Daniel O'Connell - and "The Book of the Illustrious"

 “The Book of the Illustrious” by George Henderson, 1845 [L(SLA).326.921 WIL]

This is a wonderful volume which contains the portraits and memoirs of notable figures of the times such as Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel and Benjamin Disraeli [image 1].  One of the other “illustrious” included in this work is William Wilberforce which explains why there is a copy in the Local Studies slavery collection.

Image 1 - Benjamin Disraeli in "The Book of the Illustrious"

However, there is another figure included in this volume that deserves acknowledgement for his part in the anti-slavery movement and that is Daniel O’Connell [image 2] known at the Liberator. His mobilisation of Catholic Ireland through to the poorest class of tenant farmer helped secure Catholic emancipation in 1829 and allowed him to take a seat in the United Kingdom Parliament to which he was twice elected.

At a time when vast English and American fortunes were being made out of the slave trade, O’Connell became one of the world’s most outspoken campaigners to abolish slavery. He was particularly concerned with the plight of the slave mothers who knew they were producing children for the slave trade.  He was a hero to the escaped slave and black writer and activist, Frederick Douglass, who met O’Connell during a speaking tour in Ireland in 1845. O’Connell never visited the United States as it was a slave-owning country. He also wouldn’t shake hands with anyone who supported slavery, including the US ambassador saying:

“I should be sorry to be contaminated by the touch of a man from those states where slavery is continued”

He was warned by critics within his own Repeal Association that this could lose financial support from America for Ireland’s cause and indeed it did.

Image 2 - Daniel O'Connell in "The Book of the Illustrious"

O’Connell was a brilliant lawyer and formidable politician. Gladstone called him the greatest popular leader the world had ever seen.  This is the man who conceived peaceful protest – his time in France during the French revolution had given him a dread of mob violence. This belief in non-violence would inspire future leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela -

“Not for all the universe contains would I, in the struggle for what I conceive my county’s cause, consent to the effusion of a single blood, except my own”

O’Connell was the first politician to recognise the possibility and the power of popular politics where everyone could contribute.  Politicians weren’t paid, but by collecting halfpennies and pennies from thousands of people he not only found a way to finances his movement and his political career, he gave people a stake in that movement.

What’s intriguing about this book is that it appears to be a rare volume and four of the five copies that are listed for sale or in a depositary [on a “Google” search] specifically say that the pages on Daniel O’Connell are missing.

Caoimhe West, Reader Assistant, Unlocking the Treasures Project