Eugene Davis

Eugene Davis (23 March 1857 - 25 November 1897) was an Irish writer, journalist, poet and nationalist, who wrote Souvenirs of Irish Footprints Over Europe.

Early life Eugene Davis was born in Clonakilty, County Cork on 23 March 1857. His parents were John and Ellen Davis (née Murphy). His father was a private tutor, who taught classics to the children of the local gentry. He was their only son, and had one stepbrother and 3 stepsisters from his father's first marriage. His stepbrother was Fr Charles Davis (1829–92), who was briefly involved in the fishing industry in County Cork. He was educated by his father, who wished for him to also become a priest. He studied divinity at the Irish Colleges of Leuven and Paris from 1878 to 1880, but did not enter the priesthood. Instead he began to write under the pen-name "Owen Roe".

Career Between 1876 and 1880 he was published in the Shamrock, almost weekly, writing about Irish history and poetry as well as his own poems and a number of romantic poems translated from German and French. The widow of John Keegan Casey, Mary Casey, commissioned Davis to write a biography of her husband, Reliques of John K. Casey (1878), which also included unpublished articles and poems. After leaving the Irish College in Paris in 1880, Davis began submitting fiction and verse to the Irishman, eventually joining the staff of United Ireland. During the suppression of United Ireland in late 1881, Davis edited a Parisian edition of the paper underground for 6 weeks at the request of Patrick Egan. He was then recruited by James Stephens, the retired founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, to arrange and edit his memoirs for publication in the Irishman from February to June 1882, and Weekly Freeman from October 1883 to February 1884.

From 1886 to 1887, he wrote long form articles about Ireland for the Parisian La Nouvelle Revue. In early 1887 he was given permission to return to France, In the late 1880s, he spoke widely in Ireland to groups including the Pan-Celtic Literary Society. Alongside his 1889 volume of poetry, Davis published poems in Dublin University Review (April 1886) and Lays and lyrics of the Pan-Celtic Society (1889).

Selected works Reliques of John K. Casey (1878) Souvenirs of Irish Footprints Over Europe (1889) The Poetical Works of Eugene Davis (1889) A Vision of Ireland and Other Poems (1889)