From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rose Kavanagh
Rose Kavanagh
Rose Kavanagh (23 June 1860 – 26 February 1891) was an man. Her writing was much admired by the editor of the
Irish editor, writer and poet. Irish Monthly, Matthew Russell (who was very affected by
Rose Kavanagh was born at Killadroy, in County Ty- her delicate state of health), and its circle of writers and
rone. When she was eleven years old, her family settled poets. She was introduced to the American public by John
at Mullaghmore, near Augher. She was educated chiefly Boyle O’Reilly in the Boston Pilot, and by Mr. Alfred Wil-
at Loreto Convent, Omagh. She first wanted to become a liams in the Providence Journal.[2]
painter, and she began studying in Dublin in the Metro- She had always suffered from tuberculosis; for many
politan School of Art. She gradually transferred from art years she was under the care of George Sigerson, who
to literature, and soon became a contributor to several monitored her progress. On his advice she spent a winter
journals and magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. in Italy but felt homesick and lonely. She died from the
In the early 1880s she worked as sub-editor for effects of a cold which she caught while visiting her
Richard Pigott (whom she described as a "fine fat rat") mother at Christmas. Many tributes appeared in the Irish
on The Irishman newspaper.[1] While editing a paper con- Monthly and other publications. An obituary was written
nected with it, The Shamrock (previously associated with by W. B. Yeats in the Boston Pilot.
William O’Brien), she made the acquaintance of
Katharine Tynan and the two later became firm friends.
Tynan described her as "a tall girl with a fair skin which
References
had a shade of brown in it", with "fearless grey eyes...and [1] ^ Katherine Tynan, Memoirs, p. 203
a most honest look". At the time she was living in the [2] ^ Matthew Russell: Rose Kavanagh and Her Verses,
house of the Fenian, Charles Kickham, by now blind, Gill and McMillan, Dublin, 1909
whom she nursed until his death.[1] [3] Ríona Nic Congáil, "Fiction, Amusement,
In 1887 Mrs Dwyer Gray, wife of the proprietor of Instruction": The Irish Fireside Club and the
the Freeman’s Journal, Sir John Gray, started a section of Educational Ideology of the Gaelic League, Éire-
the paper called The Irish Fireside, and engaged Rose Ka- Ireland - Volume 44:1&2, Earrach/Samhradh /
vanagh as editor. With the job came the use of several Spring/Summer 2009, pp. 91-117
rooms in the newspaper offices in Middle Abbey Street, Persondata
which became the meeting place of an ever-growing cir- Name Kavanagh, Rose
cle of friends and literary acquaintances. The latter in-
cluded Douglas Hyde, W. B. Yeats, Stephen Gwynn, the Alternative names
old Fenians Denis Dowling Mulcahy and John O’Leary and Short description
his sister, Ellen. Among her friends she included Alice Date of birth 23 June 1860
Milligan, Anna Johnston (Ethna Carbery), Alice Furlong
Place of birth Killadroy
and Hester and Dora Sigerson.[2] The Irish Fireside led to
the formation of the Irish Fireside Club, the largest chil- Date of death 16 February 1891
dren’s association in Ireland in the late 1880s, which later Place of death Tyrone
supplied the Gaelic League and other nationalist organ-
isations with young activists. Rose Kavanagh wrote for
the club under the pseudonym "Uncle Remus".[3]
She contributed to the Dublin University Review, The
Nation, The Shamrock, Young Ireland, and the Weekly Free-
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rose_Kavanagh&oldid=468148155"
Categories:
• 1860 births
• 1891 deaths
• People from County Tyrone
• Irish editors
• Irish women writers
• 19th-century Irish people
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rose Kavanagh
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