O'Donovan Rossa is perhaps Reenascreena's most famous son (although residents of Rosscarbery invariably lay claim to him as their own, his mother was from Reenascreena, and many locals claim he was born here). Here Con O'Callaghan relays the story of O'Donovan Rossa.... (CJ)
Rossa was the son of Denis O’Donovan Rossa of Carrigangrenane and Nellie O’Driscoll of Reenascreena. He was baptised in Rosscarbery on the 10th September 1831. At the age of three he went to his grandfathers house at Reenascreena, and he stayed there until he was seven, then he returned to Rosscarbery. The years spent in Reenascreena gave him a good picture of Irish life at that time. He learned the Irish language, as that was the language of the house and the language of the farm.
At the age of seven he returned to Ross to prepare for Communion and Confirmation. Rossa got a great knowledge of Irish history from his parents. He had learned that his father’s family were originally from Rossmore, but were evicted from there and came to Carrigangrenane Reenascreena only to be evicted from there again and moved to Rosscarbery. He knew that the eviction from Rossmore was for Religious reasons and was during the penal times. The invaders were taking the land from the native Irish. The scenes he had seen during the famine years strengthened Rossa’s hatred of English rule in Ireland.Coming on the harvest time of the year 1845 the crops looked splendid, but one fine morning in July there was a cry around that some blight had struck the potato stalks. The leaves had been blighted and from being green, parts of them were turned black and brown and when these parts were felt between the fingers, they’d crumble into ashes. The air was left with a sticky odour of decay as if the hands of death had stricken the potato field and that everything growing in it was rotting. “This is the recollection that remains in my mind of what I felt in our marsh field that morning”. Then one of our fields had a crop of wheat and when that wheat was reaped and stacked the landlord put keepers on it. One of the keepers (Mickeleen O’Brien) went with my mother to the Lloyds mill and from the mill to the agent. When my mother came home she came without any money. The rent was £18 a year. The wheat was thirty shillings a bag, there were 12 bags and a few stone, that came in all to £18/5s and she gave all to the agent.
During those years in Ireland ’45 ’46 ’47, the potato crop failed but the other crops grew well, and as in the case of my people in ’45 the landlords came in on the people everywhere and seized the grain crops for the rent---not caring much what became of those whose labour and sweat produced those crops. The people died of starvation by thousands.
We adapt the English expression and call those years “The Famine Years” but there was no famine in the land. There is no famine in any land that produced as much food as will support the people of that land---if the food is left with them. But the English took the food away to England and let the people starve.”
A list of exports of food from Cork on a single day 14th Nov 1848 as listed in “Ireland a History” by Robert Kee:
- 147 Bales of Bacon
- 5 Casks of Hams
- 120 Casks and 135 barrels of Pork
- 149 Casks of Miscellaneous provisions
- 1996 Sacks and 950 Barrels of Oats
- 300 Bags of Flour
- 300 Head of Cattle
- 239 Sheep
- 9398 Firkins of Butter
- 542 Boxes of Eggs.
To further show that there was plenty food in the Country, Fr W Holland in his book “A History of West Cork” Quotes from Cork Arch, Record no 173, page 57. A Government Estimate reported some 16 million quarters of wheat for 1847.A Quarter-480 Lbs would be sufficient to support a single person for an entire year. In addition, there were sufficient green crops at a stone per head per day to support 4 million human beings.
Rossa’s father died in March 1847. He went to Smorane in 1848. The home in Ross got broken up and the family went to America. Rossa lived with his aunt, Mrs. Stephen Barry. Her daughter was married to Mortimer Downing who had a hardware shop in Skibbereen and Rossa worked there. The day that Rossa’s mother, sister and brother were leaving for America, he came to see them off. He mentions the long straight road from Tullig to Mauliregan and that he stayed looking up the hill after the horse and cart until they were gone from his view.
Rossa married Nanno Eagar in Skibbereen on the 6th June 1853. Shortly after getting married he set up his own business in Skibbereen, selling hardware and seeds and doing well. In 1856 the Phoenix National and Literary Society was founded, with the principal aim of rousing the spirit of the people, so low after the famine and the failure of the Young Ireland Rising. Through reading in the Phoenix Society, Rossa knew that in 1641, which was 40 years after the Battle of Kinsale, Catholics held just 59% of the land of Ireland. By 1688 this figure had dropped to 22%: in 1695 the figure was 14% and in 1714 Catholics owned just 7% of the land of Ireland.
From these figures Rossa could clearly see that it was easy to pass “The Act of Union” in 1800, and it was only property owners were allowed vote and I think it may be that undemocratic act which still ties the six counties to England.
Some members of the Phoenix Society were:
Daniel McCartie ,Dan Crowley, Patrick Carey Patrick J. Downing, Morty Moynahan.
James Stephens came in 1858 and the Phoenix Society became the Fenian Society. The society did not escape the attention of the police. With the help of an informer the leaders were arrested in December 1858. This man Daniel O’Sullivan (Goula) from Kerry got £50 for his false information. Rossa was remanded in Cork jail for 8 months. His business suffered as a result and he got into financial difficulties. The rich and landlord class ceased dealing with him, and the poor were afraid to be seen trading. His wife Nanno Eagar died in January 1859 and left four sons.
In twelve months Rossa fell in love again, this time with Ellen Buckley of Gortbrack and married in 1861. They had one son Florence Stephen O’Donovan Rossa, who lived until he was 21 and is the only one of his children buried in Ireland. Shortly after the birth, Ellen contracted fever and died. She is buried in Castlehaven old cemetery. Rossa was in America in 1863, when his wife Ellen died.
Rossa had a magic touch as far as girls were concerned; in April 1864 he met Mary Jane Irwin, a daughter of Maxwell Irwin of Clonakilty and married her on the 22nd October 1864. He often spoke of her as his little poetess.
James Stephens invited Rossa to Dublin to act as manger of “The Irish People” newspaper. They were not long in business when they experienced opposition from the clergy in almost every county in the country. Rossa travelled the whole country promoting the paper.
He said, “Our agents were bullied and threatened with hell and damnation. In Kilkenny the penance in confession was that they should not read The Irish People.”
On 15th September 1865 Rossa was arrested and taken to Chancery Lane police station. He was remanded in Richmond Prison, kept in solitary confinement (Those working for the paper were also arrested.). While awaiting trial, he had a visit from his wife. She told him what the papers were saying. Archbishop Cullen came out in a pastoral against them. Rossa said, our natural enemies were bad enough but when the sanctity of the Catholic Church corroborated the slander of the English enemy we were pretty badly off. The infamous Judge Keogh and a packed jury conducted the trail. He was found guilty of treason felony and the sentence was penal servitude for life.
On 13th December 1865 he starts his prison life in Mountjoy and is branded a “bad character.” When the formalities were gone through and the rules read to him, he asked for a pen and paper and he was told that he could not have the benefit of that rule, that there were special instructions in his case. This meant he was to be treated worse than the worst criminals in society.
“I went in to prison determined to bear all things patiently, determined to obey everything as I conceived that the dignity of the cause of liberty required that men should suffer calmly for it, but the more obedient and humble I was, the more my master showed a disposition to trample upon me”
“My cell was 10ft by 7ft. It contained a water closet, a table, a stool, a hammock bed made like a coffin and about two feet broad at the top, a saltbox, a tin box, a tin pint and a spoon. I got a pint weight of oakum to pick. I went to bed at eight o’clock and immediately after I was roused up and ordered to put my clothes out through the trapdoor. Every 15 minutes of the night the trapdoor was opened and I was called until I raised my head. There were two soldiers outside my cell window who kept calling “all night” to each other every half-hour. This continued for 10 nights. I never got an hour’s sleep. I read of some Eastern tyrants that tortured their prisoners by preventing them from sleeping. I experienced that torture under the government of those sanctimonious people who denounced it to the world when any one but themselves inflict it. On 23rd December I was moved to Pentonville in London. I felt happy to be in an English prison. I thought conditions could not be worse that what I had in Mountjoy. But I was greatly mistaken. I was deprived of my flannel underclothes, with the result that I was frozen, as there was snow at the time. I was not allowed write any letter here either. Captain Gambier was the director and we became well acquainted with each other.
He could order 28 days on bread and water in the most pathetic tones and regret that my bad behaviour was the cause. He gave orders to put me tailoring and told me the more obedient I was and the more industrious, the better it would be for me. The history of one day contains the history of nearly everyday of prison life, the same cheerless food, the same solitary confinement, the same dreary monotony, except if you grew discontented you could have a change for the worst in dark cells, bread and water and handcuffs.
Rising at six. Breakfast was 8oz. of bread and ¾ pt. of cocoa. Dinner was 4oz. meat, 5oz. bread and 1lb. potatoes. Supper was 7oz. bread and 1pt. porridge. You were to be at work from breakfast hour until 7:30pm except one hour for dinner.”
After a couple of months he received a letter from his wife. He got pen and paper to write to her but with instructions that he was not to report on his conditions in prison. At Mass on Sundays he was not to speak to anyone or even turn his head to see who was near him. Time went on and one day he was marched before the governor who said “I received a letter from your wife. I am able to inform you that on the 30th April your wife was delivered of a son.” But he would not give him the letter as he was not due a letter and he could not answer it as he could only write every six months. His next move was to Portland Prison. Here he and his fellow Fenians were lodged in a basement cell that was never before occupied. The cell was 7ft by 3½ft separated from one another by corrugated iron. The flooring was flagstones, ventilators and windows of cast iron and when it rained the water poured into these cells. To make life more unpleasant he was fitted with heavy boots for working (14lbs). He was put to work in the washroom. After a week in the washroom he and his friends were sent to work in the quarries to dress stones.
Rossa’s wife made plans to visit him. He spent a month looking forward to the visit. He had almost given up hope when he was called out from dinner one day, to a room where he saw his wife and the baby he had not seen before. The officer said “You can speak to your wife for 20mins but if you tell her anything relating to matters inside the prison or if she tells you anything to matters outside I must end the visit.” When the visit was over he went back to work with a heavier heart than ever as he could not say the things he felt needed to be said. The governor and the prison authorities didn’t want the public at large to know how the prisoners were being treated. Rossa made several attempts to get the news of the conditions in the prison to the world outside and suffered by being sentenced to bread and water for 2 or 3 days at a time. Some of his writing was successful because it brought on (as Rossa described) a sham inquiry by the sham commissioners Knox and Pollock.
Back at work again and after a week he was reported for talking while at work. For this, some of his friends got off with a reprimand, others 24hrs. bread and water while James O’Connor and Rossa got 17days bread and water. He was now working among convicts and criminals and objected to this, refused to work and was punished, as usual bread and water for 24hrs. In fact these criminals were far better to Rossa than those in charge. They gave him loaves of bread and got writing material for him. This landed him in more trouble; an inkbottle, a pen and pencil were found in his cell. He was punished again, bread and water for 3 days and 25day punishment diet (1pt. stirabout and 1lb. potatoes).
During this time his thoughts turned back to the famine scene of his youth and he put together without pen or paper his great famine poem “Jillen Andy.”
After this 28 day punishment he refused to work and he got bread and water every second day and penal class diet every other day. Next he was moved to Millbank, after the usual preliminaries he was put tailoring but was punished regularly because he could not do work. At this time the doctor bandaged all his fingers. He had been so reduced from cold and hunger in Portland that he came to Millbank with the flesh rotting off his hands. Conditions in Millbank were no better than those he left behind in Portland. The gaslight was left on in his cell every night and he was strip-searched every day. At this stage the end of March 1867 he was watched very carefully and he was put in a different cell at night in case of escape as it was just after the Fenian Rising. He had another visit from his wife, this time he was told nothing until she arrived in case he might have any statement ready for her. She told him she was going to America and to keep his spirits up. He found out afterwards she had made plans for his escape, but these were abandoned when he was moved so often. Speaking of the sham commission, he said, “These gentlemen Knox and Pollock were extremely polite to me, I thought I gave them every satisfaction. We parted on the best of terms, yet in their report they cut my throat”
After this commission was over, the authorities put the screws on him in earnest. Every day and night he was worried in one way or another. His cell at night was full of fleas. He was punished for working too slow and for having his task work finished before the appointed time. He could tolerate no more so he barricaded his cell but eventually surrendered. The punishment was 4 months in solitary confinement in a darkened cell on penal-class diet, with the first 12days on bread and water and he was obliged to pick oakum. During this time he was asked if he would volunteer to go to Western Australia, this he refused, as he would still be under the British Authorities.
To torment him more the authorities decided to move Rossa again. This time to Chatham. They made clever preparations for this. They moved 9 prisoners of good character to punishment cells and left one vacant for Rossa. To show him he was treated no worse than others, when he arrived in Chatham he went through the usual routine, measured, weighed, stripped, searched, bathed, re-dressed, shaven, shorn and entered on the books. On his second day here, he got paper and a pen to write to his wife. The next day he was told the letter would not be sent out as he spoke of his treatment. He was sent to work among 9 thieves, breaking stones. He could speak to the man next to him but the conversation could not extend any further.
Rossa was a kiotog and while working away an officer came up to him and ordered him to use his right hand like the others. This he had to do and it was very awkward for him. It vexed him later on when he saw others were allowed use their left hand.
One day a fellow prisoner named Pratt gave him a piece of newspaper. That evening his cell was searched, the paper was found and he got 10days bread and water. He later found out that Pratt was a spy, sent in to get him into trouble so that they could punish him more. He could get 2days punishment for turning his head in church.
On the 1st June he decided not to work anymore, so he threw the hammer out over the prison wall. He was taken before the governor and got 3days bread and water. He told the governor he was not going to work anymore and that he would not pay him any more salaams. For this the punishment was repeated day after day for 17days. Next morning he filled his slop-pail with clean water, he heard the governor and officers approaching his cell. The officer shouted “Attention,” (Salute the Governor.) When the governor looked through the bars at Rossa, he got the water straight in the face. He was allowed to rest quietly that day but next morning the warders came in and he was handcuffed behind his back. At 12o’clock his dinner was brought, the handcuffs were opened and tied in front. He was left to eat as best he could. When he had eaten, his hands were again tied behind his back. At 2 o’clock he was taken out of his cell, the irons were opened; he got his shoes and cap and dressed himself for exercise. His hands were tied again and he was led into the yard. When the hour was up the procedure was reversed and his hands tied behind his back again. At six o’clock he got supper, the hands were brought to the front and returned to the rear afterwards. At 45 minutes past seven the handcuffs were removed and he was left in peace till morning. At 15 minutes past 5 the next morning the handcuffs were tied behind his back, half an hour later they were untied and tied in front to allow him eat his breakfast. Having eaten they were bound behind until dinnertime.
This continued day after day for 35days, his hands were cut from the irons but even the prison doctor would not have any sympathy for him
After 14days of this treatment he was taken before the deputy governor. The sentence for the water throwing offence was read to him. He was to be kept in his cell and never left out for 28 days. He was to get 8ozs bread and 1pt water at 5-30 in the morning and the same at 6 in the evening and every fourth day he was to have dinner consisting of
1pt stirabout, 1 lb potatoes and ¼ oz of salt. He was allowed no books except the Bible. His clothes were taken away every night and given to him every morning. At one point they even removed his bed and he was injured by warders in their over use of force.
After this he had a talk with Captain DuCane, Chairman of the board of directors and conditions improved. He went to work again brick –cleaning and chopping wood. The jailers realised that more could be achieved by being kind rather than by punishment.
In November 1869 Rossa’s companions were John Devoy, John McClure, Burk, O Connell, Halpin and Mulleda. There was extra care taken of these. They were exercised in a different place. The reason behind this was that the Tipperary election was taking place and Rossa was a candidate. The Government was alarmed and even fitted extra locks in case he might escape. In spite of all this security, Rossa heard by secret lines of Communication that he had won the election, before the governor came to him one day and said “I am instructed by the Secretary of State to inform you that the Co of Tipperary has elected you a Member of Parliament.” His time as an M.P.was short. As soon as the result was announced the Government moved a writ declaring the result null and void, as a convicted felon could not sit in the House of Commons. Still the result gave them the knowledge that the people of Tipperary and Ireland supported their cause and this raised their spirits.
Rossa’s efforts to smuggle-out accounts of his treatment began to bear fruit. Two Irish M. Ps. George Henry Moore and Sir John Grey raised questions in the commons. The Home Secretary, Mr. Bruce denied any ill treatment. At last Gladstone and Bruce could no longer deny the charges, so a commission of inquiry was set up under Lord Devon. This commenced on 24th May, ended 20th Sept 1870. They held 63 meetings in all, 8 of them in Chatham. Some of the prisoners did not give evidence but Rossa did. He knew he could prove his case. Despite the perjury of his jailers, Rossa was proved right. The report of this Commission published in Oct 1870 was instrumental in the later release of the Fenian prisoners. Amnesty meetings were held in Ireland and England. Petitions were sent to the Queen and Gladstone.
On 16th Dec 1870 the announcement was made “Gentlemen. I have to inform you that her Majesty’s Government have carefully considered the case of the convicts now undergoing their sentences for treason and treason felony and that they have recommended to the Crown the exercise towards them of the Royal Clemency, so far as it is compatible with the assured maintenance of tranquillity and order in the Country. They will therefore be discharged upon the condition of not remaining in, nor returning to the United Kingdom”.
W.E. Gladstone.
Rossas wife came immediately to Chatham. Even though it was Christmas week, she could not get him out before the holidays. The popular choice of destination for the prisoners was either Australia or America. Rossa chose America, as he would not be living under the Union Jack. The meanness of the English was to be seen, as the Fenian prisoners would not be released until after the Christmas holidays.
On Jan 5th 1871 Rossa signed the “Patent of Pardon “ Rossa was free, taken to Chatham railway station. He went from there to Liverpool and then by Boat to Cork. There his wife and child met him. They went to America with him. They had 12 other children.
He remained there most of the time until his Death in 1915. He made 3 visits back to Ireland, the first in 1894 on a lecture tour, then in 1904 when he unveiled the “Maid of Erin” monument here in Skibbereen and he was also granted the freedom of the City of Cork. He came again in
In America he engaged in many lines of business, Hotel keeping, Journalism, he wrote his “ Recollections, “Years in English Jails,” other Books and many articles. He never failed to condemn the British Government for their tyranny to himself, and in general, their unjust acquisition of the lands of Irish Chieftains.
While in New York he was shot by an English woman. She was proved insane and sent to a lunatic asylum but released quietly after a few months. The bullet remained in his body but didn’t cause any harm. He kept in touch with those who wished for Irish Freedom, he sent £50 to a fund to help his friend Brian Dillon, the Cork patriot on his release from prison.He knew that the British officers could not be trusted; he said that English propagandists could “Lie like Hell”.
The Catholic Bishops had a hatred for the Fenians. The Bishop of Ross at the time O’Hea refused to hear Rossa’s Confession. The Bishop of Kerry is reputed to have said “Hell was not hot enough nor eternity long enough to punish the Fenians.”
A letter from Most Rev Dr McCabe in Rome to Rev.J. Reynolds Longford Ireland read - Your letter received. “ Let all unite and prepare for contest, let no one be intimidated. I am more convinced than ever of the necessity of opposing Fenian candidates. No Priest is to sign the new amnesty petition.” In connection with the Fenian paper “Irish People” Dr Cullen Archbishop of Dublin wrote in Pastoral “That for suppressing that paper the public authorities deserve the Thanks and Gratitude of all those who love Ireland, its Peace and its Religion”.
This opposition to the Fenians by the Bishops of Ireland had the approval of the Pope of that time Pius ix.
In spite of the Bishops’ condemnation, when Rossa’s coffin was in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin and Solemn High Mass was sung, there were Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Passionists, Carmelites, Benedictines and Vincentians in the choir.
Before he died Rossa expressed a wish to be buried in Ireland, so on his death in St.Vincent’s Hospital, Staten Island, New York on 29th June 1915 his wife contacted Tom Clarke, to make arrangements for his burial. As soon as his death was announced an English newspaper published what purported to be a cable from its New York correspondent who stated he had a talk with Rossa every day and this was his dying message to the people of England.
“ When I die you might tell the English people, I have fought a good fight according to my views, and long ago lost all hatred, let alone prejudice against the British Government. I hope the Irish will stand united to-fight Germany, the common enemy of civilisation.”
Mrs O’ Donovan Rossa knew that this was a total lie, and she wrote to the editor, saying, that due to her Husband’s ill health, nobody had the opportunity to interview or speak to him during the last year of his life. She said “My husband O’ Donovan Rossa was as he said of himself in the dock, an Irish man since he was born, and I can testify that during his last long illness, he was the same unconquerable Irishman, breathing the same unalterable desire for the absolute freedom of his country and its utter separation from England.
Rossa is fondly remembered in Ireland and we have three monuments in West Cork, 1 in Reenascreena, 1 in Rosscarbery and O’ Donovan Rossa Park in Skibbereen. In Dublin there is a Rossa memorial in St Stephens Green near Grafton St corner. There are 4 GAA clubs named in his honour,
- O’Donovan Rossa in London
- O’Donovan Rossa in Magherafelt Co Derry
- O’Donovan Rossa in Belfast
- O’Donovan Rossa in Skibbereen
Rossa’s funeral in 1915 and the oration by Padraig Pearse renewed spirits in Ireland and gave inspiration for the struggle that followed. The IRA learned from Rossa that spies and informers should not get a second chance and this contributed to their success.
My Grandfather Daniel Buckley Gortbrack was at Rossa’s funeral. Being a relative he was issued with a Graveside ticket. (He was a nephew of Ellen Buckley, Rossa’s second wife.) He, and other friends left the graveyard early to get the train back to Cork. As a result they missed Pearse’s oration. This was a cause of great regret later on as History unfolded.
The Committee that organised Rossa’s funeral had many of the leading nationalist figures of that time. Most of the 1916 leaders were involved. Looking at the list of names, his funeral in Glasnevin must have been a gathering of the Greatest Irishmen of the 20-century.