Thomas Francis Meagher ( ; 3 August 18231 July 1867See photo of his headstone: ) was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death but received transportation for life to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in Australia.
In 1852, Meagher escaped and made his way to the United States, where he settled in New York City. He studied law, worked as a journalist, and traveled to present lectures on the Irish cause.
The widower married for a second time in New York. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Meagher joined the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of brigadier general.Meagher had at various times been appointed a brevet major general He was most notable for recruiting and leading the Irish Brigade and encouraging support among Irish immigrants for the Union. By his first marriage in Ireland, he had one surviving son; the two never met.
Following the Civil War, Meagher was appointed Montana's Territorial Secretary of State by President Andrew Johnson and served as acting territorial governor. In 1867, Meagher drowned in the Missouri River after falling from a steamboat at Fort Benton, Montana. Historians have questioned the circumstances around his death, with varying hypotheses including weakness from dysentery, intoxication, suicide, and murder. A 2016 analysis by Timothy Egan in The Immortal Irishman suggested Meagher may have been murdered by Montana political opponents.
Family Thomas Francis Meagher was born on 3 August 1823 in Waterford CityLyons, p. 10. in what is now the Granville Hotel on the Quay. From the age of two he lived with his family at Derrynane House in nearby Number 19, The Mall.
His father, Thomas Meagher (1796–1874), was a rich merchant who had retired to enter politics. He was twice elected Mayor of the city, which he represented in Parliament from August 1847 to March 1857. He had lived in the city since he was a young man, having migrated from Newfoundland in present-day Canada.O'Sullivan pg.192
The senior Meagher was born in St John's, Newfoundland. His father, also named Thomas (1763–1837),Cavanagh 1892, pg. 12 had emigrated as a young man from County Tipperary just before the turn of the 18th century. Starting as a farmer, the grandfather Meagher became a trader, and advanced to merchant, and shipowner. Newfoundland was the only British colony where people of Irish descent constituted a majority of the population.Duffy, FYIH, pg. 10 The senior Thomas Meagher married a widow, Mary Crotty. He established a prosperous trade between St. John's and Waterford, Ireland. Later, the grandfather placed his eldest son Thomas in Waterford to represent their business interests. The son Thomas became a successful merchant in Waterford, whose economic success was followed by political office.
Thomas Francis Meagher's mother, Alicia Quan (1798–1827), was the second eldest daughter of Thomas Quan and Alicia Forristall. Her father was a partner in the trading and shipping firm known as Wye, Cashen and Quan of Waterford. She died when Meagher was three and a half years old, after the birth of twin girls. (One of the girls also died then; the other at age seven.) Meagher had four siblings; a brother Henry and three sisters. Only he and his older sister Christine Mary Meagher lived past childhood.Wylie 2007, p. 20
Early life and education Meagher was educated at Roman Catholic boarding schools. When Meagher was eleven, his family sent him to the Jesuits at Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare. It was at Clongowes that he developed his skill of oratory, becoming at age 15 the youngest medalist of the Debating Society.Cavanagh 1892, pg. 19 These oratory skills would later distinguish Meagher during his years as a leading figure in Irish Nationalism.Lyons pg10 Although he gained a broad and deep education at Clongowes, as was typical, it did not include much about the history of his country or matters relating to Ireland.
After six years, Meagher left Ireland for the first time,Lonergan 1913, pg. 112 to study in Lancashire, England, at Stonyhurst College, also a Jesuit institution."Stonyhurst College" , Catholic Encyclopaedia (1912); retrieved 18 July 2008 Meagher's father regarded Trinity College, the only university in Ireland, as being both anti-Irish and anti-Catholic.Griffith pg. IV (preface)
The younger Meagher established a reputation for developed scholarship and "rare talents." While Meagher was at Stonyhurst, his English professors struggled to overcome his "horrible Irish brogue"; he acquired an Anglo-Irish upper-class accent that in turn grated on the ears of some of his countrymen.Griffith pg. V (preface) He became a popular speaker "who had no compare" in Conciliation Hall, the meeting place of the Irish Repeal Association.O'Sullivan pg. 193Ua Cellaigh, pp. 152–53Lyons pg. 11
Young Ireland Meagher returned to Ireland in 1843,1843 the "Repeal year" according to Daniel O'Connell with undecided plans for a career in the Austrian army, a tradition among a number of Irish families.
In 1844 he traveled to Dublin with the intention of studying for the bar in order to become a lawyer. He became involved in the Repeal Association, which worked for repeal of the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland.O'Sullivan pg 193 Meagher was influenced by writers of The Nation newspaper and fellow workers in the Repeal movement.
The movement became nationwide. At a Repeal meeting held in Waterford on 13 December, at which his father presided, Meagher acted as one of the Secretaries. He soon became popular on Burgh Quay, his eloquence at meetings making him a celebrated figure in the capital. Any announcement of Meagher's speaking would ensure a crowded hall.
In June 1846, the administration of Sir Robert Peel's Tory Ministry fell, and the Liberals under Lord John Russell came to power. Daniel O'Connell tried to lead the Repeal movement to support both the Russell administration and English Liberalism. Repeal agitation was damped down in return for a distribution of generous patronage through Conciliation Hall.Griffith pg. VI (preface)
On 15 June 1846, Meagher denounced English Liberalism in Ireland, as he suspected the national cause of Repeal would be sacrificed to the Whig government. He felt the Irish would be "purchased back into factious vassalage."O'Sullivan pg 195 Meagher and the other "Young Irelanders" (the epithet used by O'Connell to describe the young men of The Nation) vehemently denounced any movement toward English political parties, so long as Repeal was denied.
The promise of patronage and influence divided the Repeal Movement. Those who hoped to gain by government positions, also called The "Tail", and described as the "corrupt gang of politicians who fawned on O'Connell" wanted to drive the genuinely ecumenical Young Irelanders from the Repeal Association.Griffith pg. VII (preface) Such opponents portrayed the ecumenical Young Irelanders as revolutionaries, factionists, infidels and secret enemies of the Catholic Church. On 13 July, O'Connell's followers introduced resolutions to declare that under no circumstances was a nation justified in asserting its liberties by force of arms.
In fact, the Young Irelanders had not, until then, advocated the use of physical force to advance the cause of repeal and opposed any such policy.Doheny Pg 105 The "Peace Resolutions" declared that physical force was immoral under any circumstances to obtain national rights. Although Meagher agreed that only moral and peaceful means should be adopted by the Association, he added that if Repeal could not be carried by those means, he would adopt the more perilous and risky, but no less honorable choice of arms. When the Peace resolutions were proposed again on 28 July, Meagher responded with his famous "Sword Speech".O'Sullivan pg 195–96
Meagher dissented from the Resolutions, not wanting to pledge to the unqualified repudiation of physical force "in all countries, at all times, and in every circumstance". He knew there were times when arms would suffice, and when political amelioration called for "a drop of blood, and many thousand drops of blood". He "eloquently defended physical force as an agency in securing national freedom."O'Sullivan pg 196
As Meagher carried the audience to his side, O'Connell's supporters believed they were at risk in not being able to drive out the Young Irelanders. O'Connell's son John interrupted Meagher to declare that one of them had to leave the hall. William Smith O'Brien protested against this attempt to suppress legitimate speech and left the meeting with other prominent Young Irelanders in defiance, never to return.
Irish Confederation
In January 1847, Meagher, together with John Mitchel, William Smith O'Brien, and Thomas Devin Reilly formed a new repeal body, the Irish Confederation. In 1848, Meagher and O'Brien went to France to seek French support for Irish efforts, the group planning a rebellion that would secure an Irish legislative. The group did not receive the support desired, France tending to its own affairs and unwilling to anger the British government. The group did return to Ireland with a version of what would later become the Flag of Ireland, a tricolour of green, white and orange. This was not a new symbol, having been flown popularly in the 1830s in flag, banner and rosette form following its creation in Dublin by Emelia Eleanor Hamilton, of Annadale Cottage, Dublin in September 1830. However, the groups later adoption of the symbol gave the device a 'rebel edge' which was important in its later adoption by Fenian groups like Clan na Gael and the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Following the incident known as the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 or "Battle of Ballingarry" in August 1848, Meagher, Terence MacManus, O'Brien, and Patrick O'Donoghue were arrested, tried and convicted for sedition. Due to a newly passed ex post facto law, the sentence meant that Meagher and his colleagues were sentenced to be "hanged, drawn and quartered". It was after his trial that Meagher delivered his famous Speech From the Dock.Lyons 1870, pp. 15–20
While awaiting execution in Richmond Gaol, Meagher and his colleagues were joined by Kevin Izod O'Doherty and John Martin. But, due to public outcryWylie 2007, pg. 61 and international pressure,Cavanagh 1892, pg. 294 royal clemency commuted the death sentences to Penal exile for life to "the other side of the world".
In 1849 all were sent to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania, Australia).Lyons 1870, pg. 20 On July 20, the day after being notified of his exile to Van Diemen's Land, Meagher announced that he wished henceforth to be known as Thomas Francis O'Meagher.
Van Diemen's Land
Meagher accepted the "ticket-of-leave" in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), giving his word not to attempt to escape without first notifying the authorities, in return for comparative liberty on the island. A further stipulation was that each of the Irish "gentleman" convicts was sent to reside in separate districts: Meagher to Campbell Town and shortly after to Ross (where his cottages still stand); MacManus to Launceston and later near New Norfolk; Kevin O'Doherty to Oatlands; John Mitchel and John Martin to Bothwell; and O'Brien (who initially refused a ticket-of-leave) to the "Penal Station" on Maria Island and later to New Norfolk. During his time in Van Diemen's Land, Meagher managed to meet clandestinely with his fellow Irish rebels, especially at Interlaken on Lake Sorell.Akenson 2006, p 122
Marriages and family