Denis Mahon (British Army officer) facts for kids

For the British collector and art historian, see Denis Mahon.

Major Denis Mahon was an Irish Landlord from Strokestown in County Roscommon. He was shot and killed during the terrible time known as the Great Famine in Ireland. His death is thought to be the first murder of a landlord during the Famine. Even today, people still wonder why he was killed and who was truly responsible. Mahon's murder made many wealthy landowners nervous. It also changed how people in England felt about the Irish during the worst year of the Famine, 1847.

Who Was Major Denis Mahon?

Denis Mahon was born in 1787. His father, Thomas Mahon, was a Reverend, and Denis came from a family of clergymen. He joined the British Army and became a Major in the 9th Dragoons.

He married Henrietta Bathhurst, and they had one daughter, Grace Catherine Mahon. Grace later married Henry Sandford Pakenham in 1847. Henry was a Dean at St Patrick's Cathedral. He took the last name Pakenham Mahon because he would inherit the Mahon family's estates after Denis's death.

The family's estate included Strokestown Park in County Roscommon. Today, this park is home to the National Famine Museum. The Pakenham Mahon family owned Strokestown Park from 1660 until 1970. Denis Mahon is buried in a special tomb, called a mausoleum, on the property.

Landlord of Strokestown Estate

Strokestown's Money Problems

Before Denis Mahon, his uncle Maurice Mahon managed the Strokestown estate starting in 1782. In 1800, Maurice was given the title of Baron Hartland. He borrowed a lot of money, 15,000 pounds, to make the estate bigger. By the time he died, this debt had grown even more.

His son, Thomas, took over in 1819. Thomas had no children and died in 1835. The title and the Strokestown estate then went to his youngest brother, Maurice. At this time, the family was 30,000 pounds in debt. A long-term lease of some estate lands to the government was also ending. The Mahons stopped collecting rent from the town of Ballykilcline.

In 1836, Denis Mahon stepped in. He argued that Maurice was not well enough to manage the estate. Maurice was officially declared unable to care for himself, and Denis became the manager of the estate. Denis quickly started trying to fix the estate's money problems. He renewed the lease with the government. He also told the people of Ballykilcline that they had to pay their rent, including three years of unpaid rent.

Rent Strike Begins

Soon after Mahon became the landlord, tenants in Roscommon started a rent strike. This began with just 8 farmers in 1835. Eventually, almost every tenant refused to pay rent. The people of Roscommon wanted lower rent. They decided to refuse payment until their demands were met, just like others were doing in England and Ireland.

Evictions and "Coffin Ships"

Mahon decided to remove tenants who refused to pay. He would serve them eviction notices, forcing them out of their homes. However, the tenants would often return and move back into their houses. This created a frustrating cycle for Mahon.

Following advice from his cousin, John Ross Mahon, Denis started a large "assisted emigration scheme." This meant he forced thousands of people out of their homes. He then paid for many of them to travel on ships to Quebec, Canada. These ships were often called Coffin Ships. This was because of the terrible, unhealthy conditions that the people suffered during the journey.

The first ship Mahon sent was The Virginius. It carried 476 people and left Liverpool in May 1847. When it arrived in Quebec, a doctor named George Mellis Douglas checked the passengers. He was in charge of the quarantine site at Grosse-Île, built to stop diseases from spreading. Dr. Douglas wrote that 106 passengers were sick, and 158 had died on the way. He said the few who could come on deck looked like "ghastly yellow specters."

Mahon sent three more ships with his tenants: The Naomi, The Erin’s Queen, and The John Munn. Dr. Douglas inspected these ships too and found similar terrible conditions. News that nearly half the people Mahon sent on these ships had died reached Roscommon in August 1847. Many of the remaining tenants had friends, family, and neighbors on those ships.

At the end of August 1847, Mahon returned to Roscommon from England. He had left the local Catholic priest, Michael McDermott, in charge of the Strokestown famine relief committee. McDermott accused Mahon of "burning houses and turning out people to starve."

Major Mahon's Murder

On November 2, 1847, Major Mahon and a physician named Terence Shanley were riding home in a carriage. They had just left a famine relief meeting. Suddenly, they were attacked, and Mahon was shot and killed. Within an hour of his death, people lit bonfires on the hills across Roscommon to celebrate his murder. Mahon's murder was followed by other attacks on landlords in Roscommon. For example, Reverend John Lloyd was killed just three weeks later. Other landlords received threats or experienced violence.

Reverend Michael McDermott was accused of encouraging violence against Mahon. This led some wealthy people to claim that Mahon's murder was part of a Catholic conspiracy against Protestant landlords. Lord Farnham, a member of the Orange Order, even made this accusation in parliament. Farnham claimed that at Sunday mass before Mahon's murder, McDermott had said from the pulpit, "Major Mahon is worse than Cromwell and yet he lives."

McDermott denied this accusation. He stated that the only reason for Mahon's murder was the "cruelties" used against the tenants. He said their feelings were already very angry and sad because they had lost family and friends who were forced to leave, and because of hunger and disease.

The police investigated the murder. They sent many officers to Roscommon and looked into Mahon's and John Lloyd's deaths at the same time. They offered money to possible witnesses for information. They even evicted people who would not help, hoping to find out who was responsible.

Three people were arrested for Mahon's murder, and a fourth escaped. Andrew Connor avoided capture in Ireland and fled to Canada. He reportedly met his family there and continued to avoid Canadian authorities, eventually disappearing. The other three men arrested were Michael Gardener, Owen Beirne, and Patrick Hasty. They were tried in the summer of 1848.

Gardener admitted he was guilty, on the condition that he would not be given the death penalty. This was agreed to, and he was found guilty of planning the murder. He was sentenced to be sent away for life to another country. Beirne and Hasty were both found guilty and punished on August 8, 1848. They signed statements admitting their guilt. Hasty's statement mentioned that he was no longer part of the "accursed system of Molly Maguierism." This has led to more ideas that the murder was a plot involving the Molly Maguires, a secret society, who targeted landlords they saw as enemies.