THE fascinating story of patriot John Mitchel is also the remarkable tale of his young wife, Jane (Jenny) Venner, daughter of a Newry Protestant sea-captain, as well as the unique career of Mitchel’s school-friend and future brother-in-law, John Martin from Loughorne.

Married to a Banbridge-based solicitor, Jenny was catapulted from her sedate home into the maelstrom of Irish politics, when her husband became a leading revolutionary.

After the Presbyterian lawyer had been convicted of treason felony, and sentenced to 14 years’ transportation, she and her young family followed John Mitchel into exile, sharing his life in a convict colony.

And when he escaped to America, Jenny and the children met him in New York, staying close while he fought in the Civil War, during which two of their sons were killed and another wounded. Finally, when elected MP, she accompanied him on the triumphant journey home; but soon afterwards was chief mourner at the massive funeral in the frontier town.

Meanwhile, John Martin had also graduated from Trinity College in Dublin. But an uncle had died, so that his nephew inherited a large farm. Martin’s tenants had great respect for the landowner who, during the Famine, did not collect rent from the poorer families.

After Mitchel moved to Dublin, and joined the Association for Repeal of the Union, John Martin did likewise. Though shy and modest, he became a prominent figure in the Young Ireland movement, frequently chairing meetings, and contributing to the radical `United Irishman,` of which Mitchel was editor.

When John Mitchel stood in the dock, having been convicted, he declared: “The Roman, who saw his hand burning to ashes before the tyrant, promised that 300 others would follow on his enterprise.” Looking directly at John Martin, he called out: “Can I promise for one, maybe two or three, - aye, for hundreds?” John Martin cried out: “Promise for me.” Thomas Meagher shouted: “And for me!” And similar calls rang around the courthouse.

A few weeks later, Martin re-occupied the newspaper offices, publishing a new journal called `The Irish Felon.` Announcing its policy, he wrote: “To gain permission for the Irish people to care for their own lives, liberty, happiness and dignity; to abolish the conditions, whereby classes of our people hate and murder each other. We must end fraud, perjury and corruption, making law and order, peace and justice possible in Ireland.

“Now the `Irish Felon’ takes its place among the combatants in the holy war, waged against foreign tyranny. In conducting this war, my weapon shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” John Martin stated. But the `Freeman’s Journal’ declared: “By issuing such a publication at this time, John Martin knew that he would be swiftly in the dock.”

Sure enough, after a few more issues had been published, the Donaghmore editor was in Newgate prison, from which he sent out a defiant message: “Let them menace you with the gibbet, for daring to speak your love for Ireland; let them threaten to mow you down with grape-shot, just as they massacred your kindred with famine and the plaque.”

And he declared from the dock: “I admit that, being a man who loved a quiet life, I would never have engaged in politics did I not think it necessary to try and end the horrible scene that this country presents of poverty, corruption, crime and brutality. I acknowledge that I was but a weak assailant of English power. I am not a good writer, and I am no orator.”

Convicted of sedition, John Martin was despatched on the long trip to Van Dieman’s Land, now Tasmania, off the Australian coast. There he was re-united with the other Young Irelanders, - John Mitchel, Smith O’Brien, Francis Meagher, etc. In fact, he and Mitchel shared a cottage, until the arrival of Jenny and her family Most of the `convicts,` including John Mitchel, later escaped.

When John’s wife had first arrived in the Irish capital, she swiftly adapted to what must have been completely alien to her background, - playing hostess to revolutionary comrades of her husband. Indeed, she was credited with having written some of `more seditious` articles in the `United Irishman.` She was jokingly referred to as `the war correspondent.`

One article was entitled `Homily to the women of Ireland.` It stated: “Dear sisters: The national movement has changed character, being no longer a peaceful one. But as the foundations of a righteous war are always founded on justice and mercy, the woman who would seek to avert that war is a traitor to humanity and her sex.

“A horror of blood-letting appears to be regarded as a feminine virtue in Ireland. Will you abandon your true virtue to set up a false idol in its stead? Lest the rich be hurt, must the poor be tortured? Do you believe famine to be a mild affliction?”

After she and her family had spent some time in the convict colony, she advised Smith O’Brien, another Young Ireland prisoner to bring his wife there, stating that he “needed the comfort that only a woman could bring.” Only she of all the wives made the long journey. “It shows the determination of my faith in the rightness of my husband’s cause, - and my cause!”

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