An Irish Revolutionary Lived Here

The house at 34 Winthrop St. is one in a group of five flat-front, brownstone-trimmed red brick row houses on the west side of the Training Field.

Built in 1855, the house, according to the Boston Landmarks Commission, is "one of the key components in the old Training Field/Winthrop Square ’frame’ of 19th and early 20th Century buildings."

Somewhat nondescript, 34 Winthrop St. is probably best known as the home of John Boyle O’Reilly, an internationally known poet and Irish revolutionary who lived at the Winthrop Street address until he died in 1890.

John Boyle O’Reilly

O’Reilly was born in 1844 at the onset of the Great Famine in Drogheda, an industrial, port town on the east coast of Ireland. His father was a teacher and O’Reilly became a printer, a journalist for a British paper and a British soldier.

In 1865, O'Reilly joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood, known as the Fenians. They were a secret society of Irish rebels dedicated to the overthrow of British rule. O’Reilly’s devotion to the Fenian cause for a free Ireland ultimately led to his betrayal, court-martial and sentence of 20 years "penal servitude" in Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.  O’Reilly could have been executed but was spared because of his age.

In 1869, with the help of a Catholic priest, O’Reilly escaped Australia by way of a whaling ship, landed in Philadelphia and soon found his way to Boston, where there was an active Irish community. He became editor of The Pilot, Boston’s Catholic newspaper, and for the next 14 years was its editor and part owner. As the paper’s editor, O'Reilly championed Irish-American integration, black civil rights and New England's literary culture.

In 1872, O’Reilly married Mary Murphy -- a Charlestown native. They raised four daughters at 34 Winthrop St. 

O'Reilly, the writer

In addition to running a newspaper, O’Reilly was a well-known author. His books include four volumes of poetry and three novels. The Cry of the Dreamer is considered one of O'Reilly's greatest poems. The introspective narrator in it speaks of a man never far from the Irish soil. (Read the full poem on Patch here.)

O’Reilly died a young man at the age of 46. His funeral was at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Charlestown.

• Where is the O’Reilly House?
  34 Winthrop Street

• When was it built?
  1855

• What was it built for and who was the first occupant?
  It was part of the mid-19th century housing boom in Boston.

• Why was it built?
  To add to the available housing in Charlestown needed to accommodate increased immigration.

• How was it built?
  It is a brick three-story home with a linteled, recessed front doorway.

• What are the future plans for the structure?
  The single- family home is privately owned and currently occupied.

Information for this article was compiled from several sources, including Boston Landmarks Commission, vis a vis Massachusetts Historical Commission Inventory; Old Charlestown by Timothy Sawyer; Fanatic Heart: a life of John Boyle O’Reilly by Anthony G. Evans; and various web-sites, including http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11294c.htm, http://www.irishheritagetrail.com/neighborhoods and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyle_O%27Reilly.