Mary Anne Kelly [“Eva of the Nation”]

Life
1825-1910 [vars. Mary Anne, Mary Eva, Eva Mary; “Eva of The Nation”]; b. in her grandfather’s house, a Mr O’Flaherty, at Headford, Co. Galway; livd at Portumna; priv. educated; her early translations incl. Lamartine’s Dying Christian; her poem ’The Banshee” was accepted by The Nation; also contrib. to Irish Tribune; several pseuds. before settling on “Eva” with ‘Lament for Davis’, used exclusively thereafter; also prose; bolstered Kevin Izod O’Doherty’s determination to refuse the plea bargain; m. O’Doherty in Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire), 1855 [but see Morash, infra]; briefly settled in Paris; O’Doherty elected to Legislative Assembly, Queensland, and later MP Meath, 1886; returned with him to Australia and survived him by 5 years; issued Poems (1877); Selections (1908); Poems by Eva of the Nation (San Francisco 1877); d. Brisbane, May 1910. CAB PI ODNB DBIV DIB DIW DIH MKA OCIL

Works
Poems by ‘Eva’ of the Nation (San Francisco 1877); and Do., ed. & pref. by Seumas MacManus with a memoir by Justin MacCarthy [rev. and enl.] (Dublin: MH Gill & Son 1909).

Criticism
‘Irish Literary Celebrities 5: Mary Izod O’Doherty’, in The Nation (8 Dec. 188[?]); Justin McCarthy, ‘Eva of the Nation’, in Seumus MacManus, ed., Poems by Eva of the Nation, intro. William Hickey (Dublin: Gill 1909) [‘prepared by authoress’]. P. J. Dillon, in Capuchin Annual (1933); “Eva” of The Nation’ [obit.], in The Irish Book Lover, Vol. I, No. 12 (July, 1910), p.163 (‘Eva Mary Kelly’)].

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References
Chris Morash, The Hungry Voice (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1989), b. c.1825 at Headford, Co Galway; d. Brisbane, May 1910; engaged to Kevin Izod, who she married after his transportation to Australia; “Home Again” in Poems of ‘Eva’ of The Nation (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son 1909), p.65.

Stopford. A. Brooke & T. W. Rolleston, eds., A Treasury of Irish Verse (1900) incls. poems; see also anthologies by Michael MacDermott, Varian, et al.

Edward Hayes, ed., coll. & ed., The Ballads of Ireland, 2 vols (Donahue 1857), Vol. 2 incls. “My Own (from the Irish”) (p.47) and “My Nial Bawn” (p.48).

John Cooke, ed., Dublin Book of Irish Verse 1728-1909 (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis 1909); bio-dates, 1825- ; ‘To Erin’; ‘Remembrance’ (from the Irish); The Nation’s ‘Eva’, Mary Eva, Mrs. [Kevin Izod] O’Doherty.

P. W. Joyce, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs [...] (Dublin, Hodges, Figgis, & Co. 1909), incls. notice: ‘Miss Mary Eva Kelly, then of Portumna, better known as “Eva,” the writer of many fine national ballads in The Nation, who subsequently married Dr. Kevin Izod O’Dogherty, and who, happily, is still living in hale old age, and resides in Australia (see p.381, below)." (Pref., p.xi; available at Internet Archive - online].

Rev. Patrick Walsh, ed., Songs of the Gael: A Collection of Anglo-Irish Songs [... &c.] (Dublin: Browne & Nolan 1922), incls. “My Nial Bawn” (p.44) [available at Internet Archive - online].

Brian Cleeve & Anne Brady, A Dictionary of Irish Writers (Dublin: Lilliput 1985), err, dg. of Kevin Izod O’Doherty.

Belfast Public Library holds Poems by Eva (1877, 1907) [?recte 1909].

Notes
Annie Keary: Keary’s Castle Daly (1875) contains a dialogue between Mr. Thornley and Ellen, as follows: ‘I shall begin to think you are the “Eva” or the “Speranza” who write pathetic treason in the Nation’; ‘Don’t sneer at them, please. I have read verses of theird that I should indeed be proud to have written.’ (p.301.)

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