![Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Edward_Vaughan_Hyde_Kenealy.jpg)
Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy
QC (2 July 1819 – 16 April 1880) was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
barrister and writer. He is best remembered as counsel for the
Tichborne claimant and the eccentric and disturbed conduct of the
trial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...
that led to his ruin.
Early life
He was born on Nile Street (now Sheares Street),
Cork, the son of a local merchant. He was educated at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, and was
called to the Irish Bar
The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...
in 1840 and to the
English Bar
Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...
in 1847. He obtained a fair practice in
criminal cases. In 1868 he became a
QC and a
bencher
A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...
of
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...
.
[
He practised on the ]Oxford circuit
The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...
and in the Central Criminal Court and his most famous cases included:[Hamilton (2004)]
*Defence of Francis Looney and William Dowling against charges of treason-felony, (1848);
*Junior counsel in the unsuccessful defence of poisoner William Palmer, (1856);
*Defence of Richard O'Sullivan Burke and his accomplice Casey during the Fenian Rising
The Fenian Rising of 1867 ( ga, Éirí Amach na bhFíníní, 1867, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 186 ...
, (1867). Kenealy withdrew from the case following the failed attempt to effect their escape in the Clerkenwell explosion
The Clerkenwell explosion, also known as the Clerkenwell Outrage, was a bombing in London on 13 December 1867. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, nicknamed the "Fenians", exploded a bomb to try to free one of their members being held on remand a ...
.
*Prosecution of the directors of Overend, Gurney and Company
Overend, Gurney & Company was a London wholesale discount bank, known as "the bankers' bank", which collapsed in 1866 owing about £11 million, equivalent to £ million in . The collapse of the institution triggered a banking panic.
History Ear ...
for fraud following the company's collapse, (1869);
* Counsel for Arthur Orton
Arthur Orton (20 March 1834 – 1 April 1898) was an English man who has generally been identified by legal historians and commentators as the "Tichborne Claimant", who in two celebrated court cases both fascinated and shocked Victorian soc ...
, alias Roger Tichborne, taking over the brief from William Campbell Sleigh in April 1873.
Private life
Kenealy suffered from diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...
and an erratic temperament has sometimes been attributed to poor control of the symptoms. In 1850 he was sentenced to one month imprisonment for punishing his six-year-old illegitimate son with undue severity. He married Elizabeth Nicklin of Tipton
Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham.
Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...
, Staffordshire in 1851 and they had eleven children, including novelist Arabella Kenealy (1864–1938). The Kenealy family lived in Portslade
Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railway from Brighton in 1840 encouraged rapid de ...
, East Sussex, from the 1852 until 1874. Edward Kenealy commuted to London and Oxford for his law practice but returned at weekends and other times to be with his family.[908>Kenealy. A. (ed.) (2006) 908"Memoirs of Edward Vaughn Kenealy. London: Kessinger. ."]
In 1850, he published an eccentric poem inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
, ''Goethe, a New Pantomime''. He also published a large amount of poetry in journals such as ''Fraser's Magazine
''Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country'' was a general and literary journal published in London from 1830 to 1882, which initially took a strong Tory line in politics. It was founded by Hugh Fraser and William Maginn in 1830 and loosely directe ...
''. He published translations from Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, German, Italian, Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, Russian, Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
, Hindustani and Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
. It is unlikely that he was fluent in all these languages.
In 1866, Kenealy wrote ''The Book of God: the Apocalypse of Adam-Oannes'', an unorthodox theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
work in which he claimed that he was the "twelfth messenger of God", descended from Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
and Genghis Khan.
He also published a more conventional biography of Edward Wortley Montagu in 1869.
The Tichborne case
During the trial, Kenealy abused witnesses, made scurrilous allegations against various Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
institutions, treated the judges with disrespect, and protracted the trial until it became the longest in English legal history. His violent conduct of the case became a public scandal[ and, after rejecting his client's claim, the jury censured his behaviour.]
The aftermath
He started a newspaper, ''The Englishman'', to plead his cause, and to attack the judges. His behaviour was so extreme that in 1874 he was disbenched and disbarred by his Inn
Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
.[ He formed the Magna Charta Association and went on a nationwide tour to protest his cause.
At a by-election in 1875, he was elected to Parliament for ]Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Longton and Tunstall form the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England.
The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 18 ...
with a majority of 2000 votes. However, no other Member of Parliament would introduce him when he took his seat.[ Benjamin Disraeli forced a ]motion
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and m ...
to dispense with this convention.
In Parliament, Kenealy called for a Royal Commission into his conduct in the Tichborne case, but lost a vote on this by 433–3. One vote was Kenealy's, another that of his teller, George Hammond Whalley
George Hammond Whalley (22 January 1813 – 8 October 1878) was a British lawyer and Liberal Party politician.
He was the eldest son of James Whalley, a merchant and banker from Gloucester, and a direct descendant of Edward Whalley, the regicid ...
. The third "aye" was by Purcell O'Gorman
Purcell O'Gorman (1820 – 24 November 1888) was an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected as a member of the Home Rule League to represent Waterford City. He was elected only ...
of Waterford City
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
.THE QUEEN v. CASTRO—THE TRIAL AT BAR—ADDRESS FOR A ROYAL COMMISSION.
HC Deb 23 April 1875 vol 223 cc1513-613 During this period, he also wrote a nine-volume account of the case.
Dr Kenealy, as he was always called, gradually ceased to attract attention,[ lost his seat at the 1880 general election and died in London later in the year aged 60.] He is buried in the churchyard of St Helen's Church, Hangleton, East Sussex.
References
Bibliography
*
*Hamilton, J. A., rev. R. McWilliam (2004)
Kenealy, Edward Vaughan Hyde (1819–1880)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, accessed 26 August 2007
*
*
*Waterhouse, G. (1952) "Goethe's Irish Enemy – Edward Kenealy", in Boyd, J. (ed.) ''German Studies presented to Leonard Ashley Willoughby – by pupils, colleagues and friends on his retirement'', Oxford: Blackwell
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenealy, Edward Vaughan Hyde
1819 births
1880 deaths
Irish poets
People from County Cork
Pseudohistorians
UK MPs 1874–1880
Disbarred lawyers
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Irish barristers
19th-century King's Counsel
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Members of Gray's Inn
19th-century poets