O'Brien, Patrick (1853–1917), nationalist and MP, was born in Tullamore, King's Co. (Offaly), son of James O'Brien, shopkeeper, whose family soon moved to Liverpool. He qualified as a mechanical and marine engineer at the Liverpool Institute, but soon became a successful coal merchant instead, settling at 4 Cander St., Prince's Park, Liverpool. Although a member of the IRB, following the lead of John Barry (qv) he became a member of the Land League of Great Britain, and subsequently secretary of the Irish National League of Great Britain in Liverpool. Charged for publishing seditious literature and sending it to Ireland (16 May 1883), he was sentenced on 10 August 1883 to six months’ imprisonment. On the recommendation of C. S. Parnell (qv), during an 1886 by-election, he was selected and duly elected as Irish party candidate for Monaghan North (1886–92), though his career as an MP was undistinguished. A champion of the GAA, he was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment in Tipperary in late September 1890, for supporting the ‘plan of campaign’ agitation, particularly on the Smith-Barry estate in Munster. On his release, he found the Irish party had split, and took the minority Parnellite side. This prompted his constituents to withdraw a large testimonial made for him during his imprisonment; he took legal action against them and won the case when it was taken to the house of lords.
Thereafter he achieved prominence in the Irish party through becoming, along with J. J. Clancy (qv), the closest confidant of John Redmond (qv), remaining a loyal supporter till his death. An anti-clerical figure who helped the IRB found the Irish National Amnesty Association (26 August 1892), O'Brien was secretary of the Parnellite National League, the principal sales agent of the Irish Daily Independent, and Redmond's chief instrument in attempting to win the nationalist movement over to his side during the 1890s. Failing narrowly to win a seat for Limerick city (July 1892), with IRB support, he was later returned for the small constituency of Kilkenny city (1895–1917), shortly after providing for the education of the children of the recently deceased Dublin GAA and IRB leader, James Boland (qv), including Harry (qv) and Gerry (qv). During 1899 he was one of the few MPs to offer real support to the Irish pro-Boer movement. On Redmond's behalf, he played a critical role in the negotiations that led to the reunification of the Irish party under Redmond's leadership in 1900. He was rewarded for his loyalty by being appointed a whip, and subsequently chief whip, of the Irish party (1907–17). Together both men spent many holidays together, particularly at the party leader's hunting and shooting lodge in Aughavanagh, Co. Wicklow. Like Redmond, O'Brien favoured adopting a conciliatory, rather than confrontational, approach in attempting to maintain unity in the Irish party's ranks. He became ill from rheumatism, however, during 1914 and died 12 July 1917 from a stroke in St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, where he had been for some time. He never married.