Half Hung MacNaghten

John MacNaghten (1722–1761) or “Half-Hung” MacNaghten is a figure of 18th century romantic folklore in the North West of Ireland.

MacNaghten was an impoverished member of the Anglo-Irish gentry who claimed to have fallen in love with a young heiress, Mary Ann Knox of Prehen, Derry. However, her father did not give consent to their marriage. In November 1761, an attempt by MacNaghten and his followers to abduct Mary Ann from a carriage on a journey to Strabane and elope with her failed, when he shot and mortally wounded her by mistake. A court found MacNaghten guilty of murder and he was sentenced to execution by hanging. So distraught with grief was he by the death of his love that MacNaghten is alleged to have hurled himself from the gallows with such force that the rope broke. Some versions say that this was divine intervention and MacNaghten could not be hanged for a second time; others say that he could have used the cover of a sympathetic crowd to make good his escape but he chose not to. Instead John MacNaghten freely re-ascended the gallows to be hanged successfully.

Handing on the tale by word of mouth has led to an overly-gracious picture being painted of John MacNaghten. By the time of his death he was an habitual gambler and a fraudster. He was born into a landed Anglo-Irish family and attended Raphoe Royal school in County Donegal. In 1740 he inherited his family estate and, in the same year, entered Trinity College, Dublin. However, he was quickly enamoured of the extravagant lifestyle of Ascendancy Dublin where he became a popular and colourful character. He developed an addiction to gambling and squandered away a large part of his inheritance, running up substantial gaming debts. By 1760 he was penniless having lost his estate in a card game. Mary Ann was the daughter of Andrew Knox, a wealthy land-owner and MP who lived on an estate at Prehen about 2 miles outside the City of Derry. She was already a substantial heiress having received some £6,000 and would have collected a further legacy if her brother died without issue. They first met when Mary Ann was only 15 when Andrew Knox was trying to help MacNaghten overcome his addiction. He visited Prehen regularly and they clearly enjoyed some sort of a rapport over a period of John MacNaghten life that we might today describe as "rehab". Nonetheless by 1761 their relationship had run into difficulties. The more romantic versions of the tale portray MacNaghten and Mary Ann as lovers whose marriage was forbidden by her over-bearing father, however another view renders MacNaghten as a stalker from whom Andrew Knox was protecting his daughter.

The tale is one which is encased within the Ascendancy of 18th century Ireland. Only minor references are made to the peasantry who made up the vast part of the population of Ireland at that time and who were divorced by religion and culture from the lives of John MacNaghten, Mary Ann Knox and the society that they represented. Nonetheless the story has entered local folklore. Tradition portrays John MacNaghten as the heroic rogue of Irish folklore who rebelled against the authority of the landowning class and, in challenging them, was seen to have fought against them. His immense loyalty to his servants and followers, especially his manservant John Dunlap who was hanged immediately after MacNaghten, has presented him in the myth as a champion of the under-class. As for the attempted kidnap of Mary Ann, judged with 21st century eyes it is an evil act, however the practice of abduction and marriage was prevalent in 18th century Ireland among young men of social standing but with little property. And, within their society, it was tolerated. The practice was the subject of the 2002 romantic comedy “The Abduction Club” staring Daniel Lapaine and Sophia Myles.

References

*Half Hanged MacNaghten, Darinagh Boyle, Guldhall Press 1993.
*In the shadow of the tail of the fox: A History of New Buildings & District. Newbuildings & District Archaeological and Historical Society, 2002.

External links

* [http://www.prehen.net/ Prehen House] is a website about the former home of Mary Ann Knox.