Pencil drawing of James Fintan Lalor in profile.

James Fintan Lalor (1809-1849) was a prominent member of the Young Ireland movement, who later played an active role in the 1848 Rebellion as well as an attempted rising in September of that same year. His writings, which were published at the peak of the Irish Famine, were fervent in their hatred of the landlord class as well as asserting the principle of the sovereign people’s right to the land of Ireland, which would become a key tenet of nationalist doctrine, influencing James Connolly, Pádraig Pearse and later nationalist movements such as the Land League.

PDFs

Writings

Letter to Charles Gavan Duffy

A New Nation

Tenant’s Right and Landlord Law

A National Council

Letter to John Mitchel

Tenant Right Meeting in Tipperary

The Rights of Ireland

To the Confederate and Repeal Clubs of Ireland

The First Step—The Felon Club

What Must Be Done

Faith of a Felon

Resistance

Clearing Decks

Letters to Richard Lalor

Letter to the Under-Secretary for Ireland