Kevin Izod O'Doherty



Kevin Izod O'Doherty (September 7 1823 - July 15 1905) was an Irish Australian politician.

O'Doherty was born in Dublin on 7 September 1823 (as per Dict. Nat. Biog.), although other sources indicate that he may have been born in June 1824 and Charles Gavan Duffy, in his My Life in Two Hemispheres, states that O'Doherty was still under age when he was arrested in July 1848. Gavan Duffy, however, was writing 50 years later. O'Doherty received a good education and studied medicine, but before he was qualified, joined the Young Ireland party and in June 1848 established the Irish Tribune. Only five editions were issued, and on 10 July 1848, O'Doherty was arrested and charged with treason-felony. At the first and second trials the juries disagreed, but at the third trial he was found guilty and sentenced to transportation for 10 years.

He arrived in Tasmania in November 1849, was at once released on parole to reside at Oatlands, and in 1854 received a pardon with the condition that he must not reside in Great Britain or Ireland. He went to Paris and carried on his medical studies, making one secret visit to Ireland to marry Mary Anne Kelly, to whom he was affianced before leaving Ireland. He received an unconditional pardon in 1856, and completed his studies in Dublin, graduating FRCS in 1857. He practised in Dublin successfully, and in 1862 went to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and became well-known as one of its leading physicians.

He was elected a member of the legislative assembly in 1867, in 1872 was responsible for a health act being passed, and was also one of the early opponents of the traffic in kanakas. In 1877 he transferred to the legislative council, and in 1885 resigned as he intended to settle in Europe.

In Ireland he was cordially welcomed, and was returned unopposed as MP. for Meath North to the House of Commons in November; but finding the climate did not suit him he did not seek reelection in 1886, and returned to Brisbane in that year. He attempted to take up his medical practice again but was not successful, and he died in poor circumstances on 15 July 1905.

His wife and a daughter survived him. A fund was raised by public subscription to provide for his widow, Mary Anne (1826 - 1910), a poet, who in her early days was well known as the author of Irish patriotic verse in The Nation under the soubriqet "Eva". In Australia she occasionally contributed to Queensland journals, and one of her poems is included in A Book of Queensland Verse. She died at Brisbane on 21 May 1910.

Additional Reading

 * The Politics of Irish Literature: from Thomas Davis to W. B. Yeats, Malcolm Brown, Allen & Unwin, 1973
 * John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.
 * Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M. H. Gill & Sons Ltd., 1922.
 * Brigadier-General Thomas Francis Meagher: His Political and Military Career, W. F. Lyons, Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1869
 * Young Ireland and 1848, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press, 1949
 * Daniel O'Connell - The Irish Liberator, Dennis Gwynn, Hutchinson & Co, Ltd.
 * O'Connell, Davis and the Collages Bill, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press, 1948
 * Smith O’Brien And The “Secession”, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press
 * Meagher of The Sword, Edited By Arthur Griffith, M. H. Gill & Sons, Ltd., 1916
 * Young Irelander Abroad - The Diary of Charles Hart, Edited by Brendan O'Cathaoir, University Press.
 * John Mitchel - First Felon for Ireland, Edited By Brian O'Higgins, 1947
 * Rossa's Recollections - 1838 to 1898 (intro by Sean O'Luing), The Lyons Press, 2004
 * Labour in Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street, 1910
 * The Re-Conquest of Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street, 1915
 * John Mitchel - Noted Irish Lives, Louis J. Walsh, The Talbot Press Ltd., 1934
 * Thomas Davis: Essays and Poems, Centenary Memoir, M. H. Gill & Sons, Ltd., 1945
 * Life of John Martin, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy & Co., Ltd., 1901
 * Life of John Mitchel, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy and Co., Ltd., 1908
 * John Mitchel, P. S. O'Hegarty, Maunsel & Company, Ltd., 1917.
 * The Fenians in Context: Irish Politics & Society 1848-82, R. V. Comerford, Wolfhound Press, 1998
 * William Smith O'Brien and the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, Robert Sloan, Four Courts Press, 2000
 * Irish Mitchel, Seamus MacCall, Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., 1938.
 * Ireland Her Own, T. A. Jackson, Lawrence & Wishart, Ltd., 1976.
 * Life and Times of Daniel O'Connell, T. C. Luby, Cameron & Ferguson Publ.
 * Young Ireland, T. F. O'Sullivan, The Kerryman, Ltd., 1945.
 * Irish Rebel: John Devoy and America's Fight for Irish Freedom, Terry Golway, St. Martin's Griffin, 1998
 * Paddy's Lament - Ireland 1846-1847, Prelude to Hatred, Thomas Gallagher, Poolbeg, 1994
 * The Great Shame, Thomas Keneally, Anchor Books, 1999
 * James Fintan Lalor, Thomas P. O'Neill, Golden Publications, 2003
 * Charles Gavan Duffy: Conversations With Carlyle (1892), with Introduction (Stray Thoughts On Young Ireland) by Brendan Clifford, Athol Books, Belfast, ISBN 0 85034 1140 (p. 32 titled Foster’s account Of Young Ireland)
 * Envoi, Taking Leave Of Roy Foster, by Brendan Clifford and Julianne Herlihy, Aubane Historical Society, Cork.
 * The Falcon Family, or, Young Ireland, by M. W. Savage, London, 1845