Annual John Devoy Commemoration
Special guest, Frank MacGabhann, whose aunts, Alice Comiskey and Lily Carragher, cared for John Devoy in his later years in New York, has donated John Devoy’s chair to Kildare County Archives. The chair will be on display and Frank will speak about his aunts and their relationship with Devoy. The event will also feature John Devoy; the Greatest of the Fenians, a short film by Donal Higgins, Naas.
‘John Devoy was born in 1842 at Kill, Co. Kildare, in a small cottage on the main road from Naas to Dublin. He died in America in 1928, having given almost seventy years of his life to secure the freedom of Ireland. The task which he shouldered was that which had been undertaken by numbers of previous generations, the breaking of English power in Ireland. Devoy’s time as an active Fenian in Ireland was short; his time as an exile in America was, on the other hand, extremely long. The peculiar quality of tenacity he possessed served him as Fenian soldier, prisoner and exile. At Easter 1916, John Devoy announced the declaration of the Irish Republic to a large gathering of Irish people in New York. Tears of joy streamed down his face. He was the Fenian – almost the only one, certainly the greatest one – who lived long enough to see the fruits of freedom. He died in 1928 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.’ (Michael Smyth, 1964)
Refreshments from 6.30pm
7.00pm – 8.00pm
All Welcome