Michael Doheny

Michael Doheny
Born	(1805-05-22)22 May 1805 Brookhill, nearFethard,County Tipperary
Died	1 April 1862(1862-04-01)(aged 56) New York City,United States
Allegiance	Young Ireland Irish Republican Brotherhood
Battles/wars	Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 Fenian Rising

Michael Doheny(22 May 1805 – 1 April 1862) was anIrishwriter, lawyer, member of theYoung Irelandmovement, and co-founder of theIrish Republican Brotherhood,an Irish secret society which would go on to launch theFenian Raids on Canada,Fenian Rising of 1867,and theEaster Rising of 1916,each of which was an attempt to bring about Irish Independence from Britain.

Early life

The third son of small farmer Michael Doheny, he was born at Brookhill, nearFethard,County Tipperary.Growing up, he received a rudimentary education from anitinerant teacherwhile working on his father's farm. He would continue his formal education into his adult life while simultaneously acting as a teacher himself to local children. Doheny's ambition was to receive a formal legal education so that he could become a lawyer capable of seeking redress for members of his community, who were generally poor.

Doheny's parents both died in his teens, leaving Doheny's eldest brother, himself only in his teenage years, as head of the household. Doheny fought through a bout oftyphusat the age of 14. When he was 20, Doheny's eldest brother died and the family farm came into his procession. He subsequently sold it and continued to focus on his education.

Doheny was admitted toGray's Innin November 1834 andKing's Innsin 1835 before being called to the Irish bar in 1838. Doheny would set up business inCashel,County Tipperary and would be appointed legal assessor to the borough of Cashel under theMunicipal Corporations Act of 1840.This allowed him to successfully prosecute former borough officers for corruption, including misappropriation of funds and fraudulent transfers of property, which won Doheny wider acclaim.

Entering politics

Doheny was drawn towardsDaniel O'Connell'sRepeal Associationin the 1830s, but by the 1840s personal tension with O'Connell himself, amongst other reasons, lead Doheny to split with O'Connell's movement.

In 1830, Doheny acted as an election warden in the successful campaign ofThomas Wyseto become an MP for Tipperary. It was through Wyse's people that Doheny became involved inDaniel O'Connell'sRepeal Association.The Repeal Association was part of the movement in Ireland which sought to repeal theAct of Union,which had dissolved theParliament of Ireland.In 1841, he formally joined the Repeal Association. In May 1841, Doheny was placed on the association's general committee. O'Connell found Doheny difficult to control and was unsettled by Doheny's queries into the association's financial management.

By 1842, Doheny had established himself as a successor lawyer in and aroundCashel.In that year he married Mary Jane O'Dwyer and they into a new house in Cashel alongside Mary Jane's mother. In the years to come, Michael and Mary Jane would have four children together; Morgan, Michael, Edmond and Jane Doheny.

It was also in 1842 that Doheny began to associate with the more militant members of the repeal movement such asThomas Davis.There was a divide in both age and class between the rural Doheny and the Davis' clique, many of whom looked down upon Doheny. Others, however, acknowledged him for his passion, with one of his colleagues anonymously remarked of Doheny that he was "rough, generous, bold, a son of the soil, slovenly in dress, red-haired and red-featured, but a true personification of the hopes, passions, and traditions of the people". Doheny assisted in the launch ofThe Nation,a newspaper that served as an outlet for Young Irelander thoughts. Doheny quickly became annoyed when the editors rejected a significant number of his article. It was also around this period that Doheny publishedHistory of the American Revolutionin the pages ofThe Nation.

It was suggested by historians James Quinn and Desmond McCabe that Doheny may have been a better orator than a writer, and that he excelled more so during public meetings of the repeal movement around Tipperary and inDublin.Viewing the large crowds who would come to attend these "monster" meetings in 1843, Doheny became to believe there was a military potential in these same people. Doheny would later claim that, alongside Thomas Davis andJohn Blake Dillon,he deliberately ran repeal meetings with military undertones in order to prepare the Irish peasantry for a future war with the British. However, historians have doubted the credibility of that claim and suggested it is a revisionist claim.

In 1845, Doheny was asked by the Repeal Association to use his legal knowledge to investigate if Irish Members of Parliament had the legal right to withdraw from theHouse of Commons( "Abstentionism"). Doheny reluctantly submitted that, in his legal opinion, this course of action could result in legal action being taken against MPs who abstained. This was not what Daniel O'Connell wanted to hear, leading to a souring of the relationship between the two. Tensions continued to mount between the two when O'Connell took offence to Doheny's view that university education in Ireland should be of a secular/non-denominational nature during public debates over theMaynooth College Act 1845.Also in 1845, a parliamentary seat became vacant in Tipperary. Doheny would have been a good candidate to stand for that seat, however, he was passed over for the selection by O'Connell's Repeal party.

In April 1846,William Smith O'Brienwas imprisoned for a month for refusing to serve on a parliamentary committee. The controversy resulted in a stark split amongst the emergingYoung Irelandmovement and O'Connell's Repealers. Doheny and the Young Ireland movement backed O'Brien's conduct and became more vocal in their radical views. The two groups formally split in July 1846, and Doheny was one of the hardliners who resisted any attempts at reconciliation. Subsequently, Doheny was one of the co-founders of theIrish Confederationon 13 January 1847.

Rebellion of 1848

Following the failure of the 1848 rebellion, Doheny partnered up withStephensto evade escape from the British. The two would eventually escape to France, then the United States. Years later, the two would found theIrish Republican Brotherhoodtogether.

During the summer of 1847, Doheny began setting up "Confederate Clubs" around Tipperary as well as helpingJames Fintan Lalor's attempt to set up a tenant's league branch inHolycross.

Doheny was among a small amount of Young Irelanders attracted to Lalor's revolutionaryagrarianphilosophy. However, he supported Smith O'Brien overJohn Mitchelin January 1848 when Mitchel called for revolution. Doheny's position changed after Mitchel was convicted fortreason felonyin May, with Doheny now prepared to support an outright rebellion. In turn, Doheny was arrested for seditious speechmaking on 12 July in Cashel. He was bailed out on 20 July, 9 days before the beginning of theYoung Ireland rebellion.Doheny attempted to raise men in Tipperary, but his efforts were held back by William Smith O'Brien's indecisiveness.

After action inBallingarryon 31 July fell apart, Doheny fled to the Mountain ofSlievenamon.For the next two months Doheny evaded the authorities alongsideJames StephensacrossMunster.Doheny eventually escaped Ireland by dressing as apriestand boarding a cattle ship travelling fromCorktoBristol.From there, Doheny proceeded toParisin France, where he reunited with Stephens. The two were joined by fellow rebelJohn O'Mahony.The trio remained in Paris for two months before departing forNew York City.

Life in the US

While in the United States, Doheny collaborated withJohn O'Mahonymany times.

Upon immigrating to theUnited States,Doheny returned to practising law in order to support himself. However, he remained active in Irish Republican circles, which were common in the city as it swelled with other Young Irelander exiles. There were tensions amongst the conservative and radical Young Irelanders in New York, exemplified by an incident involving Doheny andThomas D'Arcy McGee.Accounts of the incident vary. One version suggests that McGee accused Doheny of boasting, drunkenness, and incompetence and in response Doheny attempted to push McGee down an open cellar on the street they were walking. Historians James Quinn and Desmond McCabe note thatJohn Blake Dillonmade similar accusations against Doheny, and therefore they may not have been without foundation.Another account of the altercation between Doheny and McGee suggests that Doheny challenged McGee to aduel,but McGee refused. Enraged, Doheny assaulted McGee. McGee was apparently arrested but not charged with a crime.

Unfortunately for Doheny, this was not the only violent altercation he was involved in during this first year in America. Doheny was involved in a public debate over the policies of Daniel O'Connell with O'Connell loyalist Patrick H. O’Conner. After the event, Doheny and O'Conner confronted each other in the street and got into a fistfight. A duel between the two was arranged, but supposedly on the day it was due to occur, O'Conner departed for Ireland.

In 1849, Doheny wrote the bookThe Felon's track,which recounted in a very critical way the history of the repeal movement and the 1848 rebellion. Doheny was particularly critical of O'Connell's involvement. The book was quite successful and reprinted several times. In turn, Doheny became in demand as a speaker at Irish-American societies. Doheny also contributed a memoir onGeoffrey Keating,a 17th-century Irish historian from Doheny's native Tipperary, and John O'Mahony's translation ofForas Feasa ar Éirinn,which O'Mahony was working on for several years.

From his initial arrival in New York, Doheny had become involved in the city's Irish-centric militias. In November 1851, Doheny was elected asLieutenant Colonelof the69th New York Infantry Regimentand in September 1852, he becameColonelof a new regiment the Irish Republican Rifles. These Irish controlled militias generally had Irish Independence as an objective but were often fraught with infighting over strategy and leadership battles.

In February 1856, Doheny and O'Mahony founded theEmmet Monument Association,an organisation with the publicly stated goal of funding a monument to Irish rebel leaderRobert Emmet,but with the private goal of unifying Irish Republicans in America under one banner. Upon the outbreak of theCrimean Warin March 1857, Doheny and O'Mahony met with the Russian consul in New York and sought to secure backing for another rebellion in Ireland from theRussian Empire.They presented the consul with a request from the various Irish militias for transport of 2,000 men and arms for another 5,000 to Ireland. The request was sent back to Russia, where supposedly there was some interest in the plan. However, ultimately the plot was considered unaffordable by the Russians. The failure to secure the backing of the Russians is suggested to have demoralised many of the Irish-American organisations, causing some of them to fall apart.

Doheny and O'Mahony, responding to the fragmentation, reached out to James Stephens in the autumn of 1857. Stephens agreed to aid them, but in return asked for undisputed leadership of any proposed grouping. Stephens had just founded theIrish Republican Brotherhoodon 17 March 1858, and in turn, Doheny and O'Mahoney agreed to organise its American counterpart theFenian Brotherhoodin early 1859. Simultaneously, Doheny founded the short-lived newspaperThe Phoenixto spread the ideals of the new Fenian movement.

Doheny was involved in the funeral arrangements forTerence Bellew MacManusin Ireland and acted as one of his pallbearers in a New York ceremony.Doheny travelled to Ireland in October 1861 to accompany the body home, where his spirits were lifted by the large crowds who came out not only to honour MacManus' body, but who cheered for "Colonel" Doheny. Doheny's morale was high for the enthusiasm he saw that he began to argue again for another rebellion in Ireland, but this line of thinking was overruled by James Stephens. After the funeral, Doheny made an emotional visit to Cashel in Tipperary where he was given a hero's welcome.

Death

Not long after the McManus funeral, Doheny himself died suddenly on 1 April 1862. He was buried inCalvary CemeteryinQueens, New York.

Works

Doheny is best known as author of a small work,The Felon's Track,(Text at Project Gutenberg) New York, 1867, and of two poems, "Achusha gal machree" and "The Outlaw's Wife."

External links

• Works by Michael DohenyatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Michael DohenyatInternet Archive