Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Poet and Irish nationalist. Pseudonyms: “Eva,” “E. O. D.”, “E.” Known as “Eva of the Nation.” Born in Headford, Co. Galway. Prolific periodical poet in a range of Irish nationalist newspapers, including The Nation, United Irishman, Irish Felon, Irishman, Irish Tribune. Moved to Dublin in the late 1840s, and met prominent nationalists including Kevin Izod O’Doherty, to whom she became engaged while he was on trial for treason. After Kevin O’Doherty returned from exile in Tasmania, Eva married him on 23 August 1855, after which they moved to Paris. When her husband was pardoned, in 1856, they moved back to Dublin, and then emigrated to Australia in 1860, where Eva continued to publish poetry. She moved back to Ireland with O’Doherty in 1885, while he served as an MP, then moving back to Australia in 1888. Author of Poems by Eva of the Nation (1877). Biographical information: DIB. (AC)