Matthew Joseph Kenny (1 February 1861 – 8 December 1942) 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 ...

lawyer and

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

politician from

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

. He was elected to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the age of 21, qualified as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

whilst still a member of parliament (MP), and later became a judge in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

Early life

Kenny was born at Freaghcastle, near

Milltown Malbay Milltown Malbay (), also Miltown Malbay, is a town in the west of County Clare, Ireland, near Spanish Point. The population was 829 at the 2016 Census. Name There is a townland on the southern edge of the town called Poulawillin or Pollawillin ...

in County Clare, to the solicitor Michael Kenny and his wife Bridget, née Frost. The family were major landholders. He attended Ennis College, an

Erasmus Smith Erasmus Smith (1611–1691) was an English merchant and a landowner with possessions in England and Ireland. Having acquired significant wealth through trade and land transactions, he became a philanthropist in the sphere of education, treading ...

school.''Debrett's House of Commons'', 1886. Thom's ''Irish Who's Who'' states that he attended

Stonyhurst Stonyhurst is the name of a rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is centred on Stonyhurst College, occupying the great house, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish ...

,Thom's Irish Who's Who 1923, p.123. and

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 ...

,. This seems to be incorrect and all other contemporary sources confirm that he in fact attended Ennis School and Queen's Univ. While serving at as an MP, he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

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 Wale ...

in 1886 and at the

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

, Dublin, in 1889. In 1899 he went bankrupt and his estates were sold off. He became a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1914.

Political career

Kenny was just 21 years of age when he was selected as the

Home Rule League The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...

candidate for a by-election for

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

in November 1882. Ennis's Home Rule MP James Lysaght Finegan had

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

his seat on 15 September 1882, owing to ill health. According to Kieran Sheedy's ''The Clare Elections'' (p. 269), According to Hugh Weir's ''Houses of Clare'' (1999, p. 131), Kenny was the youngest Member of Parliament at the time. The

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

abolished Ennis's separate parliamentary representation, with effect from the 1885 general election. The former two-seat Clare county constituency was divided for parliamentary purposes into the new single-member constituencies of

East Clare East Clare was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) from 1885 to 1922. Prior to the 1885 United Kingdom general election the area was part of the Clare (UK Parl ...

and

West Clare West Clare was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament 1885–1922. Prior to the 1885 United Kingdom general election the area was part of the Clare constituency. From 1922, on the establishment of the Irish ...

with one member to be elected in each division. Kenny did not contest either of the new Clare seats, standing instead in Mid Tyrone, where he was elected. However he continued to interest himself in political developments in Clare. Kenny held the Mid-Tyrone seat from 1885 to 1895. When the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish national ...

split in 1890, he opposed Parnell, joining the

Irish National Federation The Irish National Federation (INF) was a nationalist political party in Ireland. It was founded in 1891 by former members of the Irish National League (INL), after a split in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) on the leadership of Charles S ...

. Indeed, he suffered a black eye at the hands of a Parnellite member Pierce Mahony. Kenny retired from political life in 1895 and apart from his activities as a breeder of pedigree horses, cattle and sheep devoted himself to the practice of law. In 1887, he married Elizabeth Robertson Stewart, daughter of W. R. Stewart, of Lairsill or Lairdshill, Aberdeenshire. They had two sons and two daughters. He was appointed Senior Crown Prosecutor for

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

in 1916, and was appointed circuit court judge for Cork City and County in 1925, retiring in 1933 .

Maurice Healy Maurice Healy (3 January 1859 – 9 November 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP). As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was returned to in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Gre ...

notes that his term of office had been extended due to the universal respect in which he was held. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' of 6 October 1941 published Matthew Kenny's memories of

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...

to mark the 50th anniversary of the latter's death. Matthew Kenny, initially a Parnellite MP, was a cousin of William Kenny, a

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

MP. The two cousins' tenures on opposite sides in the House of Commons overlapped between 1892 and 1895. Both were descended from Mathias Kenny of Treanmanagh, Kilmurry Ibricken and Dysert, Dysert, Co. Clare. Maurice Healy in his memoirs describes Matthew Kenny with great affection as a judge of exceptional dignity and integrity who was universally liked and respected; his fault, if it was a fault, was the severity of his sentences in criminal cases.Healy, Maurice ''The Old Munster Circuit'' Michael Joseph Ltd. London 1939

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenny, Matthew Joseph 1861 births 1942 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Clare constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tyrone constituencies (1801–1922) Home Rule League MPs Irish Parliamentary Party MPs Anti-Parnellite MPs UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 Politicians from County Clare Circuit Court (Ireland) judges People from Milltown Malbay Lawyers from County Clare 19th-century Irish lawyers 20th-century Irish lawyers