Philip Gray
Encyclopedia
Philip Gray was an Irish republican, revolutionary and a member of the Irish Confederation
Irish Confederation
The Irish Confederation was an Irish nationalist independence movement, established on 13 January 1847 by members of the Young Ireland movement who had seceded from Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association. Historian T. W...

. He took part in the Risings of 1848 and 1849 along with James Fintan Lalor
James Fintan Lalor
James Fintan Lalor was an Irish revolutionary, journalist, and “one of the most powerful writers of his day.” A leading member of the Irish Confederation , he was to play an active part in both the Rebellion in July 1848 and the attempted Rising in September of that same year...

 and both James Stephens
James Stephens (Irish nationalist)
James Stephens was an Irish Republican and the founding member of an originally unnamed revolutionary organisation in Dublin on 17 March 1858, later to become known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood , also referred to as the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood by contemporaries.-Early...

 and John O'Mahony
John O'Mahony
John O'Mahony may refer to:*John O'Mahony , founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood *John O'Mahony , Irish Fine Gael politician representing Mayo and twice an All-Ireland winner managing the Galway Football Team*Sean Matgamna , also known as John O'Mahony, Trotskyist theorist*Seán O'Mahony ,...

, who would go on to establish the Irish Republican Brotherhood
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...

 in Ireland and the Fenian Brotherhood
Fenian Brotherhood
The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish republican organization founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Members were commonly known as "Fenians"...

 in the United States.

Early life

Philip Gray was born in Dublin, Ireland; a former mechanic, clerk and part-time medical student, he along with Thomas Clarke Luby
Thomas Clarke Luby
Thomas Clarke Luby was an Irish revolutionary, author, journalist and one of the founding members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.-Early life:...

, according to Owen McGee, constituted the remnants of the Irish revolutionary conspiracy started in 1849.

Young Irelanders

He joined the Swift Confederate Club in 1847, and became its secretary and leading inspiration. Under his influence the Club became one of the most militant and active of the Dublin clubs.

Gray studied military texts and began drilling bodies of men every evening in the Club premises in Queen's Street. The members of the Club also tried recruiting from English regiments, stationed in Ireland. The Swift Confederate Club was very frustrated when the Confederate
Irish Confederation
The Irish Confederation was an Irish nationalist independence movement, established on 13 January 1847 by members of the Young Ireland movement who had seceded from Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association. Historian T. W...

 leaders came to the decision not to attempt the rescue of John Mitchel
John Mitchel
John Mitchel was an Irish nationalist activist, solicitor and political journalist. Born in Camnish, near Dungiven, County Londonderry, Ireland he became a leading member of both Young Ireland and the Irish Confederation...

 before his transportation.

1848 Rebellion

While William Smith O'Brien
William Smith O'Brien
William Smith O'Brien was an Irish Nationalist and Member of Parliament and leader of the Young Ireland movement. He was convicted of sedition for his part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848, but his sentence of death was commuted to deportation to Van Diemen's Land. In 1854, he was...

 attempted to arouse a Rebellion in the South of Ireland, Gray tried to instigate an insurrection in County Meath
County Meath
County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...

, and failing, left his position in the Railway office in Drogheda
Drogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....

 and made his way to County Tipperary
County Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

. After the failure at Ballingarry
Ballingarry
Ballingarry is a village in the barony of Slievardagh, South Tipperary in Ireland. It is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. The village is situated near the Kilkenny border on route R691. Ballingarry is located near Slievenamon.-Amenities:On the Main Street may be...

 on July 29, 1848, he joined up with John O'Mahony, who entrusted the command of the County Waterford
County Waterford
*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...

 insurgents to John Savage
John Savage (Fenian)
John Savage was a poet, journalist and author. A member of both the Young Irelanders and the Fenians.-Early life:...

 and Gray. He was involved in an attack on the Portlaw police barracks. O'Mahony described Gray years later as the most indomitable man he met in 1848.

Gray underwent many hardships while eluding capture by both the police and military in County Waterford for four months in the autumn and early winter of 1848. Hiding out in the Knockmealdown
Knockmealdown
Knockmealdown is the highest peak of the Knockmealdown Range of mountains, located on the border between Co Tipperary and Co Waterford. The peak itself is located in County Waterford and is the highest point in that county. However, since the county border generally follows the summit line the...

 and Comeragh Mountains
Comeragh Mountains
The Comeragh Mountains are a glaciated mountain range situated in the south east of Ireland in County Waterford. They are located between the town of Clonmel on the County Tipperary border and the villages of Kilrossanty and Kilmacthomas in County Waterford.The twelve mountains which form the...

. He worked to form a secret society pledged to Irish freedom in the valley of the Suir. He then returned to Dublin, were he put a lot of his old friends from the Swift Confederate Club under oath, and was reputed to have had a thousand members in Dublin alone after which he escaped to France. While in France he met up again with O'Mahony and Stephens.

Returns to Ireland

He returned in 1849 and was again an active agent in organising another out-break in the autumn of that year in the company of James Fintan Lalor
James Fintan Lalor
James Fintan Lalor was an Irish revolutionary, journalist, and “one of the most powerful writers of his day.” A leading member of the Irish Confederation , he was to play an active part in both the Rebellion in July 1848 and the attempted Rising in September of that same year...

, having established a secret military society. They were then joined by Luby, Joseph Brennan
Joseph Brennan
Joseph Brennan may refer to:*Joseph Charles Brennan , English recipient of the Victoria Cross*Joseph Brennan , Irish civil servant...

 and a dozen other members who had been active in the Swift Confederate Club, who met with Gray near Rathmines
Rathmines
Rathmines is a suburb on the southside of Dublin, about 3 kilometres south of the city centre. It effectively begins at the south side of the Grand Canal and stretches along the Rathmines Road as far as Rathgar to the south, Ranelagh to the east and Harold's Cross to the west.Rathmines has...

' church, Dublin, and joined the Society. Lalor had attempted in a letter to persuade Charles Gavan Duffy
Charles Gavan Duffy
Additional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....

 to join with them, but Gavan Duffy informed him that he would have no hand, act or part in any secret society, and attempted to dissuade Lalor from participation in such societies.

1849 Rising

The attack on the police barracks at Cappoquin took place that September, and was to signal the end of that Insurrectionary movement.

The Tribune

Gray returned to Dublin, and secured a clerkship at an office in Smithfield, and afterwards held a position in the office of The Tribune, which was established by John Edward Pigot
John Edward Pigot
John Edward Pigot was an Irish music collector.Pigot was born in Kilworth, Co. Cork and became friendly with Thomas Davis of the Young Ireland movement. They published advertisements in The Nation asking those who had Irish tunes to send them in. This started the Pigot Collection. He studied...

, the son of David Richard Pigot
David Richard Pigot
David Richard Pigot PC, KC was one of the leading Irish judges of his time.Pigot was born in Kilrush, the only son of John Pigot, a doctor. He went to school in Fermoy and graduated from the University of Dublin...

, the Roman Catholic Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer Rev. John Kenyon, Prof. Sullivan, Thomas Mason Jones, Denny Lane, John O'Donnell, Ryan of Bruree, and others, with Thomas Wallis and John Fisher Murray as contributors, with Thomas Clarke Luby as sub-editor. This account is somewhat contradicted by Robert Kee
Robert Kee
Robert Kee CBE is a British broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland....

, who suggests that the paper belonged to Philip Gray.

James Stephens returned to Ireland in 1856, an Ireland in which, suggests Robert Kee, virtually the only nationalist thinking was in the new newspaper, The Tribune. The paper was the only one which was analysing the demand for Tenant Rights, and maintained that the real demand was for something much more fundamental than that. The paper, Kee writes, “that a landlord had a right to do what he would with his own but asked whether the land really was the landlord’s own.” Quoting from the paper he continues "The truth is" (it declared in italics), "that all the land of Ireland belongs to the people of Ireland, in the aggregate, to be distributed and made use of just so as best may serve the happiness, prosperity, peace and security of the People of Ireland."

It published another leader headed "No True Idea of Nationality in Ireland". In this it deplored "Irishmen’s existing incapability of comprehending the large idea of an Irish Nation. It is true they talk of their country very plausibly, and in the most high flown terms; but behind all this there is no clear and comprehensive idea of the universal Irish nation, taking in the entire population. All notions of country in the popular mind are vague and confused . . ." The paper ceased publication in 1856.

Death

Philip Gray died in Dublin on the February 28, 1857, in his 36th year, and was laid to rest in the family burial ground at Kilglass, County Meath
Kilglass
Kilglass or Kilglas is a village in County Sligo, Ireland. The wider Parish of Kilglass includes, as well as the village itself, the nearby town of Enniscrone....

. James Stephens and Thomas Clarke Luby attended the service, at which Stephens spoke.

Sources

  • The IRB: The Irish Republican Brotherhood from The Land League to Sinn Féin, Owen McGee, Four Courts Press, 2005, ISBN 1 85182 972 5
  • Young Ireland, T. F. O'Sullivan, The Kerryman Ltd. 1945.
  • James Fintan Lalor, Thomas, P. O'Neill, Golden Publications 2003.
  • Irish Political Prisoners, 1848-1922: Theatres of War, Seán McConville, Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0 415 21991 4
  • Vol two of The Green Flag: The Bold Fenian Men, Robert Kee, Quartet Books, 1972, ISBN 0 7043 3096 2

Additional reading

  • N. A. Leonard, Philip Gray, Ríocht na Midhe (2001), cited by Owen McGee
  • Philip Gray, An Irish Revolutionist, T. C. Luby, Irish News (New York), 17 March 1857, cited by Owen McGee
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