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John O’Connor Power MP for Mayo 1874-1885 John O’Connor Power was one of the most remarkable of the late nineteenth century Irish nationalists. He was born 13 February 1846 in Clashaganny, Tulsk, County Roscommon and was the third and youngest son of Patrick Power, Ballygill, Creagh, Ballinasloe. His mother was Mary O’Connor, daughter of P. O’Connor Esq., Roscommon. In his childhood he contracted smallpox and spent some time in the Ballinasloe workhouse. His parents appear to have died young, and his uncle, John Power, who farmed in Ballygill, was an important figure in the lives of the three boys. In 1860 he followed his two brothers to England, taking up work as a house painter in a family business and in a flannel mill in the winter months. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and was one of the leaders on the aborted raid on Chester Castle and at the ‘Manchester Rescue’. In 1868 he spent six months in Kilmainham jail. As a member of the IRB Supreme Council, he collaborated with George Henry Moore, forging an alliance between Fenians and constitutional nationalists – a New Departure. After Moore’s sudden death, he enrolled as a student at St Jarlath’s College in Tuam, continuing his Fenian activities. In 1874, against strong opposition, he won a parliamentary seat, becoming the first man of no property to represent County Mayo. In 1876 he was in Washington for the centennial of American Independence and presented a congratulatory address to the House of Representatives, asking for recognition of Ireland’s claim to independence. His long campaign for amnesty for Michael Davitt and other political prisoners reached a successful outcome at the end of 1877. He was a prominent obstructionist, and the Spy cartoon, which appeared in Vanity Fair in December 1886, is labelled ‘The brains of Obstruction’. He was the only MP present at the tenant rights meeting in Irishtown, which launched the Land War. In the 1880 general election he topped the poll in Mayo. He was called to the Bar in 1881 and continued to fight for reform of the prison system. A radical and influential journalist, he wrote on Irish issues in American and English journals and newspapers. In 1885 he moved to the Liberals, believing he would be better placed to promote Home Rule. He worked closely with William O’Brien and Michael Davitt on the formation of the United Irish League. In 1893 he married the widow of a surgeon. Avis was a trained nurse, working for many years with the poor in the West London hospital. Acknowledged to be one of the great orators of his generation, O'Connor Power's bestselling ‘The Making of an Orator’ was published in 1906. It was reprinted in 2007 and 2008 and can be downloaded from the internet archive. He died at home in Putney on 21 February 1919. Avis was at his bedside. He is buried with members of her family in Abney Park, Stoke Newington, England. "So was John O’Connor Power, who was shortly after to be Member for Mayo, and was at that time a chief potentate in the Supreme Council’s mysterious sphere of influence; a man of great resolution, with a merciless underjaw, a furious temper governed by a carefully studied urbanity of manner, and a calm strong voice, that made the most common-place observation impressive; resolute enough in the ways of revolution to have himself headed raids for arms, and walked for years under the shadow of the gallows, but gifted also with a common-sense keen enough and fearless enough to guide him in the evolution from the impracticable to a wise and patriotic possiblism". William O’Brien, M.P. Recollections (1905). 'An Irishman: the life of John O'Connor Power' by Jane Stanford was published by The History Press in 2011.
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