John Blake Dillon

John Blake Dillon (5 May 1814 – 15 September 1866) was an Irish writer and politician who was one of the founding members of the Young Ireland movement.

John Blake Dillon was born in the town of Ballaghaderreen, on the border of counties Mayo and Roscommon.

While working for The Morning Register newspaper he met Charles Gavan Duffy, with whom he and Davis founded The Nation in 1842, which was dedicated to promoting Irish nationalism and all three men became important members of Daniel O'Connell's Repeal Association, which advocated the repeal of the Act of Union 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland.

[9][10] This posturing eventually led to the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848 where a countryside devastated by the Great Famine failed to rise up and support the rebels.

[11][12] According to fellow Irish nationalist, Justin McCarthy: "...it has been said of him that while he strongly discouraged the idea of armed rebellion, and had no faith in the possibility of Ireland's succeeding by any movement of insurrection, yet when Smith O'Brien risked Ireland's chances in the open field, he cast his lot with his leader and stood by his side in Tipperary.