Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T19:12:37.143Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“Nothing is so bad for the Irish as Ireland alone”:1 William Keogh and Catholic loyalty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2015

Richard A. Keogh
Richard A. Keogh*
Affiliation:
University of Roehampton
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

William Nicholas Keogh (1817–1878) has long been remembered as the placehunting lawyer who betrayed his country and wrecked the political fortunes of Irish constitutional nationalism for a generation. As a member of the fifty-strong Irish Independent Party of the early 1850s, Keogh pledged himself to independent opposition, only to accept ministerial office in 1852 as solicitor-general for Ireland. For this act Keogh has long been represented as a man who succumbed to personal ambition at the expense of a popular cause, which he allegedly supported with the sole objective of extracting political capital. Such was the ignominy with which he came to be regarded in later years that his name became a byword for betrayal, as evidenced by the fact that members of John Redmond’s Edwardian Irish Parliamentary Party were characterised as the Keoghs and Sadleirs of their day. Keogh’s infamy was exacerbated further by the inflammatory judgment he issued when presiding over the Galway election petition of 1872, for which he would be labelled ‘villifier-in-ordinary of the Irish priests’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 150 , November 2012 , pp. 230 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

[KeoghWilliam] Ireland imperialized, a letter to his Excellency the Earl of Clarendon (Dublin, 1849), p. 6.

References

2 The Times, 29 Dec. 1852.

3 Jackson, Alvin Ireland, 1798–1998: politics and war (Oxford, 1998), p. 91.Google Scholar

4 Whyte, J.H. The Irish Independent Party, 1850–9 (Oxford, 1958) p. 26.Google Scholar

5 See Maume, Patrick The long gestation: Irish nationalist life, 1891–1918 (New York, 1999), pp 90–1;Google Scholar Jackson, , Ireland, 1798–1998, p. 196.Google Scholar

6 Freeman’s Journal, 15 July 1898.

7 Tuam Herald, 10 May 1873.

8 Jeffery, Keith (ed.), An Irish empire? Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire (Manchester, 1996);Google Scholar Kenny, Kevin (ed.) Ireland and the British Empire (Oxford, 2006).Google Scholar

9 Murphy, J.H. Abject loyalty: nationalism and monarchy in Ireland during the reign of Queen Victoria (Cork, 2001);Google Scholar Loughlin, James The British monarchy and Ireland 1800 to the present (Cambridge, 2007).Google Scholar

10 Biggs-Davison, John and Chowdharay-Best, George The cross of Saint Patrick: the Catholic unionist tradition in Ireland (Bourne End, 1984), p. 1.Google Scholar

11 McConnel, James ‘John Redmond and Irish Catholic loyalism’ in English Historical Review, 125 (2010), p. 87.Google Scholar

12 Blackstock, Allan Loyalism in Ireland, 1789–1829 (Woodbridge, 2007), p. 267.Google Scholar

13 Ibid; Tuathaigh, Gearóid Ó ‘Foreword’ in Potter, Matthew William Monsell of Tervoe 1812–1894: Catholic Unionist, Anglo-Irishman (Dublin, 2009), p. 12.Google Scholar

14 Jenkins, Brian Irish nationalism and the British state: from repeal to revolutionary nationalism (Montreal, 2006), p. 43.Google Scholar

15 Tuathaigh, Ó ‘Foreword’, p. 12.Google Scholar

16 Murphy, , Abject loyalty;Google Scholar Loughlin, , British monarchy and Ireland.Google Scholar

17 See Potter, , Monsell of Tervoe;Google Scholar McConnel, , ‘John Redmond and Irish Catholic Loyalism’;Google Scholar Kelly, Matthew ‘Providence, revolution and the conditional defence of the Union: Paul Cullen and the Fenians’ in Keogh, Dáire and McDonnell, Albert (eds) Cardinal Paul Cullen and his world (Dublin, 2011), pp 308–28.Google Scholar

18 Campbell, Fergus The Irish establishment, 1879–1914 (Oxford, 2009), p. 307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19 Ibid.

20 For example see Wynne, Maud An Irishman and his family (London, 1937).Google Scholar

21 Healy, James Memories of Father Healy of Little Bray (London, 1904), p. 123.Google Scholar

22 Naughten, Mary ‘Judge William Nicholas Keogh’ in Galway Arch. Soc. Jn., 38 (1981/2), p. 6.Google Scholar

23 Hansard 3, c, 961 (21 July 1848).

24 Freeman’s Journal, 7 Oct. 1840.

25 Hansard 3, c, 961–2 (21 July 1848).

26 The Times, 15 Jan. 1844; Freeman’s Journal, 17 Feb., 22 July 1851; McConnel, , ’John Redmond and Irish Catholic Loyalism’, pp 92–3.Google Scholar

27 Freeman’s Journal, 9 July 1841; The Times, 12 July 1841; Athlone Sentinel, 6 Aug. 1847.

28 Walker, Brian Parliamentary election results in Ireland, 1801–1922 (Dublin, 1978), p. 271.Google Scholar

29 Freeman’s Journal, 27 July 1841.

30 The Standard, 12 July 1841.

31 [Keogh, William] Ireland under Lord De Gray (Dublin, 1844), p. 12.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., p. 6.

33 [Keogh, ] Ireland Imperialized, pp 3–6.Google Scholar

34 Ibid., pp 4–5.

35 Ibid., p. 5.

36 Ibid., p. 4.

37 Ibid., p. 19.

38 Ibid., pp 8–9.

39 McConnel, James ‘“Jobbing with Tory and Liberal”: Irish nationalists and the politics of patronage, 1880–1914’ in Past and Present, no. 188 (2005), p. 106.Google Scholar

40 Anglo-Celt, 20 Aug. 1847.

41 FitzGerald, J.D. rev. Comerford, R.V. ‘Keogh, William Nicholas (1817–1878)’, in Oxford DNB.Google Scholar

42 Athlone Sentinel, 6 Aug. 1847.

43 Naughten, ‘Judge William Nicholas Keogh’, p. 7.Google Scholar

44 Athlone Sentinel, 6 Aug. 1847.

45 Nenagh Guardian, 25 Aug. 1847.

46 See Ralls, W.L. ‘The papal aggression of 1850: a study in Victorian anti-Catholicism’ in Church History, 43 (1974), pp 242–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 Whyte, Irish Independent Party, p. 27.Google Scholar

48 McCabe, Desmond ‘Keogh, William Nicholas’ in DIB;Google Scholar Lennon, Joseph Irish Orientalism: a literary and intellectual history (Syracuse, 2004), pp 172–5.Google Scholar

49 Naughten, ‘Judge William Nicholas Keogh’, p. 13.Google Scholar

50 Whyte, Irish Independent Party, pp 19–20.Google Scholar

51 Knowlton, S.R., Popular politics and the Irish Catholic Church: the rise and fall of the Irish Independent Party, 1850–1859 (Stanford, 1991), p. 76.Google Scholar

52 Whyte, , Irish Independent Party, p. 41.Google Scholar

53 Knowlton, , Popular politics and the Irish Catholic Church, p. 75.Google Scholar

54 Whyte, , Irish Independent Party, pp 82–92.Google Scholar

55 Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 1 Nov. 1851.

56 The Times, 30 Oct. 1851.

57 Weekly Freeman’s Journal, 1 Nov. 1851.

58 MacManus, Seumas, The story of the Irish race: a popular history of Ireland (New York, 1921), p. 612.Google Scholar

59 The Tablet, 6 Mar. 1851.

60 Naughten, ‘Judge William Nicholas Keogh’, p. 15.

61 Walker, , Parliamentary election results, p. 251.Google Scholar

62 These were not isolated incidents. Keogh’s earlier rhetoric also complicated his appointment as solicitor-general. Explicit reference was made to an instance when Keogh’s electioneering on behalf of another candidate led him to use inflammatory language. He was accused of having incited Ribbon activity and violence towards the opposition, and in turn his suitability for the post was questioned: Hansard 3, cxxvii, 1365–6 (10 June 1853).

63 The Nation, 1 and 15 Jan. 1853.

64 Ibid., 15 Jan. 1853.

65 The Tablet, 1 Jan. 1853.

66 Ibid., 8 Jan. 1853.

67 McCabe, , ‘Keogh, William Nicholas’, DIB; Naughten, ‘Judge William Nicholas Keogh’, p. 7.Google Scholar

68 The Nation, 15 Jun. 1872.

69 O'Shea, James, Prince of swindlers: John Sadleir M.P., 1813–1846 (Dublin, 1999), p. 346.Google Scholar For a full account of the inquiry see the Report from the minutes of evidence taken before the select committee on the Athlone election petition with the minutes of proceedings, H.C. 1852–1853 (321), VIII.

70 Galway Vindicator and Connaught Advertiser, 8 Jan. 1853.

71 Ibid., 5 Jan. 1853.

72 Athlone Sentinel, 19 Jan. 1853.

73 Ibid., 19 Jan. 1853.

74 Ibid., 5 Jan. 1853; Knowlton, , Popular politics and the Irish Catholic Church, pp 81–2.Google Scholar

75 Hamilton-Gordon, Arthur, The Earl of Aberdeen (London, 1893), p. 266.Google Scholar

76 Morton, Edward, Adams parliamentary handbook, comprising a pocket peerage and parliamentary companion (3rd ed., London, 1854), p. 115.Google Scholar

77 Athlone Sentinel, 5 Jan. 1853; Comerford, R.V., ‘Churchman, tenants and independent opposition, 1850-56’ in Vaughan, W.E. (ed.), A new history of Ireland V: Ireland under the Union, 1801-1870 (Oxford, 1989) p. 410.Google Scholar

78 Hansard 3, cxxvii, 945 (31 May 1853), cited in Whyte, Irish Independent Party, p. 99.

79 Whyte, , Irish Independent Party, pp 99–100.Google Scholar

80 Ibid., p. 102.

81 Athlone Sentinel, 27 Apr. 1853.

82 Comerford, , ‘Churchman, tenants and independent opposition’, p. 406.Google Scholar

83 Ibid., p. 402.

84 Hansard 3, cxxviii, 257–82 (16 June 1853).

85 Freeman’s Journal, 30 May 1851.

86 Keogh was not alone amongst the Catholic M.P.s in adopting such rhetoric, for example see: The Standard, 11 Feb. 1851; Daily News, 11 Mar. 1851; Freeman’s Journal, 21, 23 and 30 Apr., 9 June 1851.

87 McCabe, , ‘Keogh, William Nicholas’, DIB.Google Scholar

88 Morton, , Adams parliamentary handbook, p. 115.Google Scholar

89 O’Shea, Prince of swindlers.

90 Naughten, , ‘Judge William Nicholas Keogh’, pp 20–1.Google Scholar

91 Walker, , Parliamentary election results, p. 251.Google Scholar

92 Athlone Sentinel, 27 Apr. 1853.

93 Fitzgerald, and Comerford, , ‘Keogh, William Nicholas’, Oxford DNB.Google Scholar

94 Law Times, xxxiv (1860), p. 195.

95 Naughten, , ‘Judge William Nicholas Keogh’, p. 25.Google Scholar

96 Ibid., p. 25.

97 The Standard, 28 Jul. 1859.

98 Sullivan, T.D. et al. (eds), Speeches from the dock (Dublin, 1968), p. 127.Google Scholar

99 Galway Vindicator, 20 Dec. 1865.

100 Westmeath Independent and Midlands Advertiser, 16 Dec. 1865.

101 Ibid., 2 Dec. 1865.

102 Fitzgerald and Comerford, ‘Keogh, William Nicholas’, Oxford DNB.

103 Freeman’s Journal, 21 Apr. 1868, 17 Feb. 1870; Tuam Herald, 9 Jan. 1875.

104 For the most comprehensive account of Keogh’s social abilities see Healy, , Memories of Father Healy, pp 112–39.Google Scholar

105 Freeman’s Journal, 12 Jan. 1853, cited in Whyte, Irish Independent Party, p. 26.

106 Tuam Herald, 7 May 1870.

107 The Times, 17 Nov. 1866.

108 Healy, Memories of Father Healy, pp 111, 115, 127.

109 Morning Post, 11 Aug. 1862.

110 The Times, 2 June 1865.

111 ‘Judge Keogh and Catholic doctrines’ in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, i (July 1865), p. 449.

112 Larkin, Emmet J., The Roman Catholic Church and the home rule movement in Ireland, 1870–1874 (Dublin, 1990), p. 129.Google Scholar

113 Corish, P.J., ‘Cardinal Cullen and the National Association of Ireland’ in O’Day, Alan (ed.), Reactions to Irish nationalism (London, 1987), p. 135.Google Scholar

114 Ibid., p. 135.

115 Tuam Herald, 20 Jan. 1872.

116 Ibid., 20 Jan. 1872.

117 Nenagh Guardian, 7 Feb. 1872.

118 Ryan, Mark, Fenian memories (Dublin, 1945), p. 42 Google Scholar. cited in Comerford, R.V., ‘Isaac Butt and the Home Rule Party, 1870–77’ in Vaughan, W.E. (ed.), A new history of Ireland VI: Ireland under the Union, 1870–1921 (Oxford, 1989), p. 9.Google Scholar

119 Galway election. Return to an order of the honourable the House of Commons, dated 13 June 1872; for copy of the shorthand writers’ notes of the judgment of Mr. Justice Keogh on the trial of the Galway County election petition, p. 17, H.C. 1872, (241) xlviii [hereafter Galway election].

120 Ibid., p. 25.

121 Larkin, , Roman Catholic Church and the home rule movement, p. 129.Google Scholar

122 Galway election, p. 45.

123 Healy, , Memories of Father Healy, p. 125.Google Scholar

124 Galway election, p. 46.

125 The Nation, 15 Jun. 1872.

126 Ibid., 1 June 1872.

127 Ibid., 8 June 1872.

128 The Times, 16 July 1872.

129 Westmeath Independent and Midlands Advertiser, 1 June 1872.

130 The Times, 31 May 1872.

131 Ibid.

132 Larkin, , The Roman Catholic Church and the home rule movement, p. 131.Google Scholar

133 Tuam Herald, 20 Mar. 1875.

134 Hansard 3, ccxii, 1765 (25 July 1872).

135 Comerford, , ‘Isaac Butt and the home rule party’, p. 9.Google Scholar

136 Larkin, , The Roman Catholic Church and the home rule movement in Ireland, p. 128.Google Scholar

137 Ibid., p. 128; a similar thesis was offered by The Nation, 1 June 1872.

138 [Keogh,] Ireland under Lord De Gray, pp 4–50.

139 Galway election, p. 21.

140 Barr, Colin, ‘An Irish dimension to a British Kulturkampf?’ in Jn. Ecc. Hist., lvi (2005), p. 478.Google Scholar

141 Galway Vindicator and Connaught Advertiser, 1 June 1872.

142 Londonderry (Judge Keogh’s charge to a grand jury). Copies of the charge addressed by Mr. Justice Keogh to the grand jury of Londonderry on 18 March 1878, as reported in the “Derry Sentinel” of the following day; and of certain letters from Mr. Justice Keogh to the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant and the Attorney General for Ireland relating thereto. H.C. 1878 (112), LXIII.

143 The Nation, 24 Aug. 1878.

144 McCabe, ‘Keogh, William Nicholas’, DIB.

145 Westmeath Independent and Midlands Advertiser, 12 Oct. 1878.

146 Galway Vindicator and Connaught Advertiser, 12 Oct. 1878.

147 The author wishes to thank Prof. Donald M. MacRaild, Dr James McConnel, and the anonymous reviewers for Irish Historical Studies, for commenting on earlier drafts of this article.