West Clare Agricultural Medal 1870
This medal was won in 1870 by Michael Kenny of Freigh Castle, Miltown Malbay for the ‘Best Crop of Mangolds’ 1st Class.
Michael Kenny owned 312 acres Miltown Malbay. In 1876 his land was valued at £27.
Mathew J Kenny KC, son of Michael Kenny and Bridget Frost, Ballymorris, County Clare died 8th December 1942 at his home at Freagh Castle, Miltown Malbay. He was 81 years old.
Mathew was educated at Ennis College, later going to Queens University, and was called to the bar in 1889.
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. He was a form Member of Parliament, representing the Borough of Ennis in 1882 and mid-Tyrone from 1885-1895 when the Borough of Ennis was abolished. When he was elected to Westminster, he was the youngest member of the house.
Mathew Kenny married in Elizabeth Robertson Stewart of Lairdshill, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1887 and had two sons and two daughters. He 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.
Miss Oonagh Kenny of Monkstown, County Dublin, a grand daughter of Mathew Kenny was the last survivor of the Kenny family and died in 2003.
This medal was donated to the museum by Bill and Helen Dundon of Limerick and Dublin in memory of Oonagh Kenny.
Ref: 2004.16
