Mary Eva Kelly (later O'Doherty) (1826–1910) was an Irish-Australian poet and writer who was widely known as "Eva" of "the Nation".

Biography

Born in

Headford Headford () is a small town in County Galway, located 26 km north of Galway city in the west of Ireland. It is an angling centre for the eastern shore of Lough Corrib, and Greenfields, approximately 6.5 km west of the town, is its b ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, Ireland, Kelly was educated privately with other members of her family. Her first poems were translations, including one of

Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...

's ''Dying Christian''. Kelly became famous for her contributions to ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', the first being "The

Banshee A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name i ...

". Initially using her own name, she adopted the non-de-plume ''Eva'' starting with her "Lament for Davis". She also contributed prose, essays and ballads. She was one of the three most famous women writers for ''The Nation'', who were known as "the Three Graces". During the period that Kelly wrote for the ''Nation'', she interacted with Olivia Knight, who was known as "Thomasine of the ''Nation''". Kevin Izod O'Doherty Monument 2

In 1848, Kelly met

Kevin Izod O'Doherty Kevin Izod O'Doherty (7 September 1823 – 15 July 1905) was an Irish Australian politician who, as a Young Irelander, had been transported to Tasmania in 1849. He was first elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1867. In the 1885 he ...

who was in prison for his radical politics. She married him in 1855 at

Kingstown Kingstown is the capital, chief port, and main commercial centre of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. With a population of 12,909 (2012), Kingstown is the most populous settlement in the country. It is the island's agricultural industry centr ...

. He practised in Dublin successfully, and in 1862 they went to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, Australia and he became well known as one of its leading physicians. In 1885 they returned to England, where O'Doherty was elected M.P. for North Meath. They returned to Brisbane in 1886. Much has been written about the romance of Mary and Kevin. Mary Eva O'Doherty died at Rosalie, Brisbane on 21 May 1910 and was buried in

Toowong Cemetery Toowong Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on the corner of Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland's largest ceme ...

.O'Doherty Mary Eva
— Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 21 February 2015. Mary's grandson Kevin Louis Vincent O'Doherty was killed in action at

Dernancourt Dernancourt (; pcd, Dèrnincourt) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Dernancourt is situated on the D52 road, some northeast of Amiens. Population Places and monuments The commune was con ...

on 5 April 1918. Her granddaughter Isabel Maud Mignon O'Doherty married actor Thomas Hunter Nesbitt on 30 April 1919 in Brompton, London.

London Metropolitan Archives The London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) is the principal local government archive repository for the Greater London area, including the City of London: it is the largest county record office in the United Kingdom. It was established under its pr ...

; London, England; Reference Number: p84/tri2/025 Ancestry.com; 2010; sourced 12 February 2021.

Bibliography

* ''Poems by Eva of the Nation (Mary Eva Kelly)'', San Francisco, Thomas, 1877. * ''Poems by Eva of the Nation (Mary Eva Kelly)'', edited by Séamas MacManus, with a biographical sketch by Justin McCarthy,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, 1090. *Christine Kinealy, ''Repeal and Revolution. 1848 in Ireland'' (Manchester UP, 2009)

References

External links

* http://www.from-ireland.net/mary-eva-kelly-young-irelander/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Mary Eva People from County Galway Irish poets 1826 births 1910 deaths Irish women poets Burials at Toowong Cemetery Colony of Queensland people Australian people of Irish descent