Thomas D'Arcy McGee

McGee in 1868

Thomas D'Arcy McGee, PC, (April 13, 1825 – April 7, 1868) was an Irish Nationalist, Irish-Canadian journalist, Father of Confederation, and, to date, the only Canadian victim of political assassination at the federal level.

Profile

Widely known as D'Arcy McGee, he was born on April 13,1825 in Carlingford, Ireland and raised as a Roman Catholic. In 1842 at age 17 he emigrated to the United States where he found work as assistant editor of Patrick Donahoe's Boston Pilot, a Catholic newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. A few years later he returned to Ireland where he became politically active and edited the nationalist newspaper The Nation. His support for the Fenians and his involvement in the Irish Confederation and Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 resulted in a warrant for his arrest. McGee escaped the country by steamship and returned to the United States.

In the US, he founded Irish-American publications in New York City and Boston, and generally supported the cause of Irish immigrants. In 1857 he went to Canada where he set up the publication of the New Era in Montreal, Quebec. Politically active, he advocated a new nationality in Canada, to escape the sectarianism of Ireland. In 1858, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and worked for the creation of an independent Canada.

Moderating his radical Irish nationalist views, McGee denounced the Fenian Brotherhood in America that advocated a forcible takeover of Canada from Britain by the United States. A faction of American Fenians sent an invasion force into Canada in 1866 that was repulsed by Canadian forces and arrested by the American authorities. Canadians, with Irish sympathizers in their midst, and spurred by numerous rumours of another, more massive invasion, lived in fear of the Fenians for several years.hooo ho ho merry christmas

Canadian politics and assassination

File:McGee Funeral01.jpg

McGee funeral procession in 1868

McGee was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament in 1867 as a Conservative representing the riding of Montreal West. On April 7, 1868, D'Arcy McGee was assassinated in Ottawa, Ontario. His was the first murder in the newly formed Dominion of Canada's short history. He was interred in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, Quebec. The Government of Canada's Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building stands near the site of the assassination.

Patrick J. Whelan, a Fenian sympathizer, was accused, tried, convicted, and hanged for the crime. Decades later, his guilt was questioned and many believe that he was a scapegoat. His case is dramatized in the Canadian play, Blood On The Moon. The Canadian folk music group Tamarack song "The Hangman's Eyes" was inspired by Whelan.

Honours

A pub bearing his name ("D'Arcy McGee's") is situated at the corner of Sparks Street and Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa. Located within walking distance of Parliament Hill, it is a popular watering hole for many politicians. Also on Sparks Street, the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building is a prominent government-owned office building in Ottawa. An additional D'Arcy McGee's Irish Pub opened at Ottawa International Airport on April 1, 2008 in the newly expanded domestic portion of the passenger terminal as well as the first US location in 2008 in Tempe, Arizona.

D'Arcy McGee also has several schools named in his honour including: l'École Secondaire D'Arcy McGee High School, sec III-V, Western Quebec School Board, Gatineau, Quebec; D'Arcy McGee Catholic School, Elementary, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Toronto, Ontario; and Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School, Elementary, Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board, Ottawa, Ontario. In 1986, a Chair of Irish Studies was set up in his honour at St Mary's University, Halifax.

The Quebec provincial electoral district (riding) of D'Arcy-McGee is also named in his honour, as are two villages in central Saskatchewan. One of these villages is named D'Arcy, the other McGee, and they are located approximately 20 kilometres apart.

Books by Young Irelanders (Irish Confederation)

Additional Reading

• The Politics of Irish Literature: from Thomas Davis to W.B. Yeats, Malcolm Brown, 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.
• Brigadier-General Thomas Francis Meagher His Political and Military Career,Capt. W. F. Lyons, Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited 1869
• Young Ireland and 1848, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1949.
• Daniel O'Connell The Irish Liberator, Dennis Gwynn, Hutchinson & Co, Ltd.
• O'Connell Davis and the Collages Bill, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1948.
• Smith O’Brien And The “Secession”, Dennis Gwynn,Cork University Press
• Meagher of The Sword, Edited By Arthur Griffith, M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd. 1916.
• Young Irelander Abroad The Diary of Charles Hart, Edited by Brendan O'Cathaoir, University Press.
• John Mitchel First Felon for Ireland, Edited By Brian O'Higgins, Brian O'Higgins 1947.
• Rossa's Recollections 1838 to 1898, Intro by Sean O'Luing, The Lyons Press 2004.
• Labour in Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street 1910.
• The Re-Conquest of Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street 1915.
• John Mitchel Noted Irish Lives, Louis J. Walsh, The Talbot Press Ltd 1934.
• Thomas Davis: Essays and Poems, Centenary Memoir, M. H Gill, M.H. Gill & Son, Ltd MCMXLV.
• Life of John Martin, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy & Co., Ltd 1901.
• Life of John Mitchel, P. A. Sillard, James Duffy and Co., Ltd 1908.
• John Mitchel, P. S. O'Hegarty, Maunsel & Company, Ltd 1917.
• The Fenians in Context Irish Politics & Society 1848-82, R. V. Comerford, Wolfhound Press 1998
• William Smith O'Brien and the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, Robert Sloan, Four Courts Press 2000
• Irish Mitchel, Seamus MacCall, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1938.
• Ireland Her Own, T. A. Jackson, Lawrence & Wishart Ltd 1976.
• Life and Times of Daniel O'Connell, T. C. Luby, Cameron & Ferguson.
• Young Ireland, T. F. O'Sullivan, The Kerryman Ltd. 1945.
• Irish Rebel John Devoy and America's Fight for Irish Freedom, Terry Golway, St. Martin's Griffin 1998.
• Paddy's Lament Ireland 1846-1847 Prelude to Hatred, Thomas Gallagher, Poolbeg 1994.
• The Great Shame, Thomas Keneally, Anchor Books 1999.
• James Fintan Lalor, Thomas, P. O'Neill, Golden Publications 2003.
• Charles Gavan Duffy: Conversations With Carlyle (1892), with Introduction, Stray Thoughts On Young Ireland, by Brendan Clifford, Athol Books, Belfast, ISBN 0 85034 1140. (Pg. 32 Titled, Foster’s account Of Young Ireland.)
• Envoi, Taking Leave Of Roy Foster, by Brendan Clifford and Julianne Herlihy, Aubane Historical Society, Cork.
• The Falcon Family, or, Young Ireland, by M. W. Savage, London, 1845. (An Gorta Mor)Quinnipiac University

External links

• Works by Thomas D'Arcy McGee at Project Gutenberg
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• A History of the Irish Settlers in North America from the Earliest Period to the Census of 1850
• Michael Doheny. The Felon's Track. Dublin, M H Gill & Son, 1920.
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Thomas D'Arcy McGee" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.