The Fenian Movement: An Account of its Origin, Progress and Temporary Collapse
By Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa

ISBN: 978-1-9196506-2-3

Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa is one of the best known leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), better known as the Fenian Movement. This organisation emerged in Ireland and America in the late 1850s. Its goal was to gain Ireland’s freedom from British rule. O’Donovan Rossa reputation as a revolutionary was enhanced by his imprisonment and ill-treatment in British jails, which was followed by decades of exile in the USA. His death in 1915 cemented his place in the lexicon of Irish revolutionary leaders. The oration at his graveside, by Padraig Pearse, was written to be a rallying call to renew the struggle for Irish independence. Within months, the Easter Rebellion of 1916 would light a spark that would lead to the Irish War of Independence.

During his life, O’Donovan Rossa’s enhanced his reputation through his ability to promote both himself and the causes he espoused. A prolific writer, he wrote numerous articles promoting his views and he wrote two autobiographical works. The first, Prison Life: Six years in English Prisons, was published in 1874. It chiefly dealt with the period he spent in British jails from 1865 to 1870. The second, Rossa’s Recollections 1838 to 1898, published in 1898 was a general autobiography of his life.

Between his two autobiographical books, in 1885, O’Donovan Rossa wrote a series of eleven articles for the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper. These were entitled ‘The Fenian Movement: An Account of its Origin, Progress and Temporary Collapse’. Their appearance coincided with his attempts to revive the Fenian Brotherhood organisation in America and were likely prompted by a wish to promote this idea. They primarily dealt with the author’s involvement with the early years of the IRB in Ireland, from 1858 to 1865. For much of this period he was resident in the town of Skibbereen. They also covered the time he was employed as commercial manager of the Irish People newspaper in Dublin, when he travelled widely in Ireland and Britain promoting the Fenian Movement.

Some of this material he would later reuse in his Recollections, but they also contained information not published elsewhere. These include poems he wrote while in jail. For the first time ever, this volume brings the eleven articles, originally published between June and August 1885, together into one book. A modern Irish language version of O’Donovan Rossa’s prison poem, Éire trasna ’n tSáile, is included. To aid the modern reader, the editor added a small number of footnotes to explain certain events and individuals. In addition an index was added as a search aid.

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