Michael Davitt

Michael Davitt (1846-1906) is a man often hailed as one of the main figures of nineteenth century Irish history, and is remembered in particular as the father of the Land League. In spite of this, research on his life and significance has been limited, the historiography being dominated for a quarter of a century by Theo Moodys Davitt and Irish Revolution (Oxford, 1981). The importance of this work is unquestioned, and yet it only covers Davitts life until 1882 after which time, Moody concedes in his conclusion, he pursued a career as nationalist, labour leader, democratic reformer, humanitarian, and internationalist. Thus, it is the purpose of this collection of essays to build upon, challenge, and revise Moodys work to highlight areas of Davitts life which have remained in the background (such as his impact on the British labour movement, and especially Scotland, his education in Lancashire and his own views on education in a free Ireland) and to reassess Davitts posit