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Life
1828-1888; b. 13 Dec., Dublin, studied art; joined Young Ireland; contrib. United Irishman, and the Tribune; co-fnd. The Irish Felon; prop. The Patriot, 1848, and suppressed; journalist in Ireland up to 1848 Rising, in which he played a small part; aided John O’Mahony in attempt to renew rebellion; emig. American, where he was on the staff of the New York Tribune; leader-writer on Washington States’ Journal, 1857; contrib. Mitchel’s The Citizen; joined the 69th Regiment, led by Thomas F. Meagher; he led the O’Mahoney faction of the IRB after the Civil War; |
wrote Fenian Heroes and Martyrs (1868), a series of effusive but materially informative biographies; also The Modern Revolutionary History and Literary of Ireland (1884), on the ’98 Rebellion and the ’48 Rising; issued Lays of the Fatherland (1850); also poems, Faith and Fancy (1864); Poems, Lyrical, Dramatic And Romantic (NY 1870); prominent in the large attendance at the funeral service of John O’Mahony in New York; also best remembered for a declamation, “Shane’s Head”; received Hon. LLD from St John’s College, Fordham, 1879; d. 9 Oct., New York. PI JMC DIH MKA RAF |
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Works| Drama |
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| Poetry |
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*All attrib on t.p. to John Savage, ‘one of the contributors to the Irish Felon’. |
| Prose |
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| Miscellaneous |
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Criticism
Francis Fairfield (Emerald, NY 1868), Eugene Davis (Shamrock 1877) and anon. in The Nation, 20 Oct. 1888.
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References
Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington: Catholic University of America 1904), selects “Shane’s Head” [on a pole before Dublin Castle, ‘I’ll speed me Ulsterwards - your ghost must wander there, proud Shane/In search of some O’Neill through whom to throb its hate again.] See also under John Brenan, and PI entry for same.
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Notes
Namesake: John Savage is the hyper-Protestant author of Rome’s Conviction, or, A vindication of the original institution of Christianity (MDCLXXXIII [1683]), and A full view of popery, in a satyrical account of the lives of the popes, &c. from the pretended succession of St. Peter, to the present Pope Clement XI [...] (London: 1704), 488pp. - ‘Wherein all the impostures and innovations of the Church of Rome appear in their true colours, and all their objections, cavils &c. are fully answer’d and confuted. The whole being interspersed with several pasquils. To this is added, A confutation of the Mass, and a vindication of reform’d devotion. In two parts / Written by a learned Spanish convert, and address’d to his countrymen: now faithfully translated from the second and best edition of the original. 1704.’ [t.p.]; also A Full View of Popery, in a satyrical account of the lives of the popes, &c. To this is added, a Confutation of the Mass. By a learned Spanish convert [C. de Valera], now trans [by J. Savage] (1704). The same is author of works on Hertfordshire and Somerset and Romance and classical translations.
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