The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Butt, Isaac

BUTT, Isaac, Irish politician; the first to make political use of the phrase “Home Rule”; was the son of a Protestant rector: b. County Donegal, 16 Sept 1813; d. 5 May 1879. Educated at Raphoe and at Trinity College, Dublin, he gained a brilliant reputation for his accomplished scholarship. In 1852 he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal Conservative for Youghal, for which constituency he sat until 1865. He defended Smith O'Brien and others in the state trials of 1848, and with equal fearlessness and self-devotion all the Fenian prisoners between the years 1865 and 1869. In 1871 he was elected for the city of Limerick to lead the Home Rule party. He published ‘History of Italy’ (1860) and ‘The Problem of Irish Education’ (1875).