Cosgrave, William Thomas

Cosgrave, William Thomas (1880-1965), politician and first president of the executive council of the Irish Free State (1922-1932). Born into a Dublin trading family, Cosgrave followed his father into municipal politics in 1909 when he was elected to Dublin corporation as a Sinn Fein member. Cosgrave had been a member of the monarchist and pacifist Sinn Fein party since its inception in 1905. Also a member of the Irish Volunteers, he participated in the Easter Rising of 1916, and was subsequently sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted and Cosgrave was released in December 1916.

Elected as member of parliament for Kilkenny city during a by-election in 1917, and again in 1918 for Carlow/Kilkenny, he was made Sinn Fein minister for local government in 1919. Cosgrave's department was one of the more successful Sinn Fein ministries during the Irish revolution, as it persuaded local government authorities in southern Ireland to sever their connection with the British administration and to transfer their allegiance to the revolutionary parliament in Dublin, Dáil Éireann.

Cosgrave's decision to support the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921 was crucial as it placed President Eamon De Valera and opposition to it within the Sinn Fein Cabinet in a minority. Consequently, Dáil Éireann had to decide on the issue of ratifying or rejecting the settlement. During the debates Cosgrave established himself as one of the leading supporters of the settlement with Britain and argued for an inclusive nationalist outlook once the Irish Free State had been established, with southern unionists fully participating in the new state.

Elected to both the pro-Treaty Sinn Fein government and the provisional government in January 1922, Cosgrave succeeded Michael Collins as chairman of the provisional government after his death on August 22, 1922. Cosgrave found himself in charge of a diverse political party and Cabinet and he established himself as a conciliator and able chairman within both. In December 1922 he became the first president of the executive council of the Irish Free State and following the 1923 general election Cosgrave led the Cumann na nGaedheal party in Dáil Éireann until 1932. Cosgrave's governments consolidated the treaty settlement by defeating the antitreaty IRA during the civil war and created a stable democratic state in Southern Ireland during the 1920s.

Following two successive electoral defeats by Eamon De Valera's populist republican Fianna Fail party in the general elections of 1932 and 1933, Cumann na nGaedheal merged with the Centre party and the quasifascist Blueshirt organization to form the Fine Gael party in September 1933. Cosgrave stepped aside to let the Blueshirt leader general Eoin O'Duffy become president of Fine Gael. Within a year O'Duffy had proved himself too erratic and independent-minded to lead a constitutional political party, and he resigned. Cosgrave regained the leadership of Fine Gael which continued to decline in popularity until his retirement from politics in 1944. After his retirement from politics he spent time pursuing his interest in horse breeding and racing. His son Liam Cosgrave later became leader of Fine Gael and served as Taoiseach (prime minister) from 1973 to 1977.