Chapter 3: College Years
James Patrick entered Clongowes College
on the 24 February 1815. The college had just opened its doors for the
first time the previous May.165
Before this Catholic students from wealthy families had sent their sons
abroad for education. When the Irish Colleges in France closed due to
the French Revolution, Stonyhurst College in Lancashire became the desired
school. The opening of Clongowes, by the Jesuits, meant that for the
first time in over a century, Catholic boys that were not studying for
the priesthood could get a college education at home in Ireland.166
During James Patrick's time in Clongowes his class had the same teacher
every year (an old Jesuit tradition), his name was Fr. Shine. Many of
his classmates, like himself, went on to distinguish themselves in their
future lives. It is worth noting that one such classmate was the future
Sir John Lentaigne, whose father had attended Wolfe Tone on his deathbed
and there is every possibility that the young James Patrick would have
heard this story.167
School life was a lot harder at this time than it is today. Pupils at
Clongowes got up a six in the morning during the summer and seven in
the winter, their day ending with bedtime at nine o'clock. Their dinner
was served at midday and they were allowed to drink beer in the evening.
When James Patrick was attending Clongowes the uniform they worn consisted
of a 'cap made of rabbit-skin, blue cloth coat with brass buttons, yellow
cassimere waistcoat, and corduroy trousers'.168
It is possible that this uniform could have been a statement of independence,
by the college management, from the norm worn at British schools in
that era.
There was one episode recorded at Clongowes, which gives the first insight
into the personality of James Patrick. Not satisfied with the program
of plays put on at the college, James Patrick, and a friend, sneaked
out one evening, caught the Cork-Dublin coach and took it to the capital.
There they went to see a new play, by Richard Lalor Sheil, which featured
the then famous Irish actress, Miss O'Neill. The following morning they
returned to Clongowes on the same coach and were back before arousing
any suspicion.169 Little did
Mahon know than in less than thirty years Shiel would be writing about
him.170 James Patrick became
very friendly with Maurice O'Connell, who was in the same class, and
in the summer of 1816 was invited to spend his vacation with the O'Connells
in their house in Dublin.171
This would suggest that it was more than likely that James Patrick would
have known Daniel O'Connell personally before he became active in politics
himself.
While James Patrick was attending Clongowes Ireland underwent a period
of agrarian unrest.172 There
was widespread economic distress resulting in the formation of secret
societies that used violence to vent their anger on those they believed
responsible for their hardship.173
Clare too had its share of the trouble, particularly in the years 1815-1817.174
James Patrick's father, Patrick, showed that he was on the side of the
law by adding three guineas to the reward for the capture of the murderers
of a herdsman in early 1815.175
Two acts were passed to cope with these troubles, the Insurrection Act
allowed areas to be proclaimed as being in a state of disturbance and
the Peace Preservation Act allowed for the sending of a 'magistrate
of police' and a force of constabulary to the disturbed area.176
In May 1816 three baronies in West Clare were proclaimed to be disturbed
and chief magistrate Major George Warburton, and a force of fifty constables
were sent there.177
By January 1816 Patrick Mahon had been appointed as a local magistrate
and was actively involved in committing people to the county jail.178
At this time magistrates were most peoples only contact with the law.
To get this position they had to own land valued more than £100
a year or a reversion of property worth more than £300. Mahon,
as magistrate, had the power to sort out cases himself and most of disputes
were settled at his own home.179
This position gave him a lot of power in the community but there is
no record of him abusing this power by making unfair judgements. On
one occasion 'the spirited magistrate' rescued a woman in a 'remote
part of the county' and the newspaper reckoned the perpetrators would
have gone free only for him.180
In July of that year his own house was robbed, the papers stated that
the thief took '£80 in cash, a case of pistols and some other
articles' and they were also happy to say the thief had been caught.181
Four days later the newspaper reported 'Andrew McMahon for stealing
goods out of the home of Pat Mahon of Newpark to be hanged the same
day'.182
Patrick was now a very powerful man in county Clare. In October 1816
his landlord, Edward Shadwell Hickman, wrote to William Vesey Fitzgerald
MP urging him to make sure and see Patrick as soon as possible.183
Hickman was involved in the organisation of election campaigns for Fitzgerald.184
Then in June 1817 Patrick wrote to Hickman asking him if he could use
his influence in acquiring a rectorship for his brother who was now
a curate in Castleisland, County Kerry.185
He forwarded Patrick's letter to Fitzgerald asking him to see what he
could do writing :- 'if you could procure this small living for his
brother it would be well done, as he has a very powerful interest in
the Books of Registry'.186 Hickman
wrote another letter to Fitzgerald ten days later saying he believed
Patrick's assistance could be of 'essential' benefit to Fitzgerald.
Hickman also noted that if Fitzgerald felt he could do without Mahon
that Hickman would like to be informed so he could 'get rid of him'.187
It is possibly to do with his involvement with voter registration that
Daniel O'Connell felt under obligation to him (the reason he wished
young James Patrick would spend a vacation with them).188
In 1817 some of Patrick's power was reduced as his barony, Bunratty,
was declared as in a state of disturbance and control of it was handed
over to Major Warburton.189
It would seem that Patrick Mahon was farming close to four thousand
acres at that time and overseeing a lot of the work himself.190
We get an insight into some of his values in a letter in June 1817.
Clare was at this time undergoing a minor famine, as a result of bad
weather and crop failure in the previous autumn.191
Writing from his lodge at Lisdeen near the west coast (see Map I p.6)
he wrote that the inhabitants of the locality were starving, he expected
ten percent of them would be dead before the harvest, but instead of
trying to solve their distress he was more worried about his cattle.
He wrote that 'at present I find it necessary to direct the few head
of cattle I have here, to be put into house by night, and place a watch
over them, to prevent their being stolen, for the purpose of killing
them to eat'.192 There were perks
to being a magistrate. In late 1818 Patrick committed to jail a sheep-stealer
from County Galway. The paper noted that 'Mr. Mahon humanely sent the
lambs to one of his fields', knowing full well there would be little
chance of them being claimed.193
In April 1819 an anonymous letter was written to William Vesey Fitzgerald
MP alleging that Patrick Mahon had committed a 'brutal atrocity as could
be expected from savages'. He was said to have brought a woman into
his house, who had been loitering outside, stripped her and whipped
her as hard as he could. After being thrown out of the house, still
naked, she made it home where she died that night. The coroner's inquest
stated that she died of a severe beating by an unknown person.194
The local sheriff, Bindon Blood, wrote to the Chief Secretary's office
with a complaint about Mahon and early the following year Major Warburton
conducted an inquiry into the case.195
Several of Mahon's employees were reputed to have witnessed part of
the event.196The result of the
inquiry is not extant but Patrick does not appear to have been found
guilty of this offence as he retained his position as a magistrate.197
Did he get away with murder? Several years later Major Warburton was
asked if, during his time in Clare, any magistrates had used their position
to evade legal proceedings. He answered that he only knew of one such
instance and the details given show this was not the same case.198
This would suggest that Warburton did not find any evidence that would
have led him to believe that Mahon was guilty. However it appears not
everyone was convinced of his innocence because sixty years later when
one of the Church of Ireland Mahons was asked if he knew if they were
related, he said that if they were he was glad it was distant as Patrick
was 'no great shakes morally or socially.'199
The same year Patrick was chosen on the committee to manage the affairs
of the newly formed Ennis Charitable Loan Society. Their purpose was
to relieve the economic distress in the area by providing loans of small
sums of money.200 No records
could be found that might show who the real beneficiaries of this scheme
were but Patrick was at this time mortgagee to a Richard Gregg. The
amount of money to be paid back came into dispute and was before the
Court of Exchequer several time, eventually resulting in the sale of
Gregg's land years later to pay the debt.201
The split in the Catholic Board brought about a sense of futility.202
Meetings continued to be held in Clare and Dublin but O'Connell felt
there was no life left in the board. He dissolved the Catholic Board
and in July 1817 he started what became known as the 'Reorganised Catholic
Board'.203 The new board met
in Ennis that July with James O'Gorman chairing the meeting. Nicholas
O'Gorman and Daniel O'Connell both attended.204
Also that summer at a meeting in Dublin O'Connell proposed a letter
of complaint be sent to the pope regarding the treatment by the Vatican
of a priest who agreed with O'Connell that the King should have no input
in the appointing of Bishops. Brothers, Nicholas and Richard along with
their uncle Nicholas Mahon opposed this. A compromise was reached with
a much tamer letter being sent. The new board did not meet at all in
1818 and that December O'Connell stated that it had ceased to exist.205
After finishing in Clongowes James Patrick entered Trinity College,
which he attended from 1819 to 1822. While there his father gave him
an allowance of five hundred pounds a year. Being one of the few Catholics
in this Protestant institution did not upset him one bit. He made it
his mission to be recognised, and have all Catholics recognised as equals
with their Protestant counterparts.206
Back in Clare there was a re-emergence of agrarian unrest in 1820.207Members
of the Ribbonmen Society were reported on Clare's border with Galway.
When they crossed into Clare the authorities set a trap and captured
the ringleaders at Killinaboy, in the Barony of Inchiquin.208
A few days later an Ennis Loyal Association was formed and Patrick Mahon,
as one of its members, seconded a motion in praise of the gentlemen
of the Barony of Inchiquin for their conduct.209
The Ennis area saw some trouble also. At Ballycoree races, just outside
the town, the police were wearing orange lilies. These lilies were symbols
of the Orange order and were seen as a provocation to the crowd. James
O'Gorman asked as many of them as he could to remove the lilies in order
to maintain order. This behaviour annoyed him enough to write to the
local paper complaining about the 'indiscreet conduct of the police'.210
Patrick was still up to his old tricks, he placed an advertisement in
the paper stating that he had found a calf wandering the road and that
the owner could get it back on paying for the expenses incurred in keeping
the animal.211 With such widespread
economic distress it is doubtful whether the calf's owner, if he turned
up, would have been able to pay for its keep and probably forfeit the
calf.
Patrick was in support of the monarchy. In February 1821 he attended
a 'Loyal Meeting' of gentlemen, clergy and freeholders of the county
and later that year signed an address of congratulations to the King
on his visit to this country.212
None of the O'Gormans signed this list even though Nicholas was now
residing some of the time in Patrick's lodge in Lisdeen.213
Nicholas was now the secretary for the Catholic Board and continued
to be at the forefront in the fight for emancipation.214
In March 1822 he sent a petition regarding emancipation from the Catholics
of Ireland to the Attorney-General, William Conyngham Plunkett, requesting
him to present it to the House of Commons.215
Although Patrick's health seemed to be fine when attending a meeting
in Ennis, in April 1822, where the town's inhabitants were petitioning
for the repeal of the window tax, he died at his home in Newpark, less
than three months later.216 He
was probably only about fifty years of age.
