Antique Steel Engraving
Thomas Davis
Engraved by J. C. McRae
Sheet size - 7 7/8" x 10 5/8"
Decorative border.

Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845) was a prominent Irish writer, poet, and the chief organizer of the Young Ireland movement who shaped modern cultural nationalism in Ireland.
( see biographical information below )

Published by T. Farrell & Son
Undated, however this engraving was made in 1867
Well over 150 years old.
Very good condition.


Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer.

-------------

Biographical Information :

Thomas Osborne Davis
Born on October 14, 1814 at Mallow, County Cork , Ireland to a Welsh military surgeon father and an Irish mother. He was educated at trinity college Dublin, where he graduated in law arts. Davis was called to the bar in 1838.
He campaigned with Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association starting in 1841 to seek legislative independence for Ireland.
Davis co-founded the influential weekly newspaper The Nation in 1842, alongside Charles Gavan Duffy and John Blake Dillon , and used the publication to promote Irish self-government, national literature, and pride.

He advocated for an inclusive Irish identity, arguing that being Irish was defined by a shared commitment to the nation rather than by religion or ancestry, and promoted unity between Catholics and Protestants, pushing for integrated education.
Davis authored several famous patriotic ballads and rebel songs, including "A Nation Once Again" and "The West's Awake".
He died of scarlet fever in Dublin on September 16, 1845, at the young age of 30.

The paper Davis co-founded in 1842, The Nation, had a name chosen by Davis to show the main goal of the founders. The co-founders were all members of Daniel O'Connell’s Repeal Association - which wanted to end the Act of Union 1800 that joined Ireland and Great Britain. The Nation was created because, as Davis said, "We desired to make Ireland a nation."
The paper aimed to unite all people in Ireland across different religions and classes - Protestant , Catholic , and Dissenter.

The writers and followers connected to the paper became known as the Young Ireland Movement.
The journal published poetry, literary criticism, and historical essays to revive Irish identity and pride.
In later years, after clashes over radical tactics, the original paper was suppressed in 1848, but it was later revived to influence future nationalist campaigns.

Davis composed a number of songs, including Irish rebel songs, such as "The West's Asleep", "A Nation Once Again", "In Bodenstown Churchyard", and the "Lament for Owen Roe O'Neill". He wrote that "a song is worth a thousand harangues".
Music, he suggested, "is the first faculty of the Irish... we will endeavor to teach the people to sing the songs of their country that they may keep alive in their minds the love of the fatherland."

As well as many contributions to periodicals and newspapers, Davis wrote a memoir of John Philpot Curran (1750-1817), the Irish lawyer and orator, prefixed to an edition of his speeches, and a history of the 1689 Patriot Parliament; other literary plans were left unfinished by his early death.

A statue of Thomas Davis (created by Edward Delaney ) was unveiled on College Green, Dublin, in 1966, attended by the Irish president, Eamon de Valera.
The main street of his home town of Mallow is named Davis Street, which contains a bronze statue of Davis designed by sculptor Leo Higgins.
One of the secondary schools in Mallow, Davis College, is named after him.

A number of Gaelic Athletic Association clubs around the country are also named after Davis, including one in Tallaght, Dublin and one in Corrinshego, County Armagh.
Fort Davis, at the entrance to Cork Harbour, is named after him.
Thomas Davis Street, off Francis Street in Dublin 8, is also named after him.

The writings of Thomas Davis became a core inspiration for later nationalist figures like Patrick Pearse and the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Michael Collins famously noted that Davis "spoke to the soul of the sleeping nation".