John Kenny (1847–1924) long-time member and multi-term president (1883, 1914) of the Clan-na-Gael, which supplied support to the rebels in Ireland, culminating in the Easter Rising. John Kenny was a life-long close associate of John Devoy, having been born near Devoy's hometown, been a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and having worked very closely with Devoy in New York for decades. Under the cover of personal and business trips, he served as liaison between the "Home Office" (the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland) and the Clan-na-Gael. In 1914 he served as the Clan's envoy to Berlin to present the Clan's proposal that Germany sell arms to the Irish, who would then stage a rebellion against their common enemy, England. On his return to New York he stopped in Dublin to inform Thomas Clarke. He returned to Ireland to deliver money for the guns and to bring back messages from the I.R.B. Early life – Clan-na-Gael 1871–1885 John Kenny was born in 1847 in Kilcock, County Kildare, to a family of wealthy farmers. After a successful stint in gold mining in Australia, he emigrated to New York in 1870, where he joined the Irish-American organisation Napper Tandy, the parent branch of the Clan-na-Gael. Kenny played a major role in the Catalpa rescue, the Clan-na-Gael's rescue of six Irish prisoners in 1873 from British prison in Fremantle, Western Australia. The rescue is credited with having breathed new life into the Irish organisations in America, which at the time were in disarray following several failed ventures. As president of the Clan-na-Gael in 1882, Kenny swore in 23-year-old newcomer Thomas B. Clarke, who was elected the organizational secretary. Thus began their lifelong friendship, lasting 34 years until Clarke's execution as a leader of the Easter Rising. In 1883 Kenny passed along Clarke's offer to volunteer for the Clan-na-Gaels' bombing campaign in London. Clarke's offer was accepted. The campaign, devised by Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, failed and Clarke ended up serving fifteen and a half years in British prisons. Land League, County Kildare 1885–1890 While Kenny was president, his chapter of the Clan na Gael put in writing their opposition to the policies of Clan na Gael president Alexander Sullivan, who promoted bombing missions in England, and who broke ties with the Irish Republican Brotherhood over their objections to the missions. Sullivan ejected Kenny's chapter from the Clan na Gael, along with all other chapters