[2] The Home Rule League grew out of the Home Government Association, a pressure group formed in 1870 and led by Isaac Butt, a Dublin-based barrister who had once been a leading Irish Tory before becoming a convert to Irish nationalism.

On 18–21 November 1873, the loose association re-constituted itself as a full political party, the Home Rule League, and in the 1874 general election, many of whom were from an Irish aristocratic or gentry Church of Ireland background, some newly dedicated former Irish Liberal Party members, such as Sir John Gray MP, and other more radical members who gathered around Cavan MP Joseph Biggar and Meath MP Charles Stewart Parnell.

On 28 August 1877 Parnell was elected leader of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain in place of Butt.

In January 1878, Butt retained control of the Home Rule League in Ireland, which had a more middle-class and less Fenian membership and structure.

[4] Following Butt's death in 1879, William Shaw served as chairman (leader) for one parliamentary session.