![Going Underground](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Going_Underground.jpg)
The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
(IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the
Fenian Brotherhood
The Fenian Brotherhood () was an Irish republican organisation founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). M ...
, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated to the establishment of an independent
Irish Republic
The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...
. In 1867 they sought to coordinate
raids into Canada from the United States with a
rising in Ireland. In the
1916 Easter Rising and the 1919–1921
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
, the IRB led the republican struggle.
Fenianism
Fenianism ( ga, Fíníneachas), according to O'Mahony, embodied two principles: firstly, that Ireland had a natural right to independence, and secondly, that this right could be won only by an armed revolution. The name originated with the
Fianna
''Fianna'' ( , ; singular ''Fian''; gd, Fèinne ) were small warrior-hunter bands in Gaelic Ireland during the Iron Age and early Middle Ages. A ''fian'' was made up of freeborn young males, often aristocrats, "who had left fosterage but had n ...
of
Irish mythology
Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by C ...
– groups of legendary warrior-bands associated with
Fionn mac Cumhail
Fionn mac Cumhaill ( ; Old and mga, Find or ''mac Cumail'' or ''mac Umaill''), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is leader of the ''Fianna'' bands of ...
. Mythological tales of the Fianna became known as the
Fenian Cycle
The Fenian Cycle (), Fianna Cycle or Finn Cycle ( ga, an Fhiannaíocht) is a body of early Irish literature focusing on the exploits of the mythical hero Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill and his warrior band the Fianna. Sometimes called the Ossi ...
.
In the 1860s, opponents of Irish nationalism within the English
political establishment
''The Establishment'' is a term used to describe a dominant group or elite that controls a polity or an organization. It may comprise a closed social group that selects its own members, or entrenched elite structures in specific institutions. ...
sometimes used the term "Fenianism" to refer to any form of mobilisation among the Irish or to those who expressed any Irish nationalist sentiments, or questioned the
Protestant Ascendancy
The ''Protestant Ascendancy'', known simply as the ''Ascendancy'', was the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland between the 17th century and the early 20th century by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of th ...
(such as by advocating for the rights of
tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
s). The political establishment often applied the term in this sense – inaccurately – to the unrelated
Tenant Right League
The Tenant Right League was a federation of local societies formed in Ireland in the wake of the Great Famine to check the power of landlords and advance the rights of tenant farmers. An initiative of northern unionists and southern nationalis ...
, the
Irish National Land League
The Irish National Land League (Irish: ''Conradh na Talún'') was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmer ...
and 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 ...
, who did not advocate explicitly for an independent Irish Republic or for the use of force. The establishment warned people about a perceived threat to turn what they saw as "decent civilised" society on its head by movements such as
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
ism seeking to change the existing
social order
The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social order ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
Ireland
James Stephens, one of the "Men of 1848", (a participant in the
1848 revolt) had established himself in Paris, and was in correspondence with
John O'Mahony
John Francis O'Mahony (1815 – 7 February 1877) was a Gaelic scholar and the founding member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Despite coming from a reasonably wealthy fa ...
in the United States and other advanced nationalists at home and abroad. This would include the ''Phoenix National and Literary Society'', with Jeremiah O'Donovan (afterwards known as
O'Donovan Rossa
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa ( ga, Diarmaid Ó Donnabháin Rosa; baptised 4 September 1831, died 29 June 1915)Con O'Callaghan Reenascreena Community Online (dead link archived at archive.org, 29 September 2014) was an Irish Fenian leader and member ...
) among its more prominent members, which had been formed recently at
Skibbereen
Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The name "Skibbereen" (sometimes shortened to "Skibb") means "little boat harbour". The River Ilen runs through the town; it reac ...
.
Along with
Thomas Clarke Luby
Thomas Clarke Luby (16 January 1822 – 29 November 1901) was an Irish revolutionary, author, journalist and one of the founding members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Early life
Luby was born in Dublin, the son of a Church of Ireland cle ...
,
John O'Leary and
Charles Kickham
Charles Joseph Kickham (9 May 1828 – 22 August 1882) was an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Early life
Charles Kickham was born at Mullinahone, County ...
he founded the Irish Republican Brotherhood on 17 March 1858 in Lombard Street,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
.
The
Fenian Rising
The Fenian Rising of 1867 ( ga, Éirí Amach na bhFíníní, 1867, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 186 ...
in 1867 proved to be a "doomed rebellion", poorly organised and with minimal public support. Most of the Irish-American officers who landed at
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
, in the expectation of commanding an army against England, were imprisoned; sporadic disturbances around the country were easily suppressed by the police,
army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
and local militias. In the aftermath, Fenian assassination circles were active in Cork and in Dublin and were responsible for shooting two officers of the
Dublin Metropolitan Police
The Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) was the police force of Dublin, Ireland, from 1836 to 1925, when it was amalgamated into the new Garda Síochána.
History
19th century
The Dublin city police had been subject to major reforms in 1786 and ...
on duty in October 1867.
In 1882, a breakaway IRB faction calling itself the
Irish National Invincibles
The Irish National Invincibles, usually known as the Invincibles, were a freedom fighter organization based in Ireland active from 1881 to 1883. Founded as splinter group of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the group had a more radical agenda, ...
assassinated the British
Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and his Permanent Under-secretary (chief civil servant), in an incident known as the
Phoenix Park Murders
The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland and Burke was the Permanen ...
.
United States
The
Fenian Brotherhood
The Fenian Brotherhood () was an Irish republican organisation founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). M ...
, the Irish Republican Brotherhood's US branch, was founded by John O'Mahony and
Michael Doheny
Michael Doheny (22 May 1805 – 1 April 1862Some references give 1862: ) was an Irish writer, lawyer, member of the Young Ireland movement, and co-founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, an Irish secret society which would go on to launch ...
, both of whom had been "out" (participating in the Young Irelander's rising) in 1848. In the face of
nativist suspicion, it quickly established an independent existence, although it still worked to gain Irish American support for armed rebellion in Ireland. Initially, O'Mahony ran operations in the US, sending funds to Stephens and the IRB in Ireland.
In 1865, O'Mahony's leadership was challenged and the movement was split by a faction led by William B. Roberts, a wealthy New York City dry-goods merchant, more closely allied with the Democratic-Party machine. It was Roberts’ faction that sponsored the plan to invade Canada and hold it hostage for the liberation of Ireland.
In 1867 there was a further challenge to O'Mahony from the new IRB exile
David Bell, and his weekly the ''Irish Republic''. In contrast to Roberts, Bell, committed to black suffrage and to Reconstruction, was allied to the Republicans and was calling a "cleansing" of the spirits of the Irish in America: "Let our people fling off the scales of bigotry and declare that all men are entitled to 'life, liberty, and happiness.'"
John Devoy records that, in the course of 1866, various conferences to reunite the various factions were held. Their efforts were to elect
James Stephens as president of a united organisation. Stephens had escaped the round-up of the I.R.B. leadership in Dublin the previous year, but still promised that "The Irish flag – the flag of the Irish Republic – will float in an Irish breeze before New Year's Day, 1867." At the close of 1866, a conference of the refugees of the I.R.B. and many of the American officers who had been in Ireland was held in New York and presided over by Stephens, at which the decision was taken that the fight should be made early in 1867. Some thousands of rifles were afterwards sent to Ireland, but arrived too late to be of any use in the Rising.
File:Manchester Martyrs.jpg, Three Manchester Martyrs
The "Manchester Martyrs" () is a term used by Irish nationalists to refer to three men—William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O'Brien—who were executed following their conviction of murder in 1867 after an attack on a police van i ...
of 1867; at right is Michael O'Brien a former Corporal of Battery E 1st New Jersey Artillery regiment
File:Fenians escape Fremantle.jpg, Fenian convicts escape from Fremantle in the 1876 Catalpa rescue
The ''Catalpa'' rescue was the escape, on 17–19 April 1876, of six Irish Fenian prisoners from the Convict Establishment (now Fremantle Prison), a British penal colony in Western Australia. They were taken on the convict ship ''Hougoumont'' ...
.
Canada
![Battle of Ridgeway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Battle_of_Ridgeway.jpg)
In Canada, ''Fenian'' is used to designate a group of Irish radicals, a.k.a. the American branch of the Fenian Brotherhood in the 1860s. They made several attempts to invade some parts of the British colonies of
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
(i.e.,
Campobello Island
Campobello Island (, also ) is the largest and only inhabited island in Campobello, a civil parish in southwestern New Brunswick, Canada, near the border with Maine, United States. The island's permanent population in 2021 was 949. It is the s ...
) and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
(present-day
Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...
and
Missisquoi County), with the raids continuing after these colonies had been
confederated. The ultimate goal of the Fenian raids was to hold Canada hostage and therefore be in a position to blackmail the United Kingdom to give Ireland its independence. Because of the invasion attempts, support or collaboration for the Fenians in Canada became very rare even among the
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 ...
.
Francis Bernard McNamee, the man who started the Fenian movement in Montreal (and who was later suspected of being a government spy), was a case in point. In public, he proclaimed his loyalty to the queen and called for an Irish militia company to defend Canada against the Fenians. In private, he wrote that the real purpose of an Irish militia company would be to assist the Fenian invasion, adding for good measure that if the government denied his request he would raise the cry of anti-Irish Catholic discrimination and bring more of his aggrieved countrymen into the Fenian Brotherhood.
A suspected Fenian,
Patrick J. Whelan, was hanged in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
for the assassination of
Irish Canadian
ga, Gael-Cheanadaigh
, image = Irish_Canadian_population_by_province.svg
, image_caption = Irish Canadians as percent of population by province/territory
, population = 4,627,00013.4% of the Canadian population (2016)
, po ...
politician,
Thomas D'Arcy McGee
Thomas D'Arcy McGee (13 April 18257 April 1868) was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. The young McGee was an Irish Catholic who opposed British rule in Ireland, and w ...
in 1868, who had been a member of the
Irish Confederation
The Irish Confederation was an Irish nationalist independence movement, established on 13 January 1847 by members of the Young Ireland movement who had seceded from Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association. Historian T. W. Moody described it as "th ...
in the 1840s.
The danger posed by the Fenian raids was an important element in motivating the British North America colonies to consider a more centralised defence for mutual protection, ultimately realised through
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...
.
England
![Fenian Flag 1867](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Fenian_Flag_1867.svg)
The Fenians in England and the British Empire were a major threat to political stability. In the late 1860s, the IRB control centre was in Lancashire. In 1868, the Supreme Council of the IRB, the provisional government of the Irish Republic, was restructured. The four Irish provinces (Connacht, Leinster, Ulster and Munster), along with Scotland, the north and south of England and London, had representatives on the council. Later four honorary members were co-opted. The Council elected three members to the executive. The President was chairman, the Treasurer managed recruitment and finance, and the Secretary was director of operations. There were IRB Circles in every major city in England.
On 23 November 1867, three Fenians, William Philip Allen, Michael O'Brian, and Michael Larkin, known as the
Manchester Martyrs
The "Manchester Martyrs" () is a term used by Irish nationalists to refer to three men—William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O'Brien—who were executed following their conviction of murder in 1867 after an attack on a police van i ...
, were executed in
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
for their attack on a police van to release Fenians held captive earlier that year.
On 13 December 1867, the Fenians
exploded a bomb in attempt to free one of their members being held on remand at Clerkenwell Prison in London. The explosion damaged nearby houses, killed 12 people and caused 120 injuries. None of the prisoners escaped. The bombing was later described as the most infamous action carried out by the Fenians in Great Britain in the 19th century. It enraged the public, causing a backlash of hostility in Britain which undermined efforts to establish
home rule
Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
or independence for Ireland.
Australia
In 1868 an Irishman,
Henry James O’Farrell attempted to assassinate the
Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, who was visiting Sydney. O’Farrell claimed to be a Fenian but was probably a lone actor. He was hanged on 21 April 1868. The Duke recovered but the attack was used by politician
Henry Parkes
Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...
to wage a sectarian campaign against Catholics and people of Irish origin.
Later in 1868 the ''
Hougoumont
Château d'Hougoumont (originally Goumont) is a walled manorial compound, situated at the bottom of an escarpment near the Nivelles road in the Braine-l'Alleud municipality, near Waterloo, Belgium. The site served as one of the advanced defens ...
'', the last convict ship to Australia, arrived in Western Australia carrying 62 Fenian prisoners convicted in England. Over the next decade, most were released and many chose to go to America. By 1876 only six remained in custody, and in that year they were freed in a daring rescue mission organised by the IRB in the United States. The ship ''Catalpa'' was sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Fremantle, Western Australia, a distance of some 12,000 miles, and took the men back to the United States. The
rescue
Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation.
Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ho ...
caused a worldwide sensation and sparked several ballads.
Contemporary usage
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, ''Fenian'' is used by some as a derogatory word for Irish Catholics;
in 2012,
British National Party
The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...
leader
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...
was criticised by Unionists and Republicans for
tweeting
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
the term while attending an
Ulster Covenant
Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant, commonly known as the Ulster Covenant, was signed by nearly 500,000 people on and before 28 September 1912, in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill introduced by the British Government in the same year. ...
event at
Stormont,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
; Griffin referred to
Lambeg drum
A Lambeg drum is a large drum, beaten with curved malacca canes. It is used primarily in Northern Ireland by Unionists and the Orange Order traditionally in street parades held in the summer, particularly on and around 12 July ("The Twelfth" ...
s, saying "the can't match the lambeg, you Fenian bastards".
Scotland
![Glasnevin 3 077](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Glasnevin_3_077.jpg)
The term ''Fenian'' is used similarly in Scotland. During Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
matches, it is often aimed in a sectarian manner at supporters of
Celtic F.C.
The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...
Celtic has its roots in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
's immigrant Catholic
Irish population and the club has thus been associated with Irish nationalism, symbolised by the almost universal flying of the Irish Tricolour during matches. Other Scottish clubs that have Irish roots, such as
Hibernian and
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
, do not tend to have the term applied to them, however. The term is now firmly rooted within the
Old Firm
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...
rivalry between Celtic and
Rangers. Use of the term as a religious slur carried criminal penalties in some contexts under the
, before its repeal in January 2018.
Australia
In Australia, ''Fenian'' is used as a pejorative term for those members of the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
(ALP) who have
Australian Republican views similar to those who support
Irish unification. In a speech given at the ALP Convention in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
on 15 October 2006,
Michael Atkinson,
Attorney-General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
of South Australia, spoke of those members of the ALP who wished to remove the title
Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...
and other references to the crown as "Fenians and
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s". Atkinson made a further mention of Fenianism when the title of Queen's Counsel was abolished. The title of Queen's Counsel was re-instated by the South Australian government in 2019.
See also
*
Taig
Taig, and (primarily formerly) also Teague, are anglicisations of the Irish-language male given name ''Tadhg'', used as ethnic slurs for a stage Irishman. ''Taig'' in Northern Ireland is most commonly used as a derogatory term by loyalists to re ...
Footnotes
References
* Comerford, R.V. ''The Fenians in Context: Irish Politics & Society 1848–82'', Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 1985.
* Cronin, Sean. ''The McGarrity Papers'', Anvil Books, Ireland, 1972
* Green, E. R. R. "The Fenians" ''History Today'' (Oct 1958) 8#10 pp 698–705.
* Kee, Robert. ''The Bold Fenian Men '', Quartet Books (London 1976),
* Kelly, M J. ''The Fenian Ideal and Irish Nationalism, 1882–1916'', Boydell and Brewer, 2006,
* Kenny, Michael. ''The Fenians'', The National Museum of Ireland in association with Country House, Dublin, 1994,
* McGee, Owen. ''The IRB: The Irish Republican Brotherhood from The Land League to Sinn Féin'', Four Courts Press, 2005,
* Ó Broin, Leon. ''Fenian Fever: An Anglo-American Dilemma'', Chatto & Windus, London, 1971, .
* O'Hegarty, P. S. ''A History of Ireland Under the Union'', Methuen & Co. (London 1952).
* Quinlavin, Patrick, and Paul Rose, ''The Fenians in England'' (London, 1982).
* Ramón, Marta. ''A Provisional Dictator: James Stephens and the Fenian Movement'', University College Dublin Press (2007),
* Ryan, Desmond. ''The Fenian Chief: A Biography of James Stephens'', Hely Thom LTD, Dublin, 1967
* Ryan, Mark F. ''Fenian Memories'', Edited by T.F. O'Sullivan, M. H. Gill & Son, LTD, Dublin, 1945
* Snay, Mitchell. ''Fenians, Freedmen, and Southern Whites: Race and Nationality in the Era of Reconstruction'' (2010)
* Stanford, Jane. ''That Irishman: The Life and Times of John O'Connor Power'', The History Press Ireland, Dublin 2011,
* Steward, Patrick, and Bryan McGowan. ''The Fenians: Irish Rebellion in the North Atlantic World, 1858–1876.'' Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 2013.
* A journal of Francis Thompson's research into Fenianism and the Celtic Renaissance.
*
* Ui Fhlannagain, Fionnuala. ''Finini Mheiricea agus an Ghaeilge'', Binn Éadair, Baile Átha Cliath (Howth, Dublin), Ireland: Coiscéim, 2008,
* Whelehan, Niall. ''The Dynamiters: Irish Nationalism and Political Violence in the Wider World, 1867–1900'' (Cambridge, 2012).
Further reading
*
External links
Fenians.orgFenian BrotherhoodBBC History article on the Irish Republican Brotherhood*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070111224748/http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/organizations-fenians.html The Fenian Movement in the USincluding digitised materials about their activities. From the ''Immigration to the United States, 1789–1930'' collection, Harvard University Library Open Collections Program
{{Authority control
Anti-Catholic slurs
Pejorative terms for European people
Fenian Raids
Irish Republican Brotherhood
Paramilitary organisations based in Ireland