Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa | |
---|---|
![]() Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, circa 1900 to 1910 | |
Member of Parliament for Tipperary | |
In office November 1869 – February 1870 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Jeremiah Donovan before 4 September 1831 Reenascreena,Rosscarbery, County Cork, Ireland |
Died | (aged 83) Staten Island, New York, U.S. |
Spouses |
|
Military service | |
Allegiance | |
Years of service | 1858–1915 |
Battles/wars | |
Part of a series on |
Irish republicanism |
---|
![]() |
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa (Irish: Diarmaid Ó Donnabháin Rosa;[1] 4 September 1831 (baptised) – 29 June 1915)[2] was an Irish politician and Fenian leader who was one of the leading members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Born and raised in Rosscarbery, County Cork during the Great Famine, Rossa founded the Phoenix National and Literary Society and dedicated his life to working towards the establishment of an independent Irish Republic. He joined the IRB and after fleeing to the United States as part of the Cuba Five joined other Irish revolutionary organisations there as well.
Rossa was one of the primary advocates of physical force Irish republicanism and organised the Fenian dynamite campaign, which saw Irish republican groups carry out bombing attacks in Great Britain, targeting both government and civilian targets. The campaign caused widespread outrage among the British public, and Rossa was subject to a failed assassination attempt from an Englishwoman in 1885, the same year the campaign ended. Following his death in 1915, he was buried in Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery, and Rossa's funeral served as a major rallying point for Irish republicans and is often cited as a direct stepping stone towards the events of the Easter Rising in 1916.