Early life
Kenny was born at Freaghcastle, near Milltown Malbay 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 school.''Debrett's House of Commons'', 1886. Thom's ''Irish Who's Who'' states that he attended Stonyhurst College, Stonyhurst,Thom's Irish Who's Who 1923, p.123. and Trinity College Dublin,. This seems to be incorrect and all other contemporary sources confirm that he in fact attended Ennis School and Queen's University of Ireland, Queen's Univ. While serving at as an MP, he was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1886 and at the King's Inns, Dublin, in 1889. In 1899 he went bankrupt and his estates were sold off. He became a King's Counsel in 1914.Political career
Kenny was just 21 years of age when he was selected as the Home Rule League candidate for a by-election for Ennis (UK Parliament constituency), Ennis in November 1882. Ennis's Home Rule MP James Lysaght Finegan had resignation from the British House of Commons, resigned 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 abolished Ennis's separate parliamentary representation, with effect from the 1885 United Kingdom general election in Ireland, 1885 general election. The former two-seat Clare (UK Parliament constituency), Clare county constituency was divided for parliamentary purposes into the new single-member constituencies of East Clare (UK Parliament constituency), East Clare and West Clare (UK Parliament constituency), West Clare with one member to be elected in each division. Kenny did not contest either of the new Clare seats, standing instead in Mid Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency), 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 split in 1890, he opposed Parnell, joining the Irish National Federation. Indeed, he suffered a black eye at the hands of a Parnellite member Pierce Charles de Lacy O'Mahony, 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 in 1916, and was appointed circuit court judge for Cork City and County in 1925, retiring in 1933 . Maurice Healy (writer), Maurice Healy notes that his term of office had been extended due to the universal respect in which he was held. ''The Irish Times'' of 6 October 1941 published Matthew Kenny's memories of Charles Stewart Parnell to mark the 50th anniversary of the latter's death. Matthew Kenny, initially a Parnellite MP, was a cousin of William Kenny (Irish politician), William Kenny, a Liberal Unionist Party, Liberal Unionist 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 1939References
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* * {{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