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Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa: Unrepentant Fenian
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa died on June 29, 1915, in Staten Island, New York. On hearing of his death, Tom Clarke sent a transatlantic cable from Dublin to John Devoy in New York, with the simple message: "Send his body home at once." His funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery was one of the largest political funerals in Irish history, and is now accepted as the precursor to the Easter Rising. Patrick Pearse famously declared at Rossa's graveside, "The fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our Fenian dead! And while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace!" This long-awaited biography of a hugely significant figure in Irish history examines the life of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. From modest origins in West Cork, he became passionately interested in national politics from an early age, founding the Phoenix National and Literary Society, which was, in fact, a subversive organization which would later merge with the newly founded Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was later arrested for his republican activities, spent hard time in the toughest of British prisons - including lengthy spells in solitary confinement - and was actually elected to the British House of Commons while still in prison. Effectively exiled to the United States, O'Donovan Rossa continued his involvement in republican organizations and set up the United Irishman newspaper. From the United States, he organized, funded, and masterminded the Fenian 'dynamite' campaign which was the first ever Irish bombing operation on British shores. He even survived an assassination attempt when he was shot in New York by an English woman so perturbed by the attacks on Britain. Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was a complex character who was both a family and a political man. This book tells his story from the earliest years to his death and funeral - a figure whose life work was dedicated to the establishment of an Irish Republic. *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO [Subject: Biography, Irish Studies, Politics, History]
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 22, 2015
On paper, this should work. O'Donovan Rossa bridges the gap between Daniel O'Connell, born in the 1770s, and Eamon de Valera, who died in the 1970s, having met both. Unfortunately, ODR was basically a terrorist. His strategy for securing Ireland's independence involved trying to kill innocents in Britain, despite overwhelming evidence that the vast majority of Irish people disagreed. He was a sort of tragi-comic terrorist, too: he increasingly tried to claim bombings in Britain that he had no involvement with.
This of course is no reason to give a book two stars. This is due to the book being poorly written and very poorly edited: expect rambling chapters, paragraphs that extend to two pages or more, and lots of small errors that grate.
It's not apparent from this book why ODR earned his reputation before being imprisoned, while his conduct for most of the rest of his life was, to any reasonable person, very hard to justify. In short: you're better off reading the Wikipedia page.
This of course is no reason to give a book two stars. This is due to the book being poorly written and very poorly edited: expect rambling chapters, paragraphs that extend to two pages or more, and lots of small errors that grate.
It's not apparent from this book why ODR earned his reputation before being imprisoned, while his conduct for most of the rest of his life was, to any reasonable person, very hard to justify. In short: you're better off reading the Wikipedia page.
February 20, 2026
"I'd curse all that platitude people that keep continuing saying out "wait for the opportunity they are cods or cowards...I'll be burying myself before anything is done if we are to be waiting for those "wait for the wagon" people to do the work."
O'Donovan Rossa was born after the uprisings lead by Tone and Emmet. Born into an Irish Republican family, he is bathed in a culture and family revering the Irish spirit of independence. He, as much as any other Irishman, takes that spirit to heart and spends his life working for the freedom of Ireland. He doesn't always do that in sensible ways, but he never strays away from his goal.
Starting off from a young age he helps recruit for the Phoenix brotherhood and the IRB. He gets imprisoned multiple times, never breaking from his resolve to spite the English government for their harm done to Ireland. He does participate in some military training at this time, but most of his work is in mischief. For his resistances he is punished severely, but never breaks. I found the prison chapters and writings of this book to be the most compelling of them all - however his antics eventually lead to his release on condition of exile from Britain (and therefore Ireland) for 20 years.
In America, he starts and fails many businesses but struggles with money. He eventually gets his own newspaper, using it as a beacon for his political ideals. His politics are true to the Fenian cause - he wants freedom for Ireland, and he wants to use violence to achieve those means, as England has used violence to control Ireland for centuries. He is so committed to this he often gives the paper for free to those sympathetic, which hurts him financially, and he walked into an assassination attempt because his would-be assassin promised him money for the Irish cause. One British official stated he was so gullible, that he was "absorbed as he was with what I may call his only "weakness" - an undying hatred for England and the English."
While in America, he raises money for men to train and bomb locations in England, earning him the nickname "Dynamite O'Rossa". His reasoning is simple - dynamite is the only tool that can level the playing field against the more powerful England - and the Irish acts of resistance become one of the first of their kinds.
Eventually, O'Rossa's exile ends, and he gives lecture tours of Ireland speaking of his long prison days and his commitment to violence for the Irish cause. Finally achieving some financial security there, he gives it up to return back to America on account of his wife's sickness. At the age of 84 he dies, and his wife allows for his body to be returned to Ireland for one final act of resistance - a burial that brings together all Irish resistance factions and galvanizes the public. This act begins the fermentation that eventually leads to the Easter Uprising - an act so strong that O'Rossa surely turned in his grave upon missing it.
Along the way, we get glimpses into O'Rossa's family life. He lost two wives to illness early in his year, and eventually marries a much younger Mary Jane as his wife. She is a committed to the same causes he is, and often suffers gravely for it, waiting out his time in prison (writing some very moving poems as a result) and then joining him for his exile in America. O'Rossa comes of as a great family man, and is deeply moved by the loss of his children, especially his US Navy enlisted son Jeremiah.
A complicated man, one who can be admired for his tenacity and commitment to his cause and his fighting Irish spirit. The kind of man who might thrive today in the wild political theater of today, though his commitment to violence should be left behind in the past as a tool that should no longer be used.
O'Donovan Rossa was born after the uprisings lead by Tone and Emmet. Born into an Irish Republican family, he is bathed in a culture and family revering the Irish spirit of independence. He, as much as any other Irishman, takes that spirit to heart and spends his life working for the freedom of Ireland. He doesn't always do that in sensible ways, but he never strays away from his goal.
Starting off from a young age he helps recruit for the Phoenix brotherhood and the IRB. He gets imprisoned multiple times, never breaking from his resolve to spite the English government for their harm done to Ireland. He does participate in some military training at this time, but most of his work is in mischief. For his resistances he is punished severely, but never breaks. I found the prison chapters and writings of this book to be the most compelling of them all - however his antics eventually lead to his release on condition of exile from Britain (and therefore Ireland) for 20 years.
In America, he starts and fails many businesses but struggles with money. He eventually gets his own newspaper, using it as a beacon for his political ideals. His politics are true to the Fenian cause - he wants freedom for Ireland, and he wants to use violence to achieve those means, as England has used violence to control Ireland for centuries. He is so committed to this he often gives the paper for free to those sympathetic, which hurts him financially, and he walked into an assassination attempt because his would-be assassin promised him money for the Irish cause. One British official stated he was so gullible, that he was "absorbed as he was with what I may call his only "weakness" - an undying hatred for England and the English."
While in America, he raises money for men to train and bomb locations in England, earning him the nickname "Dynamite O'Rossa". His reasoning is simple - dynamite is the only tool that can level the playing field against the more powerful England - and the Irish acts of resistance become one of the first of their kinds.
Eventually, O'Rossa's exile ends, and he gives lecture tours of Ireland speaking of his long prison days and his commitment to violence for the Irish cause. Finally achieving some financial security there, he gives it up to return back to America on account of his wife's sickness. At the age of 84 he dies, and his wife allows for his body to be returned to Ireland for one final act of resistance - a burial that brings together all Irish resistance factions and galvanizes the public. This act begins the fermentation that eventually leads to the Easter Uprising - an act so strong that O'Rossa surely turned in his grave upon missing it.
Along the way, we get glimpses into O'Rossa's family life. He lost two wives to illness early in his year, and eventually marries a much younger Mary Jane as his wife. She is a committed to the same causes he is, and often suffers gravely for it, waiting out his time in prison (writing some very moving poems as a result) and then joining him for his exile in America. O'Rossa comes of as a great family man, and is deeply moved by the loss of his children, especially his US Navy enlisted son Jeremiah.
A complicated man, one who can be admired for his tenacity and commitment to his cause and his fighting Irish spirit. The kind of man who might thrive today in the wild political theater of today, though his commitment to violence should be left behind in the past as a tool that should no longer be used.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews