Thomas Clarke Luby
Encyclopedia
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
revolutionary, author, journalist and one of the founding members of 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...
.
Early life
Luby was born in Dublin, the son of a Church of IrelandChurch of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
clergyman from Templemore
Templemore
Templemore is a town in North Tipperary, Ireland. It is a civil parish in the historical barony of Eliogarty. It is part of the Roman Catholic parish of Templemore, Clonmore and Killea....
in 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...
, his mother being a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. His uncle was Dr. Thomas Luby, Professor of Greek and a Fellow and Dean of Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Luby according to Desmond Ryan was a true Tory, who was much distracted by his nephew’s political wildness.
He was educated at Trinity where he studied Law and put in the necessary number of terms in London and Dublin where he acquired a reputation as a scholar and took his degree, and would go on to teach at the college for a time.
Politics
Luby supported the Repeal AssociationRepeal Association
The Repeal Association was an Irish mass membership political movement set up by Daniel O'Connell to campaign for a repeal of the Act of Union of 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland....
, and contributed to The Nation
The Nation (Irish newspaper)
The Nation was an Irish nationalist weekly newspaper, published in the 19th century. The Nation was printed first at 12 Trinity Street, Dublin, on 15 October 1842, until 6 January 1844...
newspaper. After the breach with Daniel O’Connell he joined the Young Irelanders in 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...
. Luby was deeply influenced by 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...
at this time. Following the suppression of the 1848 rebellion
Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848
The Young Irelander Rebellion was a failed Irish nationalist uprising led by the Young Ireland movement. It took place on 29 July 1848 in the village of Ballingarry, County Tipperary. After being chased by a force of Young Irelanders and their supporters, an Irish Constabulary unit raided a house...
he with Lalor and Philip Gray
Philip Gray
Philip Gray was an Irish republican, revolutionary and a member of the Irish Confederation. He took part in the Risings of 1848 and 1849 along with James Fintan Lalor and both James Stephens and John O'Mahony, who would go on to establish the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland and the Fenian...
attempted to revive the fighting in 1849 as members of the secret Irish Democratic Association, this too, was to end in failure.
In 1851 Luby travelled to France, where he hoped to join the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
to learn infantry tactics but found the recruiting temporarily suspended. From France he went to Australia for a year before returning to Ireland. From the end of 1855 he edited the Tribune newspaper founded by John E. Pigot who had been a member of the Nation group. The spirit of the paper was that of the Nation, which had converted him to a revolutionary nationalist, with a leaning towards both 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...
and Lalor. During this time he had remained in touch with the small group of ’49 men including Philip Gray
Philip Gray
Philip Gray was an Irish republican, revolutionary and a member of the Irish Confederation. He took part in the Risings of 1848 and 1849 along with James Fintan Lalor and both James Stephens and John O'Mahony, who would go on to establish the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland and the Fenian...
and attempting to start a new revolutionary movement.
Luby’s views on social issues had grown more conservative after ’48 which he made clear to 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...
whom he had met in 1856. However on several journeys through the country with Stephen’s he was thoroughly won over by his colleague’s ability and success as an organizer.
In January 1857 both Stephen’s and Luby attended the funeral of Philip Gray 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...
. At the service, Stephen’s insisted that Luby give the oration, which later Luby regarded as a poor and halting attempt.
Irish Republican Brotherhood
In the autumn of 1857 Owen Considine arrived with a message signed by four Irish exiles in the United States, two of which were John O'MahonyJohn 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 ,...
and Michael Doheny
Michael Doheny
Michael Doheny was an Irish writer and member of the Young Ireland movement.-Early life:The third son of Michael Doheny, of Brookhill, he was born at Brookhill, near Fethard, Co. Tipperary, and married a Miss O'Dwyer of that county...
. The message conveyed the confidence they had in Stephen’s and asking him to establish an organization in Ireland to win national independence. Considine also carried a private letter from O’Mahony to Stephen’s which was a warning, and which was overlook by Luby and Stephens at the time. Both believed that there was a strong organisation behind the letter, only later to find it was rather a number of loosely linked groups.
On the 23 December Stephen's dispatched Joseph Denieffe to America with his reply which was disguised as a business letter, and dated and addressed from Paris. In his reply Stephen’s outline his conditions and his requirements from the organisation in America.
On 17 March 1858, Denieffe arrived in Dublin with the acceptance of Stephens’s terms by the New York Committee and the eighty pounds. Denieffe’s report that there was no actual organized body of sympathizers in New York but merely a loose knot of associates disturbed Stephens went ahead regardless, and that very evening 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...
was established, in Peter Langan’s timber-yard in Lombard Street. Luby’s description of the event in a letter to John O’Leary in 1890 was that immediately after the return of Denieffe, "at once Stephens began organizing. I had already made some provisional trips into Meath county; but ‘twas on Patrick’s Day 1858, that the I.R.B. movement was formally commenced. I drew up the form of oath, under Stephens’s correction, in his room at Dennelly’s, in the street behind and parallel to Lombard Street. The first text had clauses of secrecy and of obedience to all commands of superior officers not immoral. I swore Stephens in and he swore me."
The original I.R.B. oath, as quoted by Luby and O’Leary, and which is among several versions in Stephens’s own papers, ran:
This oath was significantly revised by Stephens in Paris in the summer of 1859. He asked Luby to draw up a new text, omitting the secrecy clause. The omitting of the secrecy clause was outlined in a letter from Stephen's to O'Mahony on the 6 April 1859 and the reasons for it. Henceforth,’ wrote Luby to O’Leary "we denied that we were technically a secret body. We called ourselves a military organization; with, so to speak, a legionary oath like all soldiers."
The revised oath ran:
Irish People newspaper
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 America. The offices were established at 12 Parliament Street, almost at the gates of Dublin Castle. The first number of the Irish people appeared on 28 November 1863. The staff of the paper along with Luby were Kickham and Denis Dowling Mulcahy
Denis Dowling Mulcahy
Denis Dowling Mulcahy was a leading member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and a medical doctor.He was born in Redmondstown, County Tipperary, Ireland and later lived at Powerstown, near Clonmel....
as the editorial staff. O’Donovan Rossa and James O’Connor had charge of the business office, with John Haltigan being the printer. John O'Leary was brought from London to take charge in the role of Editor. Shortly after the establishment of the paper, Stephens departed on an America tour, and to attend to organizational matters. Before leaving, he entrusted to Luby a document containing secret resolutions on the Committee of Organization or Executive of the IRB. Though Luby intimated its existence to O’Leary, he did not inform Kickham as there seemed no necessity. This document would later form the basis of the prosecution against the staff of the Irish People. The document read:
On the 15 July 1865 American made plans for a rising in Ireland were discovered when the emissary lost them at Kingstown railway station. They found their way to Dublin Castle and to Superintendent Daniel Ryan head of G Division. Ryan had an informer within the offices of the Irish People named Pierce Nagle, he supplied Ryan with an “action this year” message on its way to the IRB unit in Tipperary. With this information, Ryan raided the offices of the Irish People on Thursday 15 September, followed by the arrests of Luby, O’Leary and O’Donovan Rossa. Kickham was caught after a month on the run. Stephens would also be caught but with the support of Fenian prison warders, John J. Breslin and Daniel Byrne was less than a fortnight in Richmond Bridewell when he vanished and escaped to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The last number of the paper is dated 16 September 1865.
Trial and sentence
After his arrest and the suppression of the Irish People he was sentenced to twenty years’ penal servitude. In his speech from the dock he said:Release
Luby was released in January, 1871, but was compelled to remain away from Ireland till the expiration of his sentence.America
On release he went first to the Continent, and later settled in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, he lectured all over the country for years, and wrote for a number of Irish newspapers on political topics. At the memorial meeting on the death of John Mitchel, he delivered the principal address in Madison Square Gardens.
He died at 109½ Oak Street, Jersey City, of paralysis, on the 29 November 1901 and was buried in Bay View Cemetery in that city, in a grave shared with his wife. His epitaph reads:"Thomas Clarke Luby 1822-1901 He devoted his life to love of Ireland and quest of truth."
Conclusion
Luby was the author of The Lives of Illustrious and Representative Irishmen, and a Life of Daniel O’Connell. In 1926 his daughter, Mrs. Maurice, presented the National Library, Dublin, with his papers, including historical sketches and some unpublished plays in which the characters are drawn from life. His wife was the daughter of John Jean Frazer, who wrote poems for the Nation and the Irish Felon.Mark Ryan
Mark F. Ryan
Mark Francis Ryan , was an Irish revolutionary, a leading Member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and author.-Family:...
a contemporary of Luby’s was to write in his Fenian Memories whom he met while on a private visit to America, "I was very much impressed by him, and found him to be all I had heard of him from O’Leary, who had a great admiration for his ability and uncompromising patriotism. He was a quiet, kindly, courteous man, who had risen above his Conservative environment, boldly espoused the cause of his country, and never regretted his action."
Sources
- The Fenian Chief: A Biography of James Stephens, Desmond Ryan, Hely Thom LTD, Dublin, 1967
- Fenian Memories, Dr. Mark F. Ryan, Edited by T.F. O'Sullivan, M. H. Gill & Son, LTD, Dublin, 1945
- Rossa's Recollections, 1838 to 1898, O'Donovan Rossa, Mariner"s Harbor, NY, 1898
- A new Dictionary of Irish History: From 1800, D.J. Hickey & J.E. Doherty, Gill & MacMillan, Dublin/Norway, 2003, ISBN 0 7171 2520 3