Joseph Connolly (1885-1961) was born in Belfast. He began his working-life at the age of fifteen and was a successful businessman in Belfast, Dublin and the U.S.A. An ardent nationalist, in 1911 he co-founded the first Freedom Club to spread the gospel of Sinn Fein; he was a leader of the Irish Volunteers in Belfast in 1914-16 and was imprisoned after the Easter Rising. He served on a commission of the First Dail and acted as consul-general of the Irish Republic in the U.S.A. in 1921-2. In 1923 Connolly played an major role in channelling the activities of antitreatyites into a new political organisation. He was a member of the Seanad from 1928 to 1936, a director of the Irish Press in 1931-2, minister for posts and telegraphy in 1932, minister for lands and forestry from 1932 to 1936, controller of censorship from 1939 to 1941 and chairman of the Office of Public Works from 1936 to 1950.