Thomas Davis

Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845) was an Irish writer, editor, and political thinker, and the guiding spirit of the Young Ireland movement. With Charles Gavan Duffy and John Blake Dillon he founded The Nation in 1842, using its pages to argue for a self-reliant, non-sectarian Irish patriotism. He is best remembered for rousing ballads such as "A Nation Once Again," which stayed popular long after his sudden early death from scarlet fever.