Colohan, Hugh (Hubert) (c.1870–1931), politician, was probably born in Newbridge (Droichead Nua), Co. Kildare, where he lived throughout his adult life. A brick and stone layer by trade, from his early career he was deeply involved in labour and nationalist activities. Active in his youth in the GAA, he was an able hurler with the Moorefield club. A member of the National League, he came to prominence locally c.1890 for his leading role in resisting the notorious, wholescale evictions on the Clongorey estate, near Newbridge, associated with the Plan of Campaign, during which he was thrice arrested. With the parish priest of Caragh, Fr Kinsella, he led efforts to re-house evicted tenants in newly constructed huts and converted stables, and was among some two dozen persons arrested for misuse of landlord's property (1890). Sentenced with Kinsella and others to two months’ imprisonment in Kilkenny jail, Colohan and his comrades were released within a fortnight when Timothy Healy (qv) raised the illegality of their arrests in the house of commons. Supporting Justin McCarthy (qv) on the split in the nationalist party, Colohan campaigned ardently in Kildare for anti-Parnellite candidates.
Active in the republican interest during the troubles of 1919–21, Colohan helped raise funds to support workers dismissed from employment for their part in the railway workers’ strike against transport of British troops and munitions (May 1920–March 1921), and was joint treasurer of both the Droichead Nua republican prisoners’ dependants fund and Irish White Cross fund (1921–2). Representing the Labour party in Dáil Éireann (1922–31), he was first elected in 1922 for Kildare–Wicklow, returned on the first count to the second seat. In 1923 he topped the poll under quota, and was elected to the first seat in the three-seat Kildare constituency; despite declines in his share of the vote, he retained the seat in the two 1927 elections. Also involved in local politics, he served throughout the 1920s on Kildare county council, and was sometime member during the decade of Newbridge town commissioners, and of Carlow mental hospital joint management committee. He was chairman before its abolition in 1925 of Naas rural district council, and vice-chairman of Co. Kildare board of health. He served on the commission on technical education (1926–7). His efforts as a public representative both nationally and locally were devoted primarily to improving the status of working people and alleviating conditions among the poor. A widower, he died suddenly in his home at 4 Rowan Terrace, Newbridge, on 15 April 1931, survived by several daughters and three sons. The dáil by-election to fill the seat vacated by Colohan's death was contested unsuccessfully for the Labour party by William Norton (qv) (July 1931), who subsequently won the seat in the February 1932 general election, and commenced a lengthy tenure as both TD for Kildare and Labour party leader.