opposed the votes of congratulation to the king passed by public bodies in Ireland at the time of the coronation.
By 1903, Sweetman was a leading member of Meath County Council. In recognition for becoming chairman of the council, Sweetman was offered an honour to be granted by Edward VII, however, Sweetman declared that his possession of Wolfe Tone's notebook was a greater honour than any the king could bestow and organised a campaign against the king's visit to Ireland.