Matthew Joseph Kenny

Matthew Joseph Kenny (1 February 1861 – 8 December 1942) was an Irish lawyer and Nationalist politician from County Clare. He was elected to the United Kingdom House of Commons at the age of 21, qualified as a barrister whilst still a Member of Parliament (MP), and later became a judge in the Irish Free State.

Early life

Kenny was born at Freaghcastle, near Miltown Malbay in County Clare, to the solicitor Michael Kenny and his wife Bridget, née Frost.^[1] The family were major land-owners, holding 1895 over 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) in county Galway in the 1870s as well as over 1,400 acres (5.7 km²) in county Clare.^[2]

There are conflicting accounts of his educational career. He attended either "Stonyhurst and Trinity College, Dublin"^[3] and/or "Ennis Coll. and Queen's Univ."^[4] While serving at Westminster, he was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1886, at the King's Inns, Dublin, in 1889. 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 in November 1882.

Ennis's Home Rule MP Lysaght Finigan had resigned his seat on 15 September 1882, owing to ill-health.^[5] According to Kieran Sheedy's The Clare Elections (p. 269),

“

the Home Rule party candidate was Matthew J. Kenny who was selected at the request of local electors and with the agreement of Parnell. He was the son of Matthew [sic, but impossible!] Kenny, Freagh Castle and a nephew of Fr Matt Kenny, and he was working in Manchester where he was president of the Irish Labour League. [...] Matthew (M.J.) Kenny arrived in Ennis accompanied by John Redmond, the Home Rule member for New Ross, and they addressed a crowd from a window in Carmody's Hotel before attending a nomination meeting which was chaired by Edward Finucane. [...] Polling took place on Tuesday 14 November and the Miltown Brass Band was in attendance from an early hour to support Kenny. The election booths were open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the sheriff declared the result before six o clock: KENNY 136 R. W. CAREY REEVES 95. Spoiled votes 3.'

”

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 general election. The former two-seat Clare county constituency was divided for parliamentary purposes was split into the new single-member constituencies of East Clare and West Clare with one member to be elected in each division. Kenny did contest either of the new Clare seats, standing instead in Mid Tyrone, where he was elected.^[6] However he continued to interest himself in political developments in Clare.^{[citation needed]}

Kenny held the Mid-Tyrone seat from 1885–95.^[7] When the Irish Parliamentary Party split in 1890, he opposed Parnell.^[8] Indeed, he suffered a black eye at the hands of a Parnellite member Pierce Mahony.^[9]

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,^[10] retiring in 1933 .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 M.P., was a cousin of William Kenny, a Liberal Unionist M.P. The two cousins' tenures on opposite sides in the House of Commons overlapped between 1892 and 1895. Both were descended from Mattias Kenny of Tiermanna and Dysert, Co. Clare.

Maurice Healy in his memoirs describes 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.^[11]

References

1. ^ Clare Journal, 4 February 1861.
2. ^ "Kenny (Freagh Castle)". Landed Estates Database. Moore Institute, NUI Galway. http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/family-show.jsp?id=1324. Retrieved 28 November 2009. 
3. ^ Thom's Irish Who's Who 1923, p.123.
4. ^ Debrett's House of Commons, 1886.
5. ^ Department of Information Services (9 June 2009). "Appointments to the Chiltern Hundreds and Manor of Northstead Stewardships since 1850". House of Commons Library. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-04731.pdf. Retrieved 23 June 2009. 
6. ^ Brian M. Walker, ed (1978). Parliamentary election results in Ireland 1801–1922. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. p. 135. ISBN 0 901714 12 7. 
7. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
8. ^ Ferguson, King's Inns Barristers 1868–2004, p.72.
9. ^ New York Times, 25 January 1893.
10. ^ Irish Times, 26 August 1925.
11. ^ Healy, Maurice The Old Munster Circuit Michael Joseph Ltd. London 1939

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Matthew Joseph Kenny

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Lysaght Finigan	Member of Parliament for Ennis 1882 – 1885	Cconstituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Mid-Tyrone 1885 – 1895	Succeeded by George Murnaghan

Persondata
Name	Kenny, Matthew Joseph
Alternative names
Short description	Member of Parliament and lawyer
Date of birth	1 February 1861
Place of birth	Freaghcastle, Co. Clare, Ireland
Date of death	8 December 1942
Place of death	Freaghcastle, Co. Clare, Ireland