Hazleton, Richard (1880–1943), politician, was born 5 December 1880 in Dollymount, Dublin, son of Thomas Hazleton, esq., and Bridget Rose Hazleton (née Ryan) of Tipperary. He was educated at Blackrock College, Dublin, and early developed an interest in nationalist politics. At the age of 17 he wrote a hagiographic prize-winning essay on C. S. Parnell (qv) (Irish Weekly Independent, 8 Oct. 1898), and later contributed articles to D. P. Moran's (qv) Leader. He was also one of the founders of the Young Ireland branch of the United Irish League, which included Tom Kettle (qv) and Rory O'Connor (qv). In 1902 he was elected to Blackrock urban district council, and four years later stood for parliament. Defeated by the unionist Walter Long (qv) on his first attempt as the Irish party candidate for Dublin South in January 1906, he was returned unopposed the following month at a by-election for north Galway in 1906 and was again returned unopposed in both general elections in 1910 and in a by-election in 1914.
Regarded by John Dillon (qv) as one of the most promising younger members, Hazleton was a frequent delegate on campaigning and fund-raising trips; in 1906 he and T. P. O'Connor (qv) went to Canada, and in 1911 Hazleton headed a delegation to New Zealand, where his speeches, ending in ‘God save the king’ and repudiating Irish control of army and customs, roused the fury of Arthur Griffith (qv). His loyalty was always to the Redmondite wing of the party, and in January 1910 he also stood for Louth North against T. M. Healy (qv), and was narrowly defeated, only to be elected over Healy eleven months later in the second general election of 1910. He was subsequently unseated on petition and charged with bribery and intimidation, including breaking a postmaster's windows and throwing stones at a former high sheriff of Monaghan. Healy then went through protracted court cases, trying to recoup costs amounting to over £2,000. Hazleton resigned his seat in Galway North in May 1914 in order to declare himself bankrupt, and stood for re-election two months later. This led to the enunciation, in the house of lords, of the doctrine that MPs could not shirk their debts, and Hazleton was saddled with larger costs. The Irish party offered to assist him, but he refused, declaring he would emigrate to Canada if the party would provide for his sister's family, whom he supported. In February 1916 the candidacy of his nephew, 23-year-old Patrick Joseph Whitty, was duly announced for Louth North. Whitty was elected, to ridicule in the Leader. Hazleton neither emigrated nor settled his debt. He stood in the Louth constituency in December 1918 and was defeated by the Sinn Féin Candidate, J. J. O'Kelly (qv) by the relatively narrow margin of 255 votes. He was now without a seat; Healy finally settled for smaller costs.
In the commons Hazleton was a frequent speaker and strongly defended the home rule bill against any opt-out clause by Ulster in 1912. The following year he was one of only seven MPs of the Irish party to vote in favour of the women's suffrage bill, and was then criticised by colleagues who feared it would delay the home rule bill. During the war he engaged with T. P. O'Connor in obstructionist tactics, addressing the house about 200 times in 1916 and keeping debates going late into the night, although this policy had little effect. In June 1917 Hazleton travelled to the USA with O'Connor and met President Wilson, despite British embassy disapproval. However, the trip was unsuccessful; they were prevented by the war from putting the home rule case strongly, and the newspaper Gaelic American attacked them relentlessly. Hazleton concluded that the Irish-American focus was on supporting the war effort. Nevertheless they managed to send back £10,000 for the Freeman's Journal, which Sinn Féin suggested was British secret-service money.
Hazleton was a crucial player in the 1918 election and virtually operated as Dillon's election manager. He was one of six on the committee that drew up the election aims, and also dealt with local organisers and handled the correspondence from central office. At the election itself, he contested Louth for the third time and came within 300 votes of the Sinn Féin candidate. Disgusted with the emerging Ireland, he left the country and spent the rest of his life in England, standing as the unsuccessful Liberal candidate for Bermondsey in 1923. Six years later he found his niche as general secretary for the Institute for Production Engineers, where he used his impressive organisational skills to build up the membership an estimated fifteenfold, and also played a prominent part in creating and developing the research department of Loughborough technical college. He died, a bachelor, in London on 26 January 1943. He had been briefly engaged to the singer Margaret Sheridan (qv).