Edmund Leamy

Edmund Leamy
Leamy,c.1880s
Member of Parliament
In office 1880–1885
Preceded by	Purcell O'GormanandRichard Power
Succeeded by	Richard Power
Constituency	Waterford City
In office 1885–1887
Preceded by	New Constituency
Succeeded by	William O'Brien
Constituency	North East Cork
In office 1888–1892
Preceded by	Edward Joseph Kennedy
Succeeded by	Thomas Curran
Constituency	South Sligo
In office 1900–1904
Preceded by	Charles John Engledow
Succeeded by	John O'Connor
Constituency	North Kildare
Personal details
Born	1848 Waterford,Ireland
Died	10 December 1904(1904-12-10)(aged 55–56) Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques,France
Resting place	Waterford,Ireland
Political party	Irish Parliamentary Party

Edmund Leamy(1848 – 10 December 1904) was anIrishjournalist,barrister,author of fairy tales, andnationalistpolitician. He was aMember of Parliament(MP) in theHouse of Commonsof theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelandas member of theIrish Parliamentary Party.A leading supporter ofCharles Stewart Parnell,he represented various Irish seats for much of the period from 1880 until his death in 1904.

Life

Leamy was educated at the University High School,Waterfordand at the Jesuits'Tullabeg College,Co.Offaly.

Called to the Irish Bar in 1885, Leamy was in1880elected as a Parnellite Home Ruler to one of the two seats forWaterford City.When representation at Waterford was reduced to one seat at the1885 election,he stood down but was elected unopposed atCork North Eastin 1885 and again in1886.He also stood atMid Armaghin 1885, but was not elected. Resigning from Cork North East in 1887, he was elected unopposed to a vacancy atSouth Sligoin 1888.

When the Irish Parliamentary Party split in December 1890 over Parnell's leadership, Leamy was one of the minority in theIrish National Leaguewho supported Parnell. Parnell made him editor of his newspaperUnited Irelandafter regaining editorial control in 1891. At the subsequent general election in 1892, Leamy unsuccessfully contestedEast Waterford.He also unsuccessfully contestedGalway Cityas a Parnellite in 1895 and as candidate for the reunited Irish Party in 1900. However, in 1900 he was re-elected to the House of Commons as a Nationalist member forNorth Kildare,serving until his death in 1904.

He died atPauin southernFrancewhere he was staying for the sake of his health. At the request ofJohn Redmond,Pat O'Brienwent out to Pau to accompany Leamy's widow and the body for their return to Waterford for the funeral on 21 December 1904.

Leamy's fairy tales, includingThe Golden Spears,By theBarrow RiverandThe Fairy Minstrel of Glenmalure,have been reprinted several times in various editions in Ireland and the USA.

The bookParnell’s Faithful Fewby his widow Margaret Leamy contains a good deal of biographical material and is a significant source for the history of the Parnellite split in the Irish Parliamentary Party.

Selected writings

• Irish Fairy Tales,Dublin, M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd., 1906
• By the Barrow River and Other Stories,Dublin, Sealy, Bryers and Walker, 1907
• The Golden Spears, and Other Fairy Tales,New York, Desmond FitzGerald, inc., 1911
• The Fairy Minstrel of Glenmalure: And Other Stories for Children,New York, Desmond FitzGerald, inc., 1913
• Irish Fairy Tales,Dublin, Mercier Press, 1978
• Irish Fairy Stories for Children,illustrated by Frank and Gail Dowling, Dublin, Mercier Press; Chester Springs, PA (Dufour Editions, US distributor), 1983, repr. 1992
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

Sources

• Freeman's Journal,12 and 22 December 1904
• Margaret Leamy,Parnell’s Faithful Few,New York, Macmillan, 1936
• Brian M. Walker (ed.),Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922,Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 1978
• Who Was Who, 1897-1916

External links

• Hansard1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Edmund Leamy
• Full text of "Golden Spears, and Other Fairy Tales",Desmond Fitzgerald, Inc., 1911.
• Works by Edmund LeamyatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Edmund Leamyat theInternet Archive
• Works by Edmund LeamyatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)