Thomas MacNevin (1814-1848) was an Irish writer, historian and journalist regarded as one of the most ‘brilliant intellects’ of the Young Ireland movement. Born in Galway, MacNevin attended Trinity College. He contributed mainly to The Nation, the organ of Young Ireland, as well as The Vindicator, a Belfast-based O’Connellite journal. He published two historical works, The Volunteers of 1782 and The Confiscation of Ulster, to form part of the ‘Library of Ireland.’ Thomas Davis’s death in 1845 deeply affected MacNevin, who suffered a mental breakdown, spending his last years in an asylum in Bristol.

Writings

Characters of Great Men and the Duties of Patriotism (1846)