William Thomas " W. T ." Cosgrave (; 6 June 1880 – 16 November 1965 ), was an Irish politician who succeeded Michael Collins as Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government from August to December 1922.

William Thomas Cosgrave, W. T., or Liam as he was generally known, was born at 174 James's Street, Dublin in 1880.

Following the rebellion Cosgrave was sentenced to death, however this was later commuted to penal servitude for life and he was interned in Frongoch, Wales.

Though one of the most politically experienced of Sinn Féin's TDs, Cosgrave was not among the major leadership of the party.

W. T. Cosgrave was a small, quiet man, and at 42 was the oldest member of the Cabinet.

Kevin O ' Higgins, the Minister for Justice, who was also acting President for Cosgrave while the latter was in hospital, moved to resolve the so-called " Army Mutiny ".

Cosgrave immediately went to London for a meeting with the British Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, where they agreed to let the border remain as it was, and in return the Free State did not have to pay its pro-rata share of the Imperial debt.

In the Dáil debate on 7 December Cosgrave stated: " I had only one figure in my mind and that was a huge nought.

A general election was not required by law until the end of 1932, however, Cosgrave called one for February of that year.

Perhaps the best endorsement made of Cosgrave came from his old rival, with whom he was reconciled before his death, Éamon de Valera.

Richard Mulcahy said, " It is in terms of the Nation and its needs and its potential that I praise God who gave us in our dangerous days the gentle but steel-like spirit of rectitude, courage and humble self-sacrifice, that was Liam T. Cosgrave ".

Three years later he was called to the inner bar and the following year, 1926, he became Attorney-General to the Cumann na nGaedheal government, led by W. T. Cosgrave.

However in 1976 the then Irish government, the Fine Gael – Labour Party National Coalition under Liam Cosgrave informed him that he was not being re-appointed to the Commission.

Opposition leader Liam Cosgrave was informed by the Garda that a plot to import arms existed and included government members.

Liam Cosgrave was elected Taoiseach and Lynch found himself on the opposition benches for the first time in sixteen years.

Cosgrave had fought in the 1916 Rising and had been prominent in the Government of the Irish Republic ; the burden of responsibility for building the new state on solid foundations was now on Cosgrave and his colleagues.

Cosgrave became Chairman of the Provisional Government on 25 August and, when he was also elected as President of Dáil Éireann in September, the two administrations were merged.

Cosgrave was appointed as the first President of the Executive Council on the same day.

Previously, without de Valera, Cosgrave faced very little opposition, giving him considerable freedom of action.

He had “ a very testy relationship with three Taoisigh – Jack Lynch, Liam Cosgrave and Garret FitzGerald ” Mr Donlon recalled.

Cosgrave later observed that " he was almost mortally wounded when Griffith died, he was so very, very much attached to him.

Ireland at the time had a very volatile economic situation and the show spared no political expense in portraying the then Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, as the " Minister for Hardship ," while the Minister for Finance, Richie Ryan, was portrayed as " Richie Ruin ".

Cosgrave asserted all of Lough Foyle was Free State territory and that as such a Bill of that nature would be rejected by the Free State and its introduction would create “ a very serious situation ”.

Cosgrave asserted all of Lough Foyle was Free State territory and that as such a Bill of that nature would be rejected by the Free State and its introduction would create “ a very serious situation ”.

Cosgrave had legislation passed to force Fianna Fáil to take their seats in the Dáil and this proved successful with de Valera and his party entering the Dáil.

Cosgrave played an active role in the Easter Rising of 1916 serving under Eamonn Ceannt at the South Dublin Union.

Following the general election Cosgrave assumed the nominal role of Leader of the Opposition.

In addition, Cosgrave frequently interfered in Ó Dálaigh's constitutional role as the state's representative to foreign governments ; he was not permitted to receive the Legion of Honour from France, although former president Sean T. O ' Kelly had previously received it, and Cosgrave attended the United States ' bicentennial celebrations in 1976 in Ó Dálaigh's place.

On the economic front, the Cosgrave administration saw its role as supporting the Irish agricultural export sector by consolidating farms and improving the quality of their produce.

Many Irish Republicans had never forgiven him for his role in the Civil War executions carried out under the Cosgrave government.

The negative impact of the scandal on Fianna Fáil, in addition to the perceived role of Fine Gael's Cosgrave in defending the institutions of the state, contributed to the change of government in the subsequent 1973 election.

Cosgrave ( standing, far-right ) representing the Irish Free State at the 1926 Imperial Conference in London, along with King George V of the United Kingdom | George V and the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada, Dominion of Newfoundland | Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand and Union of South Africa | South Africa.

From an early age Liam Cosgrave displayed a keen interest in politics, discussing the topic with his father as a teenager before eventually joining Fine Gael at the age of 17, speaking at his first public meeting the same year.

To the surprise of his family, Liam decided to seek election to Dáil Éireann in the 1943 general election and was elected as a Teachta Dála ( TD ) for Dublin County at the age of 23, sitting in the 11th Dáil alongside his father W. T. Cosgrave who was one of the founders of the Irish Free State in the 1920s.

Cosgrave wrote to the Party Leader, Richard Mulcahy, in May, 1947, on the poor attendance in the Dail, and informed his leader that " I cannot any longer conscientiously ask the public to support the party as a party, and in the circumstances I do not propose to speak at meetings outside my constituency.

On this occasion Liam Cosgrave, at the age of 34, was given a cabinet position.

The second Inter Party government collapsed amid severely deflationary policies set by the patrician Minister for Finance, Gerard Sweetman, and Cosgrave held Sweetman personally responsible for Fine Gael's defeat in 1957, and told him so, reportedly stating that Fine Gael " was no longer led by people living in big houses at the end of long avenues.

This put him at odds with Cosgrave, whose government had strengthened the act.

Cosgrave retired at the 1981 general election.

Given that Cosgrave had never kept minutes before, it is understandable that Cosgrave's minutes, at least early on in the government, proved less than a thorough record of government decisions.

While studying English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in the 1980s, he wrote and performed comedy in a revue group called " The Seven Raymonds " with Richard Herring, Emma Kennedy, Michael Cosgrave, Richard Canning and Tim Richardson, but did not perform in the well-known Oxford Revue, though he did write for and direct the 1989 Revue.

O ' Higgins had formed a negative view of Cosgrave having worked under him at Local Government and was not happy when the latter was appointed President of the Executive Council.

Sinn Féin demonstrated its new electoral capability in three by-election successes in 1917 in which Count Plunkett, W. T. Cosgrave and De Valera were each elected, although it did not win all by-elections in that year and in at least one case there were allegations of electoral fraud.

He was made commandant of the 4th Battalion of the Volunteers, and during the Rising was stationed at the South Dublin Union and the Marrowbone Lane Distillery, with more than 100 men under his command, notably his second-in-command Cathal Brugha, and W. T. Cosgrave.

* March 18-Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave and Mrs Cosgrave are greeted by President Gerald Ford and Mrs Betty Ford at the White House.

* March 14-The new Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, receives his seal of office from President Éamon de Valera at Áras an Uachtaráin.

He served in the Government of Liam Cosgrave ( 1973 – 77 ) as Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach and while keeping that post also served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence until May 1977, at which point he became Attorney General, succeeding Declan Costello upon the latter's appointment to the High Court.

Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave DSO & Bar ( August 28, 1890-July 28, 1971 ) was the Canadian signatory to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender at the end of World War II.

On July 28, 1971, Cosgrave died at his home in Knowlton ( Eastern Townships ), province of Quebec.