John O'Leary (Fenian)

John O'Leary (23 July 1830 – 16 March 1907) was an Irish separatist and a leading Fenian. He studied both law and medicine but did not take a degree and for his involvement in the Irish Republican Brotherhood he was imprisoned in England during the nineteenth century.

Born in the town of Tipperary, County Tipperary, the Catholic O'Leary was educated at the local Protestant Grammar School, The Abbey School, and later the Catholic Carlow College. He identified with the views advocated by Thomas Davis and met James Stephens in 1846.

He began his studies in law at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1847, where, through the Grattan Club, he associated with Charles Gavan Duffy, James Fintan Lalor and Thomas Francis Meagher.

After the failure of the 1848 Tipperary Revolt, O'Leary attempted to rescue the Young Ireland leaders from Clonmel Gaol, and was himself imprisoned for a week from 8 September 1849. He took part in a further attempted uprising in Cashel on 16 September 1849, but this proved abortive.

O'Leary abandoned his study of law at Trinity College, because he was unwilling to take the oath of allegiance required of a barrister. He enrolled at Queen's College, Cork in 1850, to study medicine, later moved to Queen's College, Galway, then on to further studies at Meath Hospital, Dublin, in Paris and in London. In 1855, he visited Paris, where he became acquainted with Kevin Izod O'Doherty, John Martin and the American painter, John Whistler. O'Leary subsequently became financial manager of the newly formed Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), and was joint editor of the IRB paper The Irish People.

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