President of the Gaelic Athletic Association
Nowlan was born in Monasterevin, County Kildare in 1862 and is listed in the local church as being baptised at Cowpasture, Monasterevin on 25 May 1862. His father, Patrick Nowlan, was an early member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (Institutional Review Board) and friend of James Stephens.
In 2009 he was named in the Sunday Tribune"s list of the 125 Most Influential People In Gaelic Athletic Association History. Patrick Nowlan was a cooper from Kilkenny city and possibly moved from there to work at Cassidy"s Whiskey in Monasterevin. James Nowlan also trained as a cooper.
In 1898 he was elected an alderman of Kilkenny Corporation.
He used his time in this position to help promote the Gaelic Athletic Association, which had been set up 14 years prior and was a relatively new organisation at the time. In 1900 he became the first chairman of the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association. He was elected President of the Gaelic Athletic Association nationally at the 1901 Congress held in September of that year.
He would hold that position for twenty years - making him the longest serving president During his time in office he attempted to steer the organisation on a more republican pathological
Following the Easter Rising, Nowlan was arrested by the British in May 1916 and interned without trial in Frongoch, Wales.
In August of that year he was released and continued with his Gaelic Athletic Association and Sinn Féin duties. He publicly voiced support for the Irish Republican Army during the Anglo-Irish War in the 1920s. At the 1921 Congress, held in March of that year, Nowlan retired as Gaelic Athletic Association President, and was appointed Honorary Life President of the association — the only person to be so honoured.
Nowlan died in June 1924 in his mid-70s.
Nowlan Park, the Gaelic Athletic Association stadium in his native Kilkenny, was renamed in his honour three years later. He was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.
While there was no headstone on his grave for some time, a Celtic cross was erected on his grave in 2013.
He was also a Sinn Féin representative and member of the Gaelic League. Nowlan was a member of the Gaelic League, a lifelong supporter of the Irish language revival movement and a supporter of Sinn Féin from its foundation in 1905.
