John Boyle O'Reilly

Much has been written about John Boyle O’Reilly(1844−1890), Irish-born poet, journalist, fiction-writer, member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood/Fenians, political/civil rights activist, and the accepted voice and leader of the Irish-American exiles. Wherever the Irish diaspora are to be found there too exists a Boyle O’Reilly Society, as the name plays host to Gaelic/athletic clubs in areas all over the world. A summary of O’Reilly’s career and action-packed life is difficult to formulate: at seventeen he was a stenographer in England; at nineteen a private soldier in the 10th Hussars; at twenty-two lying in a dungeon in Dublin, condemned to death for treason against Great Britain; at twenty-four a nameless convict in a criminal colony in Western Australia, after spending time in U.K. prisons such as Pentonville, Millbank, Chatham and Dartmoor, from which he made several escape attempts; at twenty-five an emigree in Philadelphia, where he lived without friends and without money; at thirty a successful journalist and a promising poet in Boston; at thirty-five the acknowledged leader of the Irish cause in America. O’Reilly’s life− comprising a short forty-six years− makes a compelling story. For the first time ever, extensive and comprehensive research has uncovered key material relating to all periods of O’Reilly’s life. This book will serve as a primary resource for all students and enthusiasts of Irish history, Western Australian lore, and Bostonian culture of the late 1800s, as well as those seeking to read a ripping good yarn!