Edmund Leamy (1848 – 10 December 1904) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

journalist,

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, author of fairy tales, and

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

politician. He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...

as member of the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish national ...

. A leading supporter of

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

, he represented various Irish seats for much of the period from 1880 until his death in 1904.

Life

Leamy was educated at the University High School,

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

and at the Jesuits'

Tullabeg College St Stanislaus College (often called Tullabeg College) was a Jesuit boys boarding school, novitiate and philosophy school, in Tullabeg, Rahan, County Offaly. St Carthage founded a monastery of 800 monks there in 595 before founding his monaste ...

, Co.

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

. Called to the Irish Bar in 1885, Leamy was in 1880 elected as a Parnellite Home Ruler to one of the two seats for

Waterford City "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. When representation at Waterford was reduced to one seat at the 1885 election, he stood down but was elected unopposed at Cork North East in 1885 and again in 1886. He also stood at Mid Armagh in 1885, but was not elected. Resigning from Cork North East in 1887, he was elected unopposed to a vacancy at South Sligo in 1888. When the Irish Parliamentary Party split in December 1890 over Parnell's leadership, Leamy was one of the minority in the

Irish National League The Irish National League (INL) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded on 17 October 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell as the successor to the Irish National Land League after this was suppressed. Whereas the Land League h ...

who supported Parnell. Parnell made him editor of his newspaper ''United Ireland'' after regaining editorial control in 1891. At the subsequent general election in 1892, Leamy unsuccessfully contested East Waterford. He also unsuccessfully contested

Galway City Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city o ...

as a Parnellite in 1895 and as candidate for the reunited Irish Party in 1900. However, in 1900 he was re-elected to the House of Commons as a Nationalist member for North Kildare, serving until his death in 1904. He died at Pau in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where he was staying for the sake of his health. At the request of

John Redmond John Edward Redmond (1 September 1856 – 6 March 1918) was an Irish nationalism, Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He was best known as lead ...

Pat O'Brien Pat O'Brien may refer to: Politicians * Pat O'Brien (Canadian politician) (born 1948), member of the Canadian House of Commons *Pat O'Brien (Irish politician) (c. 1847–1917), Irish Nationalist MP in the United Kingdom Parliament Others *Pat O'Br ...

went out to Pau to accompany Leamy's widow and the body for their return to Waterford for the funeral on 21 December 1904. Leamy's fairy tales, includin
''The Golden Spears''
''By the Barrow River'' and ''The Fairy Minstrel of Glenmalure'', have been reprinted several times in various editions in Ireland and the USA. The book ''Parnell’s Faithful Few'' by his widow Margaret Leamy contains a good deal of biographical material and is a significant source for the history of the Parnellite split in the Irish Parliamentary Party.

Selected writings

* ''Irish Fairy Tales'', Dublin, Mercier Press, 1978 * ''Irish Fairy Stories for Children'', illustrated by Frank and Gail Dowling, Dublin, Mercier Press; Chester Springs, PA (Dufour Editions, US distributor), 1983, repr. 1992 *

Sources

*''Freeman's Journal'', 12 and 22 December 1904 *Margaret Leamy, ''Parnell’s Faithful Few'', New York, Macmillan, 1936 *Brian M. Walker (ed.), ''Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922'', Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 1978 *''Who Was Who, 1897-1916''

External links

*
Full text of "Golden Spears, and Other Fairy Tales"
Desmond Fitzgerald, Inc., 1911. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leamy, Edmund 1848 births 1904 deaths Irish barristers Irish folklorists Irish journalists Irish non-fiction writers Irish male non-fiction writers Home Rule League MPs Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Parnellite MPs UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1900–1906 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Waterford constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Cork constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Sligo constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Kildare constituencies (1801–1922) People educated at St Stanislaus College