Kevin Izod O'Doherty

The Hon
Dr Kevin O'Doherty
Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
for Town of Brisbane
In office
22 June 1867 – 14 November 1873
Serving with Alexander Pritchard, Simon Fraser, Ratcliffe Pring, John Killeen Handy, Theophilus Pugh, George Edmondstone
Preceded by William Brookes
Succeeded by Seat abolished
Member of the Queensland Legislative Council
In office
12 May 1877 – 4 November 1885
Member of the British House of the Commons
for North Meath
In office
27 November 1885 – 7 July 1886
Preceded by New seat
Succeeded by Pierce Mahony
Personal details
Born Kevin Izod O'Doherty
(1823-09-07)7 September 1823
Dublin, Ireland
Died 15 July 1905(1905-07-15) (aged 81)
Brisbane, Australia
Resting place Toowong Cemetery
Nationality Irish Australian
Spouse(s) Mary Anne Kelly (m.1855 d.1910)
Alma mater Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Occupation Surgeon, Journalist
Known for The Irish Patriot
Religion Roman Catholic

Kevin Izod O'Doherty (7 September 1823 – 15 July 1905) was an Irish Australian politician. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

Biography

O'Doherty was born in Dublin on 7 September 1823,[1] although other sources including the Dictionary of Australasian Biography indicate he was born in June 1824[2] and Charles Gavan Duffy, in his My Life in Two Hemispheres, states that O'Doherty was still under age when he was arrested in July 1848. Gavan Duffy, however, was writing 50 years later. O'Doherty received a good education and studied medicine, but before he was qualified, joined the Young Ireland party and in June 1848, together with Richard D'Alton Williams, established the Irish Tribune. Only five editions were issued, the first being on 10 June 1848.[2] On 10 July 1848, when the fifth edition was issued, O'Doherty was arrested and charged with treason-felony.[2] At the first and second trials the juries disagreed, but at the third trial he was found guilty and sentenced to transportation for 10 years.[2]

O'Doherty arrived in Tasmania in November 1849, was at once released on parole to reside at Oatlands,[1] and his professional services were utilised at St. Mary's Hospital, Hobart.[2] The other Irish prisoners nicknamed him 'St Kevin'.[3](see, Christine Kinealy, 'Repeal and Revolution. 1848 in Ireland', Manchester, 2009). In 1854 received a pardon with the condition that he must not reside in Great Britain or Ireland.[2] He went to Paris and carried on his medical studies, making one secret visit to Ireland to marry Mary Eva Kelly, to whom he was affianced before leaving Ireland. He received an unconditional pardon in 1856, and completed his studies in Dublin, graduating FRCS in 1857. He practised in Dublin successfully, and in 1862 went to Brisbane, Australia and became well known as one of its leading physicians.

O'Doherty was elected a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1867, in 1872 was responsible for a health act being passed, and was also one of the early opponents of the traffic in kanakas. In 1877 he transferred to the Queensland Legislative Council,[2] and in 1885 resigned as he intended to settle in Europe.

In Ireland O'Doherty was cordially welcomed, and was returned unopposed as Irish Parliamentary Party MP for North Meath[4] to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the November 1885 general election; but finding the climate did not suit him he did not seek re-election in 1886, and returned to Brisbane in that year. He attempted to take up his medical practice again but was not successful, and he died in poor circumstances on 15 July 1905.

His wife and a daughter survived him. A fund was raised by public subscription to provide for his widow, Mary Anne (1826–1910), a poet, who in her early days was well known as the author of Irish patriotic verse in The Nation under the soubriqet "Eva". In Australia she occasionally contributed to Queensland journals, and one of her poems is included in A Book of Queensland Verse. She died at Brisbane on 21 May 1910.[5]

See also

Books by Young Irelanders (Irish Confederation)

Additional reading

The grave of Kevin and Mary O'Doherty at Brisbane's Toowong Cemetery.

'Repeal and Revolution. 1848 in Ireland', Christine Kinealy, Manchester, 2009

References

  1. 1 2 Rude, G. "O'Doherty, Kevin Izod (1823–1905)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mennell, Philip (1892). "Wikisource link to O'Doherty, Kevin Izod". The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co. Wikisource
  3. ↑ (see, Christine Kinealy, 'Repeal and Revolution. 1848 in Ireland', Manchester, 2009)
  4. ↑ THE HOUSE OF COMMONS CONSTITUENCIES BEGINNING WITH "M" — Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "DEATH OF "EVA", OF "THE NATION.".". The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 24 May 1910. p. 7. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  6. ↑ The Politics of Irish Literature by Malcolm Brown (Chapter 1) at www.astonisher.com
  7. ↑ Ireland under coercion at www.quinnipiac.edu
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kevin Izod O'Doherty.
Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by
William Brookes		 Member for Town of Brisbane
1867–1873
Served alongside: Alexander Pritchard, Simon Fraser, Ratcliffe Pring, John Killeen Handy, Theophilus Pugh, George Edmondstone		 Abolished
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member for North Meath
1885 – 1886 		Succeeded by
Pierce Mahony
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