Richard Rutledge Kane (1841–1898) was a Church of Ireland minister, an outspoken Irish unionist and Orangeman, and an early patron of the Gaelic League.
He was ordained as a priest in 1869, and held various clerical positions before graduating from Trinity College Dublin BA and LLB in 1877, MAin 1880, and LLDin 1882.
[3] Kane toured Ireland and England and, hosted by an extensive Orange-Order network in Canada and the U.S.,[4] seeking support and understanding for unionist resistance to Irish home rule.
[1] At the same, in 1895 Kane was a patron of the first branch in Belfast of the Gaelic League, which in the decade to follow was to become indissolubly linked with Irish nationalism.
[12] Kane ensured that the Ulster Unionist Convention was draped with the banner Erin go bragh--"Ireland forever"—but "there is no evidence he spoke the language.
A memorial at the Clifton Street Orange Hall over whose opening he had presided in 1885, commends Kane as a "Faithful Pastor, Gifted Orator, and Loyal Irish Patriot".