Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan 1816-1903
Irish nationalist and politician

Born in County Monaghan, he helped to start the Nation (1842), the Young Ireland organ, and for 12 years engaged in agitation, and was tried for sedition and treason. On the break-up of the Independent Irish Party, he emigrated in 1856 to Australia, where after the establishment of the Victorian constitution, he became Minister of Public Works (1857), Minister of Lands (1858, 1862), and Prime Minister (1871). In 1877 he was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. His Ballad Poetry of Ireland became a household book in his native country. In 1880, when he returned to Europe, he published his Young Ireland, 1840-50 (final edn 1896), followed in 1883 by Four Years of Irish History, 1845-49, and in 1898 by My Life in Two Hemispheres.