biography
pronunciation:
[davit]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1846–1906)
|
| biography:
| Founder of the Irish Land League, born in Straid, Co Mayo,W Ireland. Before becoming a journalist, he worked in a cotton mill, where he lost an arm in an accident. In 1866 he joined the Fenian Movement, and was arrested in 1870 for sending guns to Ireland from the USA, and sentenced to 15 years penal servitude. Released in 1877, he began an anti-landlord crusade which culminated in the Land League (1879). During a further period of imprisonment, he was elected an MP (1882), but disqualifed from taking his seat. A strong Home Ruler and opponent of Parnell, he was twice more an MP (1892–3, 1895–9). |
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