He was one of the founders of the Young Ireland Branch of the
United Irish League, which included
Thomas Kettle,
Rory O'Connor and
James Creed Meredith. In 1901, he was elected a member of
Blackrock Urban District Council and Rathdown Board of Guardians. At the
1906 general election, the 25-year-old Hazelton contested the
South Dublin constituency, where he lost by a wide margin to the Unionist
Walter Long, a former
Chief Secretary for Ireland. However,
Thomas Higgins, the nationalist candidate in
North Galway, had died the night before counting of the votes commenced and was elected posthumously, thereby creating an immediate vacancy. Hazelton was the only candidate nominated for the
resulting by-election, and was therefore elected unopposed when nominations closed on 28 February. At the
next general election, in January 1910, Hazelton was returned unopposed in North Galway, but also stood in
North Louth, where he narrowly failed to unseat the sitting MP
Tim Healy, of the
All-for-Ireland League. However, at the
December 1910 election, he was again returned unopposed in North Galway, but also stood again in North Louth. This time he defeated Tim Healy in a bitter contest, by 2,509 votes to 2,021, but the North Louth result was subsequently overturned on petition, the reason cited being corrupt and defamatory conduct. On 24 May 1914, he
resigned his seat in Parliament, citing health and financial reasons. On 21 July 1914, he was re-elected to the same constituency in a by-election, in which he was the only candidate – a comeback to Parliament for the same constituency after 28 days. He was honorary secretary to the
Irish Parliamentary Party from 1907 to 1918. He lost his seat in the 1918 general election, when he came to within a few hundred votes of retaining the Louth seat for the Irish Party. He was briefly engaged to the singer
Margaret Burke Sheridan. He died, after an operation, in London. He was buried in
St Mary's Catholic Cemetery,
Kensal Green. == References ==