Michael Davitt (Irish name: Mícheál Mac Dáibhéid) (March 25, 1846 – May 30, 1906) was an Irish republican and nationalist agarian agitator, a social campaigner , labour leader, journalist, Home Rule constitutional politician and MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, who founded the Irish National Land League. A formal Irish-language name consists of a Given name and a Surname, as in English Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6. For the game see 1846 (board game. Year 1846 ( MDCCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display Events 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund a supporter of Antipope John XXIII burns Jerome of Prague following Year 1906 ( MCMVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Irish republicanism (Poblachtánachas is an ideology based on the Irish nationalist belief that all of Ireland should be a single independent Republic Irish nationalism (Náisiúnachas Éireannach refers to political and sociological movements and sentiment that embodies a love for Irish ancestry, culture and language and Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of Individuals and/or Organizations focused on specific A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming The Irish Home Rule bills were bills introduced in the British House of Commons during the late 19th and early 20th centuries intended to grant self-government and A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 The Irish Land League was an Irish political organization of the late 19th century which sought to help poor Tenant farmers Its primary aim was to abolish
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Early years
Michael Davitt was born in Straide, County Mayo, Ireland, at the height of the Great Famine, the second of five children born to Martin and Catherine Davitt. Straide (An tSráid is a Village in County Mayo, Ireland. See also List of towns in the Republic of Ireland Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world They were of peasant origin, but Davitt’s father had a good education and could speak English and Irish. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. When Michael was four and a half years old his family was evicted in 1850 from their home in Straide due to arrears in rent. They entered a local workhouse but when Catherine discovered that male children over 3 years had to be separated from their mothers, she promptly decided her family should travel to England to find a better life, like many Irish people at this time. A workhouse, colloquially known as a spike was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland They travelled to Dublin with another local family and in November reached Liverpool, making the 77 kilometre journey to Haslingden, in East Lancashire, by foot. Liverpool ( is a City and Metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary Haslingden is a small town in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, lying 19 miles (30 km north of Manchester. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea There they settled. Davitt was brought up in the closed world of a poor Irish immigrant community with strong nationalist feelings and in his case a deep hatred of landlordism.
Child labour
After attending infant school the young Davitt began working at the age of nine as a child labourer in a cotton mill but a month later he left and spent a short period working for Lawrence Whitaker, one of the leading cotton manufacturers in the district, before taking a job in Stellfoxe's Victoria Mill, near Baxenden. A cotton mill is a Factory housing spinning and Weaving Machinery Cotton was a leading sector in the Industrial Revolution, as cotton Baxenden is a village and ward located in the Borough of Hyndburn in Lancashire, North-West England. Here he was put to operate a spinning machine. Spinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic Fibers are twisted together to form Yarn (or thread On 8 May 1857 his right arm was entangled in a cogwheel and mangled so badly it had to be amputated. This is the page for mechanical Gears For other uses see Gear (disambiguation For the gear-like device used to drive a roller chain see Sprocket Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or Surgery. He did not receive any compensation.
When he recovered from his operation, a local benefactor, John Dean helped to send him to a Wesleyan school, which was connected to the Methodist Church and where he received a good education. John Wesley (ˈwɛslɪ ( – March 2, 1791) was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian who was the founder of the (Evangelical Methodism is a movement within Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations Although he was an Irish Catholic emigrant, he did not suffer any form of sectarian abuse. Sectarianism is Bigotry, Discrimination, Prejudice or Hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions In 1861 at the age of 15 he went to work in a local post office, owned by Henry Cockcroft, who also ran a printing business. In spite of his injury he learned to be a typesetter. He was later promoted to letter carrier and book-keeper and worked for them for five years.
Around then Davitt started night classes at the local Mechanics Institute and used its library. He became interested in Irish history and the contemporary Irish social situation after coming under the influence of Ernest Charles Jones, the veteran Chartist leader and his radical views on land nationalisation and Irish independence[1]. The history of Ireland begins with the first known settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC when Hunter-gatherers arrived from Great Britain and continental Ernest Charles Jones ( January 25, 1819 – January 26, 1869) Poet, Novelist, and Chartist.
Fenians
In 1865, this interest led Davitt to join the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) which had strong support among working-class Irish immigrants . The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic Republic" in the mid nineteenth He soon became part of the inner circle of the local group. Two years later he left the printing firm to devote himself full time to the IRB, as organising secretary for Northern England and Scotland, organising arms smuggling to Ireland using his new job as "hawker" (travelling salesman) as cover for this activity. Northern England, The North, The North of England or (less commonly The North Country refers to the parts of England north of an ill-defined line Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain.
Davitt was involved in a failed raid on Chester Castle to obtain arms on 11 February 1867 in advance of a Fenian rising in Ireland, but evaded the law. Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls. In the Haslingden area he helped to organise the defence of Catholic churches against Protestant attack in 1868. Having come to the attention of the police he was arrested in Paddington Station in London on 14 May 1870 while awaiting a delivery of arms. London Paddington station, also known as London Paddington, or just simply Paddington, is a major National Rail and London Underground station London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. He was convicted of treason felony and sentenced to 15 years of penal servitude in Dartmoor Prison feeling he had not had a fair trial or the best of defence. The Treason Felony Act 1848 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (11 & 12 Vict Penal labour or penal servitude is a form of Unfree labour. The term may refer to two different notions labour as a form of punishment and labour as a form of occupation HM Prison Dartmoor is located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English County of Devon. The trial is documented online. [1]
He was kept in solitary confinement and received very harsh treatment during the un-remitted portion of his term. Solitary confinement, colloquially referred to in American English as "the hole" or "the pound" (or in British English "the block" is a Punishment In prison he concluded that ownership of the land by the people was the only solution to Ireland’s problems. He managed to get a covert contact to an Irish MP. member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, John O'Connor Power , who began to campaign against cruelty inflicted on political prisoners. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP (commonly called the Irish Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing John O'Connor Power (1846 &ndash 21 February 1919) was an Irish Fenian and a Home Rule League and Irish Parliamentary Party He often read Davitt's letters in the House of Commons, the Party pressing for an amnesty for Irish nationalist prisoners. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords Partially due to public furore over his treatment, Davitt was released when he had served seven and half years, along with other political prisoners on 19 December 1877, on a "ticket of leave". Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor. Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common A ticket of leave was a document of Parole issued to convicts since 1853 transported from the United Kingdom who had served a period of Probation He and the other political prisoners were given a hero’s welcome on landing in Ireland.
Davitt rejoined the IRB and became a member of its Supreme Council. The British Government had introduced a concept of "fair rents" in the year of his arrest, but he continued to hold that the common people of Ireland could not improve their lot without the ownership of their land, and frequently insisted at Fenian meetings that "the land question can be definitely settled only by making the cultivators of the soil proprietors".
In 1873 while Davitt was imprisoned his mother and three sisters had settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə In 1878 Davitt travelled to United States in a lecture tour organised by John Devoy and the Fenians, hoping to gain the support of Irish-American communities for his new policy of "The Land for the People". The United States of America —commonly referred to as the John Devoy (1842-1928 was an Irish Rebel leader and exile Early life Devoy was born near Kill County Kildare. Fianna Éireann The Fenians, both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood, were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Americans (Gael-Mheiriceánach are citizens of the United States who can claim ancestry originating in Ireland. He returned in 1879 to his native Mayo where he at once involved himself in land agitation
The Land War
Davitt found that the West of Ireland was once again suffering near famine conditions. A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation It was one of the wettest years on record and the potato crop had failed for the third successive year. The potato is a Starchy Tuberous crop Vegetable from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae Davitt organized a large meeting of between 4,000 to 13,000 people in Irishtown, County Mayo on 20 April, although he did not attend the meeting, presumably because he was on ticket-of-leave and did not want to risk being sent back to prison in England. James Daly (born in County Mayo, Ireland in 1838 died in County Mayo in 1910 was an Irish nationalist activist best known for his work in support of tenant Events 1303 - The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. He made plans for a huge campaign of agitation to reduce rents. The local target was a Roman Catholic priest, Canon Ulick Burke, who had threatened to evict his tenants. Ulick Burke, Bourk or Burgh is the name of Ulick Burke of Umhaill (d Campaign of non-payment pressured him to cancel the evictions and reduce his rents by 25%.
On 16 August 1879, the Land League of Mayo was formally founded in Castlebar, with the active support of Charles Stewart Parnell. Events 1384 - The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Castlebar ( is the County town of and at the centre of County Mayo, Ireland. Charles Stewart Parnell ( 27 June 1846 &ndash 6 October 1891) was an Irish Protestant landowner nationalist Meetings were every Sunday. On October 21 it was superseded by the Irish National Land League. Events 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg. The Irish Land League was an Irish political organization of the late 19th century which sought to help poor Tenant farmers Its primary aim was to abolish Parnell was made its President and Davitt was one of the secretaries. This united practically all the different strands of land agitation and land movements since the Tenant Right League of the 1850ties under a single organization and, from then until 1882, the "Land War" in pursuance of the "Three Fs" (Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free Sale) was fought in earnest. The Tenant Right League, established in 1850 was an organisation which aimed to secure reforms in the Irish land system The Land War in Irish History was a period of Agrarian agitation in rural Ireland in the 1870s 1880s and 1890s The League organized resistance to evictions, reductions in rents and aided the work of relief agencies. Landlords' attempts to evict tenants lead to violence, but the Land League denounced it.
One of the actions the Land League took during this period was the campaign of ostracism against the land agent Captain Charles Boycott in the autumn of 1880. Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott ( March 12 1832 &mdash June 19 1897) was a British land agent whose ostracism by his local This incident led to Boycott abandoning Ireland in December and coined the word boycott. A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been A boycott is a form of Consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using buying or dealing with someone or some other organization as an expression of In 1881 Davitt was again imprisoned for his outspoken speeches when he had accused chief secretary of Ireland W. E. Forster of "infamous lying". William Edward Forster, FRS ( July 11, 1818 &ndash April 6, 1886) was a British Industrialist, Philanthropist His ticket of leave was revoked and he was sent to Portland jail. Parnell protested loudly in the House of Commons and the Irish members protested so strongly that they were ejected from the House. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords The government passed the Irish Coercion Bill. Between 1801 and 1922 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed over 100 acts of emergency law in an attempt to establish law and order in Ireland.
Travels and marriage
In an 1882 by-election Davitt was elected Member of Parliament for County Meath but was disqualified because he was in prison, where he had developed the theory that land nationalisation and not peasant proprietorship, was the key to Ireland’s prosperity. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Meath was a former United Kingdom constituencies UK Parliament constituency in Ireland returning two Members of Parliament (MPs Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government Upon his release in 1882 he travelled to the United States with William Redmond to collect funds for the Land League, then campaigned for land nationalisation and an alliance between the British working class, Irish labourers and tenant farmers. William Hoey Kearney Redmond ( 15 April, 1861 &ndash 9 June, 1917) (commonly known as Willie Redmond) was an Irish This alienated Parnell and even many of the tenants, but after a meeting with Parnell at his house, Avondale, in September 1882 he agreed to co-operate with Parnell and set aside his plans for land nationalisation.
Davitt’s support of the Irish National League, now under Parnell’s and the Party’s control, earned him a final spell in prison in 1883, and by 1885 his health had broken. Although only in his forties he had become a post-revolutionary figure and began lecturing on humanitarian issues in extended tours which included Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, South Africa, The Holy Land, South America, Russia and most of continental Europe including almost every part of Ireland and Britain. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name It is located south of the eastern side of the Continent, being separated from it by Bass The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The Holy Land ( Arabic: الأرض المقدسة al-Arḍ ul-Muqaddasah;Ancient Aramaic: ארעא קדישא Ar'a Qaddisha; Hebrew: ארץ_הקודש South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending In 1886 Davitt married Mary (b. 1861), daughter of John Yore of St. Joseph, Michigan, United States. Michigan ( is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. In 1887 he then visited Wales to support land agitation[1]. The couple returned to Ireland and lived for a while in the Land League Cottage in Ballybrack, County Dublin that was given to them as a wedding gift by the people of Ireland. Ballybrack ( is a suburb southeast of Dublin, located in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County. County Dublin (Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath or more correctly today the Dublin Region ( Réigiúin Átha Cliath) is the area that contains the city of Dublin They had five children, three boys and two girls, though one, Kathleen, died of tuberculosis aged 7, in 1895.
Despite his differences with Parnell on the land question, he was a strong supporter of the alliance between the Liberal Party and the Irish Parliamentary Party and maintained this position in 1890 when the party split over Parnell's divorce case. The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s and a third party Davitt, however, sided with the anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation faction in the House of Commons at Westminster, when he became very invective towards Parnell and was one of his most vociferous critics. The Irish National Federation (INF was a nationalist Political party in Ireland. He also became increasingly impatient with what he saw as the inability or unwillingness of Parliament to right injustice.
Labour Federation
To further those ends he founded and edited a journal, Labour World in September 1890, then initiated the Irish Democratic Labour Federation in January 1891 in Cork, an organisation which adopted an advanced social programme including proposals for free education, land settlement, worker housing, reduced working hours, labour political representation and universal suffrage, not least his conviction to which he adhered to all his life, that peasant land proprietorship must go hand in hand with land nationalisation. Universal suffrage (also universal adult suffrage, general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to
Davitt was subsequently elected for North Meath in the 1892 general election, for North East Cork in 1893 and for South Mayo in the 1895 general election. North Meath was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland returning one Member of Parliament (MP 1885-1922 Results |} The totals above exclude two Irish candidates whose party affiliation was unclear to F North East Cork was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland returning one Member of Parliament 1885-1922 South Mayo was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland returning one Member of Parliament 1885-1922 The UK general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895 He welcomed Gladstone's Second Home Rule Bill as a "pact of peace" between England and Ireland [1]. The Irish Government Bill 1893 (known generally as the Second Home Rule Bill) was the second attempt made by William E He supported Keir Hardie the British Labour leader and favoured the foundation of a Labour Party, but his commitment to the |Liberal Party for the sake of Home Rule prevented him joining the new party – resulting in a breach with Hardie lasting until 1905[2]. James Keir Hardie (15 August 1856 - 26 September 1915 was a Scottish Socialist and labour leader and was the first independent labour Member of Parliament The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s and a third party
Davitt left the Commons in 1896 with a prediction that no just cause could succeed there unless backed by massed agitation. Parliament alleviated this need by granting full democratic control of all local affairs, a form of "grass roots home rule", to County and District Councils under the 1898 Local Government (Ireland) Act. The Local Government (Ireland Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict c 37 is a piece of legislation passed as an Act of Parliament by the Parliament of the United Kingdom Davitt then co-founded in 1898 together with William O’Brien the United Irish League and organised it in Mayo and beyond. William O'Brien (Irish Parliamentary Party should not be confused with his contemporary William X The United Irish League (UIL was a nationalist Political party in Ireland. In 1899 he left his seat in parliament for good in protest against the Boer War, visiting South Africa to lend support to the Boer cause. See also First Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The Second Boer War ( Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa His experiences inspired his Boer fight for Freedom, published in 1904.
Davitt’s ambition that the ownership of the land would be transferred from the landlords to the tenants finally materialised under O’Brien’s Wyndham Land Act (1903), but not as he had campaigned for. He condemned the act that offered generous inducement to the landlords to sell their estates to the tenants, the Irish Land Commission mediating to then collect land annuities instead of rents, on the grounds that landlords should receive any compensation for land which Davitt felt belonged to the state. The Irish Land Commission (or simply Land Commission) was created in 1881 as a rent fixing commission by the Land Law (Ireland Act 1881 also known as the second Irish He never gave up his adherence to land nationalisation. Later in 1906 after the Liberal Party came to power, his open support for the their policy of state control of schooling rather than denominational education, merged into a major conflict between Davitt and the Irish Catholic Church [3].
Davitt died in Elphis Hospital, Dublin on 30 May 1906, aged 60, from blood poisoning. Events 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund a supporter of Antipope John XXIII burns Jerome of Prague following Year 1906 ( MCMVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The fact that Lord Lieutenant of Ireland attended the funeral was a public indication of the dramatic political journey this former Fenian prisoner had taken. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Ard-Leifteanant na hÉireann ( Plural: Lords Lieutenant) also known as the Judiciar in the early Mediaeval period The plan had been not to have a public funeral, and hence Davitt's body was brought quietly to the Carmelite Friary, Clarendon Street, Dublin. However, the next day over 20,000 people filed past his coffin. His remains were then taken by train to Foxford, County Mayo, and buried in the grounds of Straide Abbey at Straide (near Foxford), nearby where he was born. Foxford ( is a small town some 16 km south of Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland.
Achievements
Michael Davitt's unceasing efforts were instrumental to future Irish Land Acts after the Gladstone First Land Act of 1870. British Prime Minister William Gladstone had taken up the " Irish Question " in part to win the general election of 1868 by uniting the Liberal Party British Prime Minister William Gladstone had taken up the " Irish Question " in part to win the general election of 1868 by uniting the Liberal Party The most important of these was the Land Act of 1881, which finally granted "the three Fs" under Davitt's "Irish Democratic Land Federation". British Prime Minister William Gladstone had taken up the " Irish Question " in part to win the general election of 1868 by uniting the Liberal Party The next stage was the 'Ashbourn Act (1885)'. The Purchase of Land (Ireland Act 1885 also known as the Ashbourne Act is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (48 & 49 Vict The Ashbourne Act was the most effective land act as it offered tenants the choice to purchase their land from the government with a fixed rate, easy to pay back loan. Vast tracks of land were bought up by the government to be sold to tenants. This Act was passed by the Conservatives as an attempt to appease the Home Rule Party, although it failed to do so.
Davitt is commonly regarded as one of the founders of the British Labour Party, his support for socialism in his latter years was based on the premise that Ireland could only achieve independence with the support of the British working class. This, along with his call for land nationalisation, often made him much misunderstood in Ireland[2]. But he remained an inspiration for many others such as for D.D. Sheehan's Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA) and years later Mahatma Gandhi attributed the origin of his own mass movement of peaceful resistance in India to Davitt and the Land League. Daniel Desmond Sheehan, usually known as D D Sheehan ( 28 May 1873 &ndash 28 November 1948) was an Irish nationalist The Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA was a progressive movement founded in the early 1890s in Munster, Ireland, to organise and pursue political agitation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country
Davitt was a frequent visitor to Scotland where he was closely associated with the crofters' struggles in the Highlands and Islands. He also urged the Irish immigrant population to integrate into the politics of their adopted country and in particular the infant Labour Movement rather than to pursue a particularly Irish agenda. In Glasgow, where he had a strong following, Davitt's prestige was attested to by the fact that he was invited to lay the centre-turf at Celtic Park at the time of the football club's inauguration in 1888. Glasgow (ˈglæzgoʊ is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom The turf was stolen overnight giving rise to a poem which began: "The curse of Cromwell blast the hand that stole the sod that Michael cut; May all his praties turn to sand - the crawling, thieving scut"!
Davitt was a brave and proud man, an ascetic who accepted no tribute for his work, on occasions impatient with those who disagreed with him, sometimes expecting too much from the farmers, when in 1885 he described them responding in 'self-interest' rather than 'self-sacrifice’[1]. He supported himself with writing and lectures and as a journalist defended the underprivileged, in 1903 publishing the book Within the pale: The True Story of Anti-Semitic Persecutions in Russia. This was based on reports made by him to an American newspaper in 1903 on anti-Semitic outrages in Russia and travelled to Russia to investigate the incident. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility A pogrom was initiated in the town of Kishinev in the Russian province of Bessarabia, resulting in 51 people being killed and over 500 injured. A pogrom is a form of Riot directed against a particular group whether ethnic religious or other and characterized by destruction of their Homes Businesses Chişinău (kiʃi'nəw (also known as Kishinev, Кишинёв Kishinyov) is the capital and largest city of Moldova. Bessarabia ( Basarabia in Romanian, Бесарабія in Ukrainian, Бессарабия in Russian, Бесарабия in Bulgarian
Legacy
Extracts from an article to mark the centenary celebration of the 100th anniversary of Michael Davitt’s death[4]:
| “ | He was was only 24 years when he was imprisoned as a convicted felon for terrorist activities. Yet, Davitt learned from such adversity while in prison. He came to the conclusion, as he records in his Leaves from a Prison Diary, that violence was self defeating, and that membership of an underground, armed conspiracy merely invited the counter-productive attention of State agents infiltrating the movement and recruiting informers.
These insights became the bedrock of Davitt’s conviction to become an apostle of non-violence, though he could use incendiary language on occasion and in further brushes with the law. Lastingly, however, he emerged as a symbol of human solidarity. Pertinently, the historian Carla King, in her forward to Davitt’s Collected Writings 1868-1906, Edition Synapse, remarked that during seven years of a brutal prison regime, Davitt turned, with a greatness of soul and a power to forgive reminiscent of Nelson Mandela a century later, from physical force terrorist to a constitutional politician. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (xolíɬaɬa mandéːla born 18 July 1918 is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative Davitt inspired Mahatma Gandhi in his campaign against the British Empire. |
” |
| “ | Indeed, Davitt, the one-armed Irishman who spoke with a pronounced Lancashire accent, is best remembered in history books as a leading figure in the 19th century Home Rule movement, and especially for his role as a revolutionary founder of the Land League. Successive Land Acts passed by the House of Commons gave Irish tenants not just Davitt’s three Fs - fair rent, fixity of tenure and free sale – but allowed them to buy their land from oppressive, but mainly absentee landlords . Absentee landlord is an economic term for a person who owns and rents out a Profit -earning Property, but does not live within the property's local economic That class was worn down by ‘Captain Boycott’. | ” |
| “ | While Parnell was venerated posthumously as a martyr, Davitt was excorciated as a Judas. Remarkably, by 1916, just 10 years after his death, Davitt had been deliberately air-brushed out of the script for Irish freedom. ‘Republican’ Ireland declined to acknowledge him as among ‘the Greats’. Pearse did not assign Davitt a place in the Republican pantheon of Theobald Wolfe Tone, John Mitchel, Fintan Lalor – or even Parnell. Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig Pearse; Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais An Piarsach; 10 November 1879 &ndash 3 May 1916 was a teacher barrister Theobald Wolfe Tone, commonly known as Wolfe Tone ( 20 June, 1763 – 19 November, 1798) was a leading figure in the United John Mitchel ( Irish: Seán Mistéil; b November 3, 1815 &ndash d James Fintan Lalor (in Irish, Séamuir Fionntám Ui Leathlbhain) ( March 10 1807 – December 27 1849) was an Irish revolutionary
Insufficient attention has been paid to Davitt’s role as an ex-Fenian who took the road of peaceful, democratic politics by renouncing his Fenian oath and taking a seat in the House of Commons at Westminster. He (would have) totally excluded violence as a means of advancing Irish unification. |
” |
Memory
At Straide, Davitt's birthplace is now a museum that commemorates his life and works. A life-sized bronze statue stands before it. The bridge from Achill Island to the mainland is named after him. Achill Island (ˈækəl Acaill Oileán Acla in County Mayo is the largest island of Ireland, and is situated off the west coast Over Davitt’s grave a Celtic Cross in his memory bears the awesome words ‘’Blessed is he that hungers and thirsts after justice, for he shall receive it’’. A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a Cross with a ring surrounding the intersection
The town of Haslingden has also commemorated Davitt's link with it through a public monument erected in the presence of Davitt's son. Haslingden is a small town in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, lying 19 miles (30 km north of Manchester. The inscription reads as follows:
"This memorial has been erected to perpetuate the memory of Michael Davitt with the town of Haslingden. It marks the site of the home of Michael Davitt, Irish patriot, who resided in Haslingden from 1853 to 1867. / He became a great world figure in the cause of freedom and raised his voice and pen on behalf of the oppressed, irrespective of race or creed, that serfdom be transformed to citizenship and that man be given the opportunity to display his God given talents for the betterment of mankind. / Born 1846, died 1906. / Erected by the Irish Democratic League Club, Haslingden (Davitt Branch). "
Haslingden also organised a 'Exile & Exiles' Festival in 2006 which did much to celebrate the life of Michael Davitt, as well as place it in the context of other immigrants to the community. This included 'The Jail Bird', a performance about Davitt, created by Horse and Bamboo Theatre with local school students. Horse and Bamboo Theatre or Horse + Bamboo Theatre is a British theatre company founded in 1978 by the Artistic Director Bob Frith.
Of the people cited as inspirations by northwest Mayo's Shell to Sea campaign, such as Ken Saro-Wiwa, Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi, Davitt is the sole Irish person. Shell to Sea (in Irish, Shell chun Sáile) is a campaign based in County Mayo, Ireland which opposed the proposed construction of a high-pressure Kenule "Ken" Beeson Saro-Wiwa ( October 10, 1941 &ndash November 10, 1995) was a Nigerian author television producer and Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January On their release from prison, the Rossport Five laid a wreath at his grave in Straide. The Rossport Five (Cúigear Ros Dumhach are James Brendan Philbin brothers Philip and Vincent McGrath Willie Corduff and Micheál Ó Seighin
Popular culture
- Irish folk musician Andy Irvine's 1996 Patrick Street song, "Forgotten Hero", is a tribute to Davitt. Andrew Kennedy 'Andy' Irvine (born 14 June, 1942) is a Folk musician singer and songwriter and a founding member of the popular band Planxty Patrick Street is an Irish folk group The band was formed in Dublin in 1986 with Kevin Burke (formerly of The Bothy Band) on In addition, Irish-born musician Donal Maguire has recorded an album of songs based on Davitt's life, entitled Michael Davitt: The Forgotten Hero?.
- His death is discussed in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 &ndash 13 January 1941 was an Irish expatriate writer widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical Novel by James Joyce, first serialized in The Egoist
Notes
- ^ a b c d Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (2004)
- ^ a b A New Dictionary of Irish History from 1800, p. 105-105, D. J. Hickey & J. E. Doherty , Gill & MacMillan (2003) ISBN 0-7176-2520-3
- ^ Biography "The long Gestation, Irish Nationalist Life 1891-1918" pps. 83, 225, Patrick Maume (1999)
- ^ Michael Davitt: Still in the shadow of the gunmen, John Cooney, Irish Independent, May 27th 2006
Works
- Michael Davitt, The Prison Life of Michael Davitt (1878)
- Michael Davitt, Leaves from a Prison Diary (2 vols) (1885)
- Michael Davitt, Defence of the Land League (1891)
- Michael Davitt, Life and Progress in Australia (1895)
- Michael Davitt, Within the Pale, The True Story of Anti-Semitic Persecutions in Russia (1903)
- Michael Davitt, Boer fight for freedom (1904)
- Michael Davitt, The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland (1904) ISBN 1-59107-031-7
- Michael Davitt, Collected Writings, 1868-1906 Carla King (2001) ISBN 1-85506-648-3
- Michael Davitt, The "Times"-Parnell Commission: Speech delivered by Michael Davitt in defence of the Land League (1890)
References
- D. The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest selling daily newspaper B. Cashman and Michael Davitt, The Life of Michael Davitt and the Secret History of The Land League (1881)
- Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, Michael Davitt : revolutionary, agitator and labour leader (1908, etc. Francis Skeffington (1878 &ndash 26 April, 1916) from Bailieborough, County Cavan, was an Irish Suffragist and Pacifist )
- M. M. O'Hara, Chief and Tribune: Parnell and Davitt (1919)
- Carla King: Michael Davitt, Dundalk (1999)
- T. W. Moody: Davitt and Irish Revolution 1846-82, Oxford (1981)
- Kevin Haddick Flynn: Davitt - Land Warrior (History Today May 2006)
- Laurence Marley: Michael Davitt Four Courts Press (2007) ISBN 978-1-84682-006-3
See also
- List of people on stamps of Ireland
- Young Greens (Ireland) This youth party is chaired by Michael's great grandson, Ed. Theodore William Moody (1907-1984 was an Irish historian He was Professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin, from 1940 to 1977 when he became Professor This is a list of people on the Postage stamps of the Irish Free State between 1922 and 1937 and on the postage stamps of Ireland since 1937, including The Young Greens ( Óige Ghlas) is the youth organisation of the Irish Green Party.
External links
Institutions
- Michael Davitt Museum, County Mayo, Ireland
- The Irish Democratic Club, (Davitt Branch) in Haslingden, the town where Michael Davitt was brought up
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Alexander Martin Sullivan |
Member of Parliament for Meath 1882 |
Succeeded by Edward Sheil |
| Preceded by Pierce Mahony |
Member of Parliament for Meath North 1892 |
Succeeded by James Gibney |
| Preceded by William O'Brien |
Member of Parliament for Cork North-East 1893 |
Succeeded by William Abraham |
| Preceded by Jeremiah Daniel Sheehan |
Member of Parliament for Kerry East 1895 |
Succeeded by James Boothby Burke Roche |
| Preceded by James Francis Xavier O'Brien |
Member of Parliament for Mayo South 1895–1899 |
Succeeded by John O'Donnell |
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