In 1892, Edward Blake, ex-Premier of Ontario and former leader of the Liberal party in the Canadian House of Common, was invited by the Irish parliamentary party to stand for election in the British Parliament. This surprising invitation grew out of the conflicts of the Irish “Home Rule” controversy, then a critical issue in British politics. When Blake abandoned the Canadian political scene he had just severed connections with the Liberal party, which he had served as Minister of justice in the only federal Liberal administration down to 1896, and as Leader of the Opposition from 1880 to 1887. Irish Home Rule was a cause which engaged the sympathies of Liberals all over the British Empire, and although Blake intended to return permanently to Canada, he remained a member of the British Parliament, devoting ceaseless efforts to the Irish interest, until illness forced his retirement in 1907.