* Born in Co Louth in 1825
* Emigrated to US in 1843 to become editor of 'The Boston'
newspaper
* Returned to Ireland and jailed for his part in the 1848 rebellion
* Escaped to America disguised as a priest
* Moved to Montreal via Boston where he was elected Mayor
in 1855, then to the Canadian parliament
* Became Minister for Agriculture in 1864
* Returned to Ireland and made a speech rejecting his revolutionary past "Politically we were a pack of fools, but we were honest in our folly and no man need blush at forty for the follies of one and twenty unless he still perseveres in them."
* Returned to Canada and made significant contributions in the areas Education, Agriculture
* He was assassinated in Canada in 1868 by Irish republicans