Bronze
Edition of 3
53 x 53 x 29 cm
21″ x 21″ x 12″
2003
Thomas Francis Meagher
(1823-1867)
Nine Fine Irishmen Irish Bar, New York New York Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas.
Commissioned by The Irish Pub Company, 2003
Born in Waterford, Meagher was a prominent leader of the Young Ireland Movement at the time of the Great Famine in Ireland. He was a wealthy, well educated Catholic and an eloquent and charming orator. Inspired by the French Revolution he designed the Irish flag. Following an unsuccessful rising he was arrested in 1848 and tried for high treason. He was found guilty and condemned to death, however the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania. From there he carried out a dramatic escape to New York in 1853 where he became a successful lawyer and lecturer and fought for the Union in the American Civil War, rising to the rank of Brigadier General. He became Governor of Montana and died in a drowning accident aged 43.
