John Mitchel
An Irish firebrand whose furious writings against British famine policy turned him into a martyr for the cause of revolutionary nationalism.
1815–1875 (age 60)·Irish writer·Birthday: November 3
Biography
John Mitchel was born in 1815 in County Derry, into a family with a Presbyterian minister father. He trained as a lawyer but found his true calling in the radical journalism of the 1840s. Witnessing the catastrophe of the Great Famine, Mitchel's pen became a weapon. He broke with more moderate nationalists, arguing that parliamentary politics were useless and that only physical force could end British rule. His newspaper, The United Irishman, was a relentless, scorching indictment of government policy, which he framed as a deliberate act of extermination. This led to his arrest and conviction for treason felony in 1848. His dramatic sentencing and subsequent 14-year exile to a penal colony in Bermuda, then Van Diemen's Land, cemented his status as a political martyr. He escaped to America, where he continued writing, even supporting the Confederate cause during the Civil War—a controversial stance that complicated his legacy. He returned to Ireland before his death in 1875, remaining a polarizing but foundational figure whose writings provided a potent ideological spark for later generations of Irish republicans.
#1 When John Was Born
The biggest hits of 1815
John's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1815Born
1820Started school
1828Became a teenager
1831Could drive
1833Could vote
1836Turned 21
1845Turned 30
1855Turned 40
1865Turned 50
President: Andrew Johnson
1875Turned 60
President: Ulysses S. Grant
Key Achievements
- Founded and edited The United Irishman, a radical newspaper that aggressively challenged British authority during the Great Famine.
- Was convicted of treason felony in 1848 for his revolutionary writings and sentenced to 14 years of penal transportation.
- Authored 'Jail Journal,' a powerful account of his trial and exile that became a classic text of Irish nationalist literature.
- Elected as a Member of Parliament for Tipperary in 1875, though he was barred from taking his seat as a convicted felon.
Did You Know?
He escaped from his penal colony in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and fled to the United States in 1853.
While in America, he owned and edited newspapers in New York and Tennessee, and was a vocal supporter of slavery.
Two of his sons fought and died for the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
His grandson, John Purroy Mitchel, became the mayor of New York City in 1914.
“The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine.”
