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Today we pause for a moment to commemorate the birth of Michael Davitt. This child of the ‘Great Hunger’ was born in Straide, County Mayo, 175 years ago, on the 25th of March 1846.

The Davitt family suffered the trauma and humiliation of eviction, thus compelling them to start a new life in the town of Haslingden in Lancashire.
Unfortunately, throughout his life, Davitt would be no stranger to adversity.
He worked as a child labourer in a textile mill. A factory accident resulted in him having his right arm amputated.

In normal circumstances, such a disability was likely to mean marginalisation and poverty. However thanks to the support of a philanthropic manufacturer, John Dean, Michael was able to avail of an education at a Wesleyan school.

Those formative experiences were to prove very instructive for the young Davitt and formed the basis of his work thereafter.

• The importance of a fair system of land tenure
• Free education for the disadvantaged.
• The political and social emancipation of the working classes and those on the periphery.
• The desirability of an Irish Republic consisting of people co-existing equally and peacefully.

While Davitt made an integral contribution to the shaping of a modern Ireland, he addressed and dealt with issues in a global context.

His peaceful agrarian revolution influenced the great Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi.

Many of his ideas on land and labour were adopted by his associate Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first President of China.

He discussed international issues with President Theodore Roosevelt.
Davitt also travelled to Russia on two occasions to interview the author Leo Tolstoy.
He wrote extensively on matters relating to the Aborigines, Maoris and Jews.
He campaigned tirelessly on national and international issues of liberty and social justice until his untimely death in 1906.

May he Rest in Peace.