197 years ago today on 12 May 1823 the Catholic Association, a political organisation, was set up by Daniel O'Connell to campaign for Catholic emancipation within Great Britain. It was one of the first mass-membership political protest movements in Europe. O’Connell aka The Great 
Liberator, a lawyer, realised that as a Catholic, while he was forbidden to take a seat in Parliament, there was no law preventing him running for election. He was elected in 1828. Prime Minister Duke of Wellington & top aide Robert Peel, the Home Secretary, until then called
“Orange Peel" due to his unionist views, gave in to the movement to avoid the potential of civil war & passed the Catholic Relief Act 1829, 10 Geo. 4 c. 7, which repealed the Test Act 1672 & the last of the Penal Laws in force since the passing of the Disenfranchising Act of the
Irish Parliament of 1728. The Act, inter alia, allowed Catholics to sit in parliament. To overcome opposition of the House of Lords & King George IV, Wellington campaigned to get passage in the House of Lords, and threatened to resign as PM if the King did not give Royal Assent.
