John Forrest Kelly
Anarchist, Scientist
John Forrest Kelly was born 28 March 1859 in the vicinity of Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland, the son of two Fenian schoolteachers, Jeremiah and Kate Forrest Kelly, who had eleven other children; he emigrated to America in 1873.
He earned a PhD in electro-chemistry at age twenty-two, was an early associate of Thomas Edison, and pioneered high-voltage A/C electricity generating and transmission systems. With William Stanley and Cummings C. Chesney, he was a partner in the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company, which became the General Electric transformer plant in Pittsfield, MA. After accumulating over seventy patents, and commercializing an electric player piano and a food dehydration system, he spent his later life supporting the cause of Irish nationalism, primarily by writing anonymous articles and editorials for the Irish World. He died 15 October 1922 in Pittsfield.
1880s individualist anarchist writer, in Liberty, Alarm, Lucifer
1916–18 president of the Mass. State Council, Friends of Irish Freedom
1920–21 writing a third of the Irish World’s anonymous political commentary
Jul–Dec 1921 promoted a nationwide boycott of British goods{jcomments on}
