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Thomas Osborne Davis (Irish politician)

 
Thomas Osborne Davis (Irish Politician)

 
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Thomas Osborne Davis (14 October 1814 - 16 September 1845) was a revolutionary Irish
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 writer who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland
Young Ireland

Young Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement, which was to revolutionise the way that Irish nationalism was perceived as a political force in Irish society....
 movement.

as Davis was born in the town of Mallow
Mallow, County Cork

Mallow is the "Crossroads of Munster" and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Republic of Ireland. The Northern Divisional Offices of Cork County Council are located in the town....
 in the county of Cork
County Cork

County Cork is the most southerly and the largest of the modern counties of Republic of Ireland. Cork is nicknamed "The Rebel County", as a result of the support of the townsmen of Cork in 1491 for Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England during the Wars of the Roses....
. The son of a welsh
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
 father, a surgeon in the Royal Artillary, and an Irish mother. His father died one month after his birth and his mother moved to Warrington Place near Mount Street bridge in Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
.






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Thomas Osborne Davis (14 October 1814 - 16 September 1845) was a revolutionary Irish
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 writer who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland
Young Ireland

Young Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement, which was to revolutionise the way that Irish nationalism was perceived as a political force in Irish society....
 movement.

Early life

Thomas Davis was born in the town of Mallow
Mallow, County Cork

Mallow is the "Crossroads of Munster" and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Republic of Ireland. The Northern Divisional Offices of Cork County Council are located in the town....
 in the county of Cork
County Cork

County Cork is the most southerly and the largest of the modern counties of Republic of Ireland. Cork is nicknamed "The Rebel County", as a result of the support of the townsmen of Cork in 1491 for Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England during the Wars of the Roses....
. The son of a welsh
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
 father, a surgeon in the Royal Artillary, and an Irish mother. His father died one month after his birth and his mother moved to Warrington Place near Mount Street bridge in Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
. In 1830, they moved to 67 Lower Baggot Street. He attended school in Lower Mount Street before studying in Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I of England as the "mother of a university", and is the only constituent residential college of the University of Dublin....
. He graduated in Law and received an Arts degree in 1836, precursory to his being called to the Irish Bar in 1838.

Writings

He established The Nation
The Nation (Irish newspaper)

The Nation was an Irish nationalist weekly newspaper, published in the 19th century. The Nation was printed first at 12 Trinity Street, Dublin, on 15 October 1842, until 6 January 1844....
 newspaper with Charles Gavan Duffy
Charles Gavan Duffy

Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Order of St Michael and St George Ireland Irish nationalism and Australian colonial politician, was the 8th Premier of Victoria and one of the most colourful figures in Victorian political history....
 and John Blake Dillon
John Blake Dillon

John Blake Dillon was an Ireland writer and Politician who was one of the founding members of the Young Ireland movement.John Blake Dillon was born in the town of Ballaghaderreen, on the border of Co....
. He dedicated his life to Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Culture of Ireland, Gaelic language and History of Ireland, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people....
.

He wrote some stirring nationalistic ballads
Tone's Grave

Tone's Grave, often referred to as Bodenstown churchyard, was written by Thomas Osborne Davis , the Young Ireland leader, and published first in their newspaper "The Nation"....
, originally contributed to The Nation, and afterwards republished as Spirit of the Nation, as well as a memoir of Curran, the Irish lawyer and orator, prefixed to an edition of his speeches; and he had formed many literary plans which were brought to naught by his death, from tuberculosis, in 1845 at the age of 30. He is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery
Mount Jerome Cemetery

Mount Jerome Cemetery is situated in Harolds Cross on the south side of Dublin, Ireland. Since its foundation in 1836, it has witnessed over 300,000 burials....
, Dublin.

He himself was a Protestant
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
, but preached unity between Catholics
Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its Theology and doctrines, its Catholic liturgy, Ethics, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
 and Protestants. To Davis, it was not blood that made you Irish, but the willingness to be part of the Irish nation. Although the Saxon and Dane were, Davis asserted, objects of unpopularity, their descendants would be Irish if they simply allowed themselves to be.

He was to the fore of Irish nationalist thinking and it has been noted by later nationalist heroes, such as Padraig Pearse, that while Wolfe Tone laid out the basic premise that Ireland as a nation must be free, Davis was the one who built this idea up promoting the Irish identity.

He is the author of the famous Irish rebel song A Nation Once Again
A Nation Once Again

"A Nation Once Again" is a song, written in the early to mid-1840s by Thomas Osborne Davis . Davis was a founder of an Ireland movement whose aim was the independence of Ireland....
. He also wrote the Lament for Owen Roe O'Neill
Owen Roe O'Neill

Eoghan Rua ? N?ill, anglicised as Owen Roe O'Neill , was a seventeenth century soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill family of Ulster....
.

Legacy

A statue of Davis, created by Edward Delaney
Edward Delaney

Edward Delaney is an Ireland sculpture born in Claremorris in County Mayo in 1930.Edward Delaney attended the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and, supported by the Arts Council, studied casting in Germany....
, was unveiled on College Green
College Green

File:Trinity college front arch.jpgCollege Green , previously called Hoggen Green, is a three-sided "square" in the centre of Dublin. On its northern side is a building known today as the Bank of Ireland which until 1800 was Irish Houses of Parliament....
, Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
, in 1966, attended by the Irish president
President of Ireland

The President of Ireland is the head of state of Republic of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms....
, Eamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera

?amon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in 20th century Ireland. His political career spanned over half a century, from 1917 to 1973; he served multiple terms as head of government and head of state, and is credited with a leading role in the authorship of the present-day Constitution of Ireland....
.

One of the secondary schools in Davis' home town of Mallow, Davis College, is named after him. A number of GAA clubs around the country are also named after him; including the one based in Tallaght, Dublin
Thomas Davis (GAA Club)

Thomas Davis is a Gaelic Athletic Association club with extensive grounds and a clubhouse located on the Kiltipper Road in Tallaght, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland....
 and the one based in Corrinshego.

Books By Young Irelanders (Irish Confederation)



Additional Reading

  • , Allen & Unwin, 1973.
  • John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.
  • Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922.
  • Brigadier-General Thomas Francis Meagher His Political and Military Career,Capt. W. F. Lyons, Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited 1869
  • Young Ireland and 1848, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1949.
  • Daniel O'Connell The Irish Liberator, Dennis Gwynn, Hutchinson & Co, Ltd.
  • O'Connell Davis and the Collages Bill, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1948.
  • Smith O’Brien And The “Secession”, Dennis Gwynn,Cork University Press
  • Meagher of The Sword, Edited By Arthur Griffith, M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd. 1916.
  • Young Irelander Abroad The Diary of Charles Hart, Edited by Brendan O'Cathaoir, University Press.
  • John Mitchel First Felon for Ireland, Edited By Brian O'Higgins, Brian O'Higgins 1947.
  • Rossa's Recollections 1838 to 1898, Intro by Sean O'Luing, The Lyons Press 2004.
  • Labour in Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street 1910.
  • The Re-Conquest of Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street 1915.
  • John Mitchel Noted Irish Lives, Louis J. Walsh, The Talbot Press Ltd 1934.
  • Thomas Davis: Essays and Poems, Centenary Memoir, M. H Gill, M.H. Gill & Son, Ltd MCMXLV.
  • Life of John Martin, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy & Co., Ltd 1901.
  • Life of John Mitchel, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy and Co., Ltd 1908.
  • John Mitchel, P. S. O'Hegarty, Maunsel & Company, Ltd 1917.
  • The Fenians in Context Irish Politics & Society 1848-82, R. V. Comerford, Wolfhound Press 1998
  • William Smith O'Brien and the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, Robert Sloan, Four Courts Press 2000
  • Irish Mitchel, Seamus MacCall, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1938.
  • Ireland Her Own, T. A. Jackson, Lawrence & Wishart Ltd 1976.
  • Life and Times of Daniel O'Connell, T. C. Luby, Cameron & Ferguson.
  • Young Ireland, T. F. O'Sullivan, The Kerryman Ltd. 1945.
  • Irish Rebel John Devoy and America's Fight for Irish Freedom, Terry Golway, St. Martin's Griffin 1998.
  • Paddy's Lament Ireland 1846-1847 Prelude to Hatred, Thomas Gallagher, Poolbeg 1994.
  • The Great Shame, Thomas Keneally, Anchor Books 1999.
  • James Fintan Lalor, Thomas, P. O'Neill, Golden Publications 2003.
  • Charles Gavan Duffy: Conversations With Carlyle (1892), with Introduction, Stray Thoughts On Young Ireland, by Brendan Clifford, Athol Books, Belfast, (ISBN 0 85034 1140). (Pg. 32 Titled, Foster’s account Of Young Ireland.)
  • Envoi, Taking Leave Of Roy Foster, by Brendan Clifford and Julianne Herlihy, Aubane Historical Society, Cork.
  • The Falcon Family, or, Young Ireland, by M. W. Savage, London, 1845. ()Quinnipiac University


External links