The Felon's Track Part 19

MARTIN, JOHN (1812-1875).--A landed proprietor of Co. Down. On his return from transportation, he re-entered Irish politics; was elected in 1870 to the British Parliament, for Meath, and played a leading part in founding the Home Rule movement.

"MARY" (1828-69).--With "Eva" and "Speranza" one of the triumvirate of the women-poets of the _Nation_: Miss Ellen Mary Downing of Cork--afterwards a nun, Sister Mary Alphonsus.

MEAGHER, THOMAS FRANCIS (1823-67).--Son of the O'Connellite member of the British Parliament for Waterford. He escaped from the British Penal colonies to the United States in 1852 and served as Brigadier-General on the Federal side during the civil war. When Acting-Governor of Montana he was drowned in the Mississippi.

MEANY, STEPHEN JOSEPH.--A journalist, imprisoned in 1848 under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act. In the United States he became a leader of one of the wings of the Fenian Brotherhood and, returning to Ireland in 1866, he was arrested on the way in London and sentenced to a term of penal servitude.

MELBOURNE, LORD (1779-1848).--William Lamb, second Viscount, Chief Secretary of Ireland, 1827-8, and Premier of England with brief intervals from 1834 to 1841.

MILEY, JOHN, D.D. (1805-1861).--Curate at the Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, and private chaplain to O'Connell. He was the intermediary in arranging the reunion of the O'Connellites with the Young Irelanders in the stillborn Irish League. In 1849 he was made Rector of the Irish College at Paris. On his return to Ireland he was appointed parish priest of Bray. He was an eloquent preacher, and author of several works on the Papacy.

MITCHEL, JOHN (1818-75).--A solicitor of Banbridge, and one of the first Irish Protestants of note to join the Repeal a.s.sociation. From the death of Davis until the end of 1847 he was the chief writer of the _Nation_ newspaper. On his escape from the British penal colonies in 1853 he settled in the United States, and took an active part on the Confederate side in the civil war. He returned to Ireland a few months before his death, and was elected member of the British Parliament for Tipperary, as a demonstration of hostility to British Government in Ireland.

MOORE, JUDGE.--Richard Moore, called to the Bar in 1807, acted for the defence in the trial of O'Connell and the Traversers, Liberal Attorney-General in 1846 and "almost Lord Chancellor." He was raised to the Bench in 1847 and died in 1858.

MONAHAN, JAMES HENRY (1804-78).--Attorney-General in 1848, Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas, 1850.

NAGLE, DR.--"A Dublin doctor without patients," who acted as a handyman for John O'Connell. He was devoid of ability. Subsequently he received a small Government post.

O'CONNELL, DANIEL (1775-1847).--Successor to John Keogh in the leaders.h.i.+p of the Irish Catholics, and although his actual achievements were not so much greater than those of Keogh and Sweetman, their brilliancy threw the fame of his predecessors into the shade, where it still rests.

O'CONNELL, MAURICE (1802-53).--Eldest son of Daniel O'Connell, and a member of the British Parliament. He was the cleverest and most national of O'Connell's children.

O'CONNELL, MORGAN JOHN (1804-85).--Second son to Daniel O'Connell. He served under General Devereux in South America, entered the British Parliament as a Repealer, deserted Repeal, and was appointed a.s.sistant-Registrar of Deeds.

O'CONNELL, JOHN (1810-1858).--The chief political a.s.sistant of his father, Daniel O'Connell. After the collapse of the Repeal a.s.sociation he received a place from the British Government.

O'CONNELL, DANIEL, JUN. (1815-1897).--The youngest of O'Connell's sons.

He sat in the British Parliament until 1863, when he was appointed to a Government post.

O'CONOR DON, THE (1794-1847).--Repeal M.P. for Roscommon. He deserted to the Liberals, and was made a Lord of the Treasury.

O'DEA, PATRICK.--The Young Ireland leader in Rathkeale, Co. Limerick.

O'DOHERTY, KEVIN IZOD (1823-1895).--Son of a Dublin solicitor. After his release from transportation he settled in Australia and became prominent in its politics and medical science. In 1885 he returned temporarily to Ireland, and sat for a brief period in the British Parliament as Parnellite member for Meath.

O'DONNELL, JOHN.--A Limerick solicitor and an ardent Young Irelander.

When Richard O'Gorman came to Limerick to urge the people to arms, O'Donnell travelled through the county with him as his aide-de-camp. On the news of the outbreak in Tipperary, O'Donnell, Doyle and Daniel Harnett raised the country around Abbeyfeale, cut off the mails and pitched an insurgent camp outside the town where the Abbeyfeale men waited for O'Gorman, who was elsewhere in the county, to take command.

Before his arrival the news of the collapse at Ballingarry arrived and the Abbeyfeale Camp broke up. O'Donnell escaped from the country with O'Gorman.

O'DOWD, JAMES.--A Conciliation Hall lawyer. Afterwards appointed to a legal position in connection with the London Custom house.

O'DWYER, CAREW.--Repeal M.P. for Louth, 1832-5. He deserted Repeal and received a minor position in the Exchequer Court.

O'FLAHERTY, MARTIN.--A Galway solicitor and a member of the Irish Confederation.

O'GORMAN, RICHARD, JUN. (1826-1895).--Son of Richard O'Gorman of the Woollen Hall, one of the foremost Dublin merchants and Catholic leaders in the Emanc.i.p.ation struggle. O'Gorman settled in New York after his escape and became a judge of the Superior Court.

O'HEA, JAMES.--A lawyer described by Davis as of "vast abilities."

O'LOGHLEN, SIR COLMAN (1819-1877).--Second baronet, son of the Master of the Rolls. Afterwards M.P. for Clare, a Privy Councillor and Judge-Advocate-General.

O'MAHONY, JOHN (1816-1877).--A gentleman-farmer of ancient lineage and high scholars.h.i.+p. After the second attempt to kindle insurrection he fled to the Continent and later proceeded to the United States, where with Doheny and Stephens he founded Fenianism.

PEEL, SIR ROBERT (1788-1850).--Chief Secretary for Ireland and organiser of the "new police"--hence "peelers." In politics an opportunist, opposing and supporting Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation and Free Trade. Premier of England, 1834-5, 1841-6.

PENNEFATHER, BARON (1773-1859).--Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, 1821, and for thirty-eight years a judge.

PIGOT, CHIEF BARON (1797-1872).--Son of Dr. Pigot of Mallow and one of the founders of the attempted National Whig Party in the period 1820-30.

He was a cultured man and an upright judge.

PIGOT, JOHN E. (1822-1871).--Eldest son of Chief Baron Pigot and the intimate comrade of Thomas Davis. Author of many ballads and articles in the _Nation_ and other National journals, and an ardent collector of Irish music.

PLUNKET, LORD (1764-1854).--William Conyngham Plunket, member for Charlemont in the Irish Parliament and a bitter opponent of the Union.

Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1830 to 1841.

RAY, THOMAS MATTHEW (1801-1881).--A Dublin trades-union leader of great organising ability, appointed by O'Connell secretary of the Repeal a.s.sociation. Subsequently a.s.sistant-Registrar of Deeds.

REILLY, THOMAS DEVIN (1823-1854).--One of the _Nation_ staff and one of the few leading Young Irelanders who supported Mitchel on the division in the Confederation in 1848. In the United States he won a foremost position as a political writer.

REYNOLDS, JOHN.--An Alderman of the Dublin Corporation and M.P. for Dublin City in the British Parliament, 1847-52. Subsequently Lord Mayor.

He was utterly corrupt and a mob-leader.

ROEBUCK, J.A. (1801-79).--An English politician who professed Independent views, and from the violence of his denunciation of his opponents was nicknamed "Tear 'em."

RUSSELL, LORD JOHN (1792-1878).--Liberal Prime Minister of England, 1846-52, and again, 1865. He successfully opposed Lord George Bentinck's proposal to preserve the Irish from famine and pauperism by undertaking the construction of railways.

SAVAGE, JOHN (1828-1888).--One of the founders of the _Irish Tribune_.

After the complete failure of the insurrection, he escaped to the United States where he became eminent in literature and for a time head of the Fenian movement.

SHEIL, RICHARD LALOR (1791-1851).--Dramatist, orator and politician.

Deserted Repeal and was made British minister at Florence. Subsequently Master of the Mint.

s.h.i.+ELDS, JAMES, GENERAL (1807-1879).--Born near Dungannon, s.h.i.+elds emigrated in early life to the United States, where he attained distinction in journalism and subsequently celebrity as a lawyer. On the outbreak of war with Mexico, he forsook the Bar for arms, and as a soldier acquired even higher renown. In 1848 he was chosen as governor of Oregon, and was considered one of the ablest of the United States Generals. His political views being in sympathy with the Young Irelanders, several of them looked towards s.h.i.+elds as another Eoghan Ruadh, who would accept the call of his country and return to lead the Irish once they had taken the field. Subsequently s.h.i.+elds engaged in the Civil War on the Northern side, and, although a comparatively old man, distinguished himself by defeating General Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Winchester, although his army was inferior in numbers and he had been wounded at the opening of the fight.

SMYTH, P.J. (1826-1885).--One of the youngest of the Young Ireland leaders. He escaped from Ireland to the United States after the collapse of the insurrection, and carried out the rescue of Mitchel from Van Diemen's Land. On his return to Ireland he re-entered politics, and sat in the British Parliament successively for Westmeath and Tipperary.

STANLEY, LORD (1802-1869).--Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the British Liberal Government, 1846-52.

STAUNTON, MICHAEL.--Proprietor of the _Morning Register_ newspaper and an alderman of the Dublin Corporation. His memory survives as the involuntary agent of bringing Duffy and Davis together--and thus leading to the foundation of _The Nation_.

STEPHENS, JAMES (1825-1901).--A Kilkenny railway employe. Afterwards chief organiser of the Fenian movement, of which, with O'Mahony and Doheny, he was one of the founders.

TORRENS, JUDGE.--Called to the Bar, 1798, raised to the Bench, 1823, where he sat for thirty-three years.

WILDE, SIR THOMAS (1782-1855).--Lord Truro, Attorney-General to the British Liberal Government in England, 1846; afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and Lord Chancellor of England, 1850-2.

WILLIAMS, RICHARD DALTON (1822[E]-1862).--One of the most popular of the poets of the _Nation_. The Government prosecution failed in his case, and he emigrated to the United States where he became Professor of Belles Lettres in the University of Mobile.