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Notes on Edmond O'Donovan
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- Expert observer
on the Turkmen at a critical time.
- O'Donovan, Edmond. THE MERV OASIS: Travels and
Adventures East of the Caspian During the Years
1879-80-81, Including Five Months' Residence
Among the Tekkes of Merv illus. London, 1882
- O’Donovan, E., THE MERV OASIS TRAVELS AND
ADVENTURES EAST OF THE CASPIAN DURING THE YEARS
1878–80–81…. London: 1882. 2
volumes. 8vo. Portrait, maps (missing map in back
pocket), and facsimiles.
- Report of a English spy acting as a journalist
mistaken for a Russian spy, and held captive for
five months.
- O'DONOVAN, EDMUND (1844-1883), British
war-correspondent, was born at Dublin on the I3th
of September 1844, the son of John O'Donovan
(1809-1861), a well-known Irish archaeologist and
topographer. In 1866 he began to contribute to
the Irish Times and other Dublin papers. After
the battle of Sedan he joined the Foreign Legion
of the French army, and was wounded and taken
prisoner by the Germans. In 1873 the Carlist
rising attracted him to Spain, and he wrote many
newspaper letters on the campaign. In 1876 he
represented the London Daily News during the
rising of Bosnia and Herzegovina against the
Turks, and in 1879, for the same paper, made his
adventurous and famous journey to Merv. On his
arrival at Merv, the Turcomans, suspecting him to
be a Russian spy, detained him. It was only after
several months' captivity that O'Donovan managed
to get a message to his principals through to
Persia, whence it was telegraphed to England.
These adventures he described in The Merv Oasis
(1882). In 1883 O'Donovan accompanied the
ill-fated expedition of Hicks Pasha to the
Egyptian Sudan,.and perished with it. O'DONOVAN,
EDMUND
For Further Reading:
Thanks and best wishes,
J. Barry O'Connell Jr.
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