Davis, Thomas Osborne (1814-1845), was an Irish lawyer, essayist, poet, and patriot. He wanted to unite all creeds and classes in Ireland into a strong national movement. His writings had a strong influence on the Sinn Fein Irish nationalist political party in the 1900’s.
Davis was one of the leaders of the Young Ireland movement, and one of its founders with John Blake Dillon, a newspaper editor, and Charles Gavan Duffy, a historian and journalist. To further the aims of Young Ireland, in 1842 Davis and his friends founded the newspaper The Nation. Davis was the chief writer on the paper, and for the three years before his death contributed hundreds of poems and essays. Davis addressed his essays to the depressed and dispossessed common people of Ireland. He wanted to inspire in them pride in their history, music, art, and cultural traditions. The policy advocated by Davis can be summed up in his own words: “From whatever stock they spring, Celtic, Norman or Saxon, if men love and serve the country, they are Irish.” Davis wrote such patriotic poems as “A Nation Once Again” and “The Battle of Fontenoy.”
Thomas Osborne Davis was born on Oct. 14, 1814, in Mallow, Cork. He studied law at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1838, he was called to the bar. He died on Sept. 16, 1845.
