Michael Davitt: A Brief History.
Michael Davitt
Some feel that Michael Davitt achieved everything
he did despite losing his right arm in an accident
involving a spinning machine whilst working in a
cotton mill at around eleven years of age. In
truth, fate had played a cruel trick and Davitt
almost certainly became the man he did because of
the tragedy, rather than despite it.
Davitt was born on 25 March, 1846, in Straide,
County Mayo, Ireland, in the midst of “The Great
Hunger,” the disastrous famine which decimated
Ireland and forever changed it.
Remains of a
Haslingden Mill
An early memory for Davitt was the eviction of his
family from their home. He was six. Davitt’s father set
off for England and came to settle in the Northern town
of Haslingden. In 1855, he sent for his family to join
him. The North of England at this time was thriving and
the mills were hungry for young, cheap workers. Michael
Davitt joined their ranks at the tender age of 10.
Sometime after seeing a young friend killed in a mill
accident, Davitt also fell victim to the dangers of the
workplace. He survived, but his right arm had to be
amputated, and the course of his life was from that
point on dramatically altered.
Davitt spent the next four years in the Wesleyan School, learning that brains
could be often put to better use than brawn, and his education, apart from
leading to a good position with the local Post Office, had also broadened his
mind and led to a growing interest in the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood).
An Irish Land League
Poster dating from
the 1880’s
From this point on, there was no turning back for the young
but increasingly idealistic - and politically-minded -
Davitt, and within a few years he had immersed himself in
the cause, achieving the position of organizing secretary
for Northern England and Scotland.
Trouble soon followed.
Dartmoor Prison
In 1870, Davitt was arrested in London on
IRB business and sentenced to fifteen
years in Dartmoor prison. He was released
on a, “ticket of leave,” along with other
prisoners, after seven years. But whilst
suffering the harsh regime there, which
gave no consideration to his physical
disability, he continued developing both
his political and his humanitarian
thinking.
Whilst in prison, Davitt came to his oft quoted conclusion that, “the
land question can be definitely settled only by making the cultivators
of the soil proprietors.” With that as the ultimate aim, the ‘Three
F’s’ (Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free Sale), became the foundation
of The Land League, and when Davitt returned to the country of his
birth - the country he had been made to leave as a helpless child - it
was as a force to be reckoned with.
A starving Irish family.
Photo: The National
Library of Ireland.
Davitt returned to his homeland to find
it once again in the midst of a great
famine. He wasted no time in getting
involved in a ‘campaign of agitation,’
to reduce rents.
This met with success and in 1879 the
Land League of Mayo was founded, with
the full support of the powerful
Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party and, at the
time, Chief Campaigner for Home Rule.
Charles Stewart
Parnell
Parnell later became President of the national Land League,
a brilliant tactical move that united all land agitators
and made The Land League a true political force in Ireland.
One of their most famous successes was the infamous
ostracizing of the land agent Captain Charles Boycott,
ending with Boycott abandoning Ireland and leading to the
coining of the phrase, “to boycott.”
But much progress was due to Davitt’s relentless campaigns
and fearlessly outspoken speeches, which led to his
imprisonment, release, and re-arrest, all of which failed
to subdue him. Finally, in 1881, opposition crumbled and
the Land Act finally granted the ‘three F’s.’
More progress was made with the Wyndham’s Land Purchase Act which gave
financial encouragement to landlords to sell their estates, for which
ownership would ultimately be transferred to the tenants. Davitt, however,
opposed this, feeling strongly that landlords should receive no compensation
for land that belonged rightly to the state. Davitt had also become a staunch
advocate of Home Rule.
Mrs. Mary Davitt
& Children 1905.
Photo: The Michael Davitt
Museum, Mayo.
Earlier, in the late 1870’s Davitt had
traveled to the United States, where his
mother and three sisters had settled. He had
gone planning to win US support for his ‘The
Land For The People,’ policy, but at least one
American, Mary Yore of Oakland, California,
had ideas of her own, and Davitt fell in love.
Once married, they moved to Ireland, where the
people gave them The Land League cottage in
Ballybrack, Dalkey, County Dublin, as a
wedding present.
Photo: The Micheal
Davitt Museum, Mayo.
In November, 1890, Captain William O’Shea divorced
his wife Katherine, citing Parnell as corespondent.
The Catholic Church and the
establishment demanded Parnell’s retirement. The
scandal was seismic, splitting the cause down the
middle into those either for or against Parnell.
Davitt stood against.
Much has been made of this, but the only sacrifice
Davitt could have made on behalf of Parnell would
have been to sacrifice the cause itself in a toeto-
toe fight with establishment, church, and the
moral standards of the people.
Parnell - as brilliant and politically aware as he
was - had all but handed their enemies the
ammunition they needed to wreak destruction. And
they did. Davitt didn’t flinch. His priority was
the cause, and the protection of its reputation.
The years that followed held both triumph and tragedy for Davitt. Having been
denied the position of MP in the past (due to his being in prison), he
finally became MP for West Mayo. In 1895, one of Michael and Mary’s five
children (three boys, two girls), Kathleen, died of tuberculosis, aged 7.
Aside from the fact that he is credited as one of the founders of the British
Labour Party, Davitt also helped William O’Brien in the creation of his
United Irish League.
Davitt died in Elphis Hospital, Dublin, of septic poisoning in 1906. He was
sixty. Although his family had planned a private funeral, some 20,000 people
came to see the coffin and show their final respects.
He had traveled extensively in his lifetime, fighting for the cause of the
poor and oppressed the world over, regardless of race or religion. His
influence was profound. Years later no-less a figure than Mahatama Ghanadi
cited Davitt and The Land League movement as a major influence in the
creation of his own peaceful resistance movement.
Haslingden
The wider world apart, the small Northern town of
Haslingden has never forgotten Michael Davitt,
and Davitt’s family have likewise never forgotten
the town. In 1946, Davitt’s birth centenary, his
son, Dr. Robert Davitt, came to mark the
occasion. In 1996, his grandson, Fr. Thomas
Davitt, CM, preached a homily at the local St.
Mary’s Church before a packed congregation and a
special envoy from the Irish Government.
Written for thelandleague.org by Pat Brien
Author of The Breaking News
Author of The Breaking News
For more history about the club and it's Irish heritage see:
The Irish Heritage In Haslingden Committee