Mitchel, John (1815-1875)

Irish journalist and political activist. Born in Dungiven, County Londonderry, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Mitchel wrote extreme nationalist articles for The Nation before working on the United Irishman with James Clarence Mangan and James Fintan Lalor. In 1848 he was convicted of treason-felony and transported, eventually reaching Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). His Jail Journal, or Five Years in British Prisons (1854) is a central 19th-century text of anti-British imperialism and Irish nationalism. He escaped in 1853 and settled in the USA, returning to Ireland in 1875, where he died at Newry just days after being elected to Westminster as member of Parliament for County Tipperary.

Mitchel's published works also include The History of Ireland From the Treaty of Limerick to the Present Time (1868) and an 1859 edition of Mangan's poetry.