Michael Davitt

Son of evicted Mayo tenants, Fenian treason-felony prisoner Michael Davitt (1846-1906) was to become the driving force behind the Irish National Land League, an organisation that mobilised Irish farmers in the first mass challenge to landlordism in Ireland. As such he made a crucial contribution to the shaping of modern Ireland. In the aftermath of the Kilmainham Treaty he emerged as a major figure in Radicalism and in the British and Irish labour movements, served as a Home Rule MP at Westminster, and was an influential foreign correspondent, writer and activist. This short, revised biography will aim to outline the scope of Davitt's interests and achievements, setting them in the context of his time.