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Michael Davitt: Collected Writings, 1868-1906
Michael Davitt (1846-1906), father of the Land League, Member ofParliament, labour campaigner, writer and public speaker, was one of the central Irish figures of the late nineteenth century. Closely involved in the land question, Home Rule and labour issues, he wrote articulately and reflectively on these and many other important and problematic subjects, leaving historians an invaluable resource, not only of biographical material, but also of insights into the major questions of his day. The importance of Davitt's contribution alone would justify the publication of a collected works.
However, it might also be argued that by looking at his writing as a body of work, the man and ideas that emerge are both more wide-ranging and more complex than the traditional identification of Davitt as founder of the Irish Land League, important as this was in securing for Irish tenant farmers the right to own their land. In particular, it demonstrates the significance of his non-Irish interests, the breadth of his social thinking and his concern to link the land question with the cause of labour. This collection includes his six books, all his pamphlets, and his major writings for journals such as the "Contemporary Review" and the "Nineteenth Century."
However, it might also be argued that by looking at his writing as a body of work, the man and ideas that emerge are both more wide-ranging and more complex than the traditional identification of Davitt as founder of the Irish Land League, important as this was in securing for Irish tenant farmers the right to own their land. In particular, it demonstrates the significance of his non-Irish interests, the breadth of his social thinking and his concern to link the land question with the cause of labour. This collection includes his six books, all his pamphlets, and his major writings for journals such as the "Contemporary Review" and the "Nineteenth Century."
Hardcover
First published September 1, 2001
About the author
Michael Davitt
34 books14 followersMichael Davitt (Irish: Mícheál Mac Dáibhéid; 25 March 1846 – 30 May 1906) was an Irish republican and nationalist agrarian agitator, an inspirer of Mahatma Gandhi, a social campaigner, labour leader, journalist, Home Rule constitutional politician and Member of Parliament (MP), who founded the Irish National Land League.
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. They were of peasant origin, but Davitt's father had a good education and could speak English and Irish. In 1850, when Michael was four and a half years old, his family was evicted 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 of age 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. 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. 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.
After attending infant school the young Davitt began working at the age of nine as a 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, in Baxenden. Here he was put to operate a spinning machine. On 8 May 1857 his right arm was entangled in a cogwheel and mangled so badly it had to be amputated. He did not receive any compensation.
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. They were of peasant origin, but Davitt's father had a good education and could speak English and Irish. In 1850, when Michael was four and a half years old, his family was evicted 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 of age 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. 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. 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.
After attending infant school the young Davitt began working at the age of nine as a 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, in Baxenden. Here he was put to operate a spinning machine. On 8 May 1857 his right arm was entangled in a cogwheel and mangled so badly it had to be amputated. He did not receive any compensation.
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