History: With this year's various centenary commemorations of Davitt's death it may be said at last that he is no longer the "Forgotten Hero" of Andy Irvine's song. However, although there are at least three studies of Davitt's career and ideas in preparation, little has been published this year.
Bernard O'Hara is a native of Killasser, Co Mayo, now living in Galway, where he is registrar of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. His Michael Davitt and Michael Davitt Remembered both appeared in 1984; he has published on various aspects of Mayo history and is currently president of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. This, his most recent book, helps fill the need for an overview of Davitt's life in providing "a concise illustrated biography".
The book is divided into 10 chapters: the first provides a brief introduction to the land question, followed by five dealing chronologically with different periods of Davitt's life. Chapter seven discusses the emergence of tenant ownership in Ireland, and this is followed by an examination of Davitt's six books and his manuscript, "Jottings in Solitary", which remained unpublished in his lifetime. His involvement in labour politics and his death are dealt with in chapter nine, while his overall career is assessed in the final chapter, entitled A Great Irish Patriot. An appendix, contributed by Nancy Smyth, chair of the Michael Davitt Memorial Association, details the history of the association, which was responsible for the establishment of the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide and for many years held the torch for Davitt's memory in an Ireland that overlooked him. The book is published by Mayo County Council, which generously funded the inclusion of 40 photographs, carefully chosen and beautifully reproduced.
As O'Hara makes clear, the book was chiefly based on secondary sources and relies heavily on TW Moody's monumental Davitt and Irish Revolution, 1846-82 (1981). However, Moody's study of Davitt's early career runs to 674 pages, and is now long out of print (it is a pity no enterprising publisher thought to reprint it to mark the Davitt centenary) and O'Hara's more accessible format allows the general reader to avail of much of its scholarship. The strongest aspect of the book is where it discusses the Mayo and Galway context, where O'Hara draws on his knowledge of local history, such as the fact that Capt Boycott in fact returned to Ireland frequently on holidays after the conflict from which the practice of ostracising recalcitrant landlords, agents or tenants took his name. Another valuable piece of local information describes the platform for the meeting at Irishtown. The timber was loaned by Joe Dalton of McDonnell's store in Milltown on condition that no nails were driven into it. But in order to stabilise the structure several six-inch nails had to be inserted. Since the local organisers could not afford to pay for the timber, they decided to keep it and make some dressers, which were sold locally to raise the money required to pay for its purchase.
O'Hara's treatment of figures who played significant roles in initiating and promoting the land movement, such as Matthew Harris, James Daly and JJ Louden, is also a useful corrective to the tendency to focus exclusively on Dublin- or London-based leaders. The book is clearly written and complex issues, such as tenant right and "rent at the point of a bayonet", are cogently explained. The sources used are rather limited: recent studies, such as Owen McGee's The IRB, Fergus Campbell's Land and Revolution: Nationalist Politics in the West of Ireland, 1891-1921, and MJ Kelly's The Fenian Ideal and Irish Nationalism 1882-1916 might have been consulted.
The political context is less thoroughly treated than the land question, and there is a curious reference that appears to suggest that "Michael Davitt lived to see the Home Rule legislation enacted and suspended", whereas elsewhere his death in 1906 is well- covered. Nevertheless, for achieving what the book sets out to do, which is to provide a concise and well-illustrated account of Davitt's life, it is to be recommended.
Carla King is Lecturer in Modern History at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin, and is working on a biography of Davitt's later life
The centenary of Michael Davitt's death is commemorated at the Parnell Summer School, Avondale House, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, from tomorrow until Aug 18
Davitt By Bernard O'Hara Published by Mayo Co Council in association with the Michael Davitt Memorial Association, 136pp. €18