Charles Dolan

Who was Charles Dolan?

Charles Joseph Dolan was an Irish politician.

He was elected Member of Parliament for the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1906, representing North Leitrim constituency.

He resigned his seat in 1908 by taking the Manor of Northstead in order to re-fight the constituency on behalf of Sinn Féin. However, he was defeated by Francis Edward Meehan, the IPP candidate.

After losing the by-election, Dolan emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri, then a center of shoe manufacture. He hoped to export that technology and set up a shoe factory in Leitrim, but was not successful. He continued to agitate on behalf of an independent Ireland and against the entry of the United States into World War I.

Dolan's marriage to an Episcopalian in 1953 and entry into Freemasonry made him a pariah among the Irish community of St. Louis. He became a law professor and died in 1963.