Joseph Devlin - Early Years

Early Years

Born at 10 Hamill Street, in the Lower Falls area of Belfast, he was the fifth child of Charles Devlin (d. 1906) who ran a hackney cab, and his wife Eliza King (d. 1902) who sold groceries from their home. Until he was twelve he attended the nearby St. Mary's Christian Brothers School in Divis Street, where he was educated in a more ‘national’ and ‘catholic’ view of Irish history and culture than offered in the state system.

He showed an early gift for public speaking when he became chairman of a debating society founded in 1886 to commemorate the first nationalist election victory in West Belfast. From 1891-1893 he was a journalist on the Irish News, then on the Freeman's Journal when he became associated with the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) which he helped to re-establish in 1890s becoming spokesman for the Catholic population and a lifelong opponent of its counterpart, the Orange Order. He then worked at Samuel Young MP's brewery for whom he managed a Belfast pub, which sustained him until 1902.