Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy (2 July 1819 – 16 April 1880) was an Irish

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and writer. He is best remembered as counsel for the Tichborne claimant and the eccentric and disturbed conduct of the

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

that led to his ruin.

Early life

He was born on Nile Street (now Sheares Street),

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, the son of a local merchant. He was educated at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1840 and to the

English Bar Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

in 1847. He obtained a fair practice in

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

cases. In 1868 he became a QC and a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

. He practised on the

Oxford circuit The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

and in the Central Criminal Court and his most famous cases included:Hamilton (2004) *Defence of Francis Looney and William Dowling against charges of treason-felony, (1848); *Junior counsel in the unsuccessful defence of

poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

er William Palmer, (1856); *Defence of

Ricard O'Sullivan Burke Ricard O'Sullivan Burke (24 January 1838 – 11 May 1922) was an Irish nationalist, Fenian activist, Union American Civil War soldier, U.S. Republican Party campaigner, and a public-works engineer. Travelling extensively, he performed various jo ...

and his accomplice Casey during the

Fenian Rising The Fenian Rising of 1867 (, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 1865, disaffection among Irish radical n ...

, (1867). Kenealy withdrew from the case following the failed attempt to effect their escape in the

Clerkenwell explosion The Clerkenwell explosion, also known as the Clerkenwell Outrage, was a bombing attack carried out by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in London on 13 December 1867. Members of the IRB, who were nicknamed "Fenians", exploded a bomb to tr ...

. *Prosecution of the directors of

Overend, Gurney and Company Overend, Gurney and Company was a London wholesale banking, wholesale discount bank, known as "the bankers' bank", which collapsed in 1866 owing about £11 million, equivalent to £ million in . The collapse of the institution triggered a bankin ...

for fraud following the company's collapse, (1869); * Counsel for

Arthur Orton Arthur Orton (20 March 1834 – 1 April 1898) was an English man who has generally been identified by legal historians and commentators as the Tichborne case, "Tichborne Claimant", who in two celebrated court cases both fascinated and shocke ...

, alias Roger Tichborne, taking over the brief from

William Campbell Sleigh William Campbell Sleigh (1818– 23 January 1887) was an English lawyer and politician. He became a serjeant-at-law in 1868, the last person received into Serjeants' Inn who was not a judge. Early life Sleigh was born in Dublin, the eldest son of ...

in April 1873.

Private life

Kenealy suffered from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

and an erratic temperament has sometimes been attributed to poor control of the symptoms. In 1850 he was sentenced to one month

imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

for punishing his six-year-old illegitimate son with undue severity. He married Elizabeth Nicklin of

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeas ...

, Staffordshire in 1851 and they had eleven children, including novelist

Arabella Kenealy Arabella Kenealy (11 April 1859 – 18 November 1938) was a British writer, physician, anti-feminist and eugenicist. Kenealy became active in the fight against early feminism, coining the term "feminism is Masculism." As a scientist, she believed ...

(1864–1938). The Kenealy family lived in

Portslade Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railwa ...

, East Sussex, from 1852 until 1874. Edward Kenealy commuted to London and Oxford for his law practice but returned at weekends and other times to be with his family.908>Kenealy. A. (ed.) (2006) 908"Memoirs of Edward Vaughn Kenealy. London: Kessinger. ." In 1850, he published an eccentric poem inspired by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, ''Goethe, a New Pantomime''. He also published a large amount of poetry in journals such as ''

Fraser's Magazine ''Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country'' was a general and literary journal published in London from 1830 to 1882, which initially took a strong Tory line in politics. It was founded by Hugh Fraser and William Maginn in 1830 and loosely direc ...

''. He published translations from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, German, Italian,

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, Russian, Irish,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Hindustani Hindustani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Hindustan (another name of India) * Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language, with Hindi and Urdu being its two standard registers * Hindustani Muslims are the Urdu-speaking, Hindust ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. It is unlikely that he was fluent in all these languages. In 1866, Kenealy wrote ''The Book of God: the Apocalypse of Adam-Oannes'', an unorthodox

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

work in which he claimed that he was the "twelfth messenger of God", descended from

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

and

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

. He also published a more conventional biography of Edward Wortley Montagu in 1869.

The Tichborne case

During the trial, Kenealy abused witnesses, made scurrilous allegations against various

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

institutions, treated the judges with disrespect, and protracted the trial until it became the longest in English legal history. His violent conduct of the case became a public scandal and, after rejecting his client's claim, the jury censured his behaviour.

The aftermath

He started a newspaper, ''The Englishman'', to plead his cause, and to attack the judges. His behaviour was so extreme that in 1874 he was disbenched and

disbarred Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduc ...

by his

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

. His appointment as a QC was also revoked. He formed the Magna Charta Association and went on a nationwide tour to protest his cause. At a by-election in 1875, he was elected to Parliament for

Stoke-upon-Trent Stoke-upon-Trent, also known as Stoke, is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall form the city of Stoke-o ...

with a majority of 2000 votes. However, no other Member of Parliament would introduce him when he took his seat.

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

forced a

motion In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an o ...

to dispense with this convention. In Parliament, Kenealy called for a

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

into his conduct in the Tichborne case, but lost a vote on this by 433–3. One vote was Kenealy's, another that of his teller,

George Hammond Whalley George Hammond Whalley (22 January 1813 – 8 October 1878) was a British lawyer and Liberal Party politician. He became chairman of the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway. Biography He was the eldest son of James Whalley, a merchant and banker f ...

. The third "aye" was by

Purcell O'Gorman Purcell O'Gorman (1820 – 24 November 1888) was an Irish nationalism, Irish nationalist politician and member of parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected as a member of the Home Rule League to represent Waterford City ( ...

Waterford City Waterford ( ) is a city in County Waterford in the south-east of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford Harbour. It is the oldestTHE QUEEN v. CASTRO—THE TRIAL AT BAR—ADDRESS FOR A ROYAL COMMISSION.
HC Deb 23 April 1875 vol 223 cc1513-613 During this period, he also wrote a nine-volume account of the case. Dr Kenealy, as he was always called, gradually ceased to attract attention, lost his seat at the 1880 general election. On 16 April 1880, Kenealy died in London, before the close of polling, aged 60. He is buried in the churchyard of

St Helen's Church, Hangleton St Helen's Church, an Anglican church in the Hangleton area of Hove, is the oldest surviving building in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is the ancient parish church of Hangleton, an isolated South Downs village that was abandoned by ...

, East Sussex.

References

Bibliography

* *Hamilton, J. A., rev. R. McWilliam (2004)
Kenealy, Edward Vaughan Hyde (1819–1880)
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'', Oxford University Press, accessed 26 August 2007 * * *Waterhouse, G. (1952) "Goethe's Irish Enemy – Edward Kenealy", in Boyd, J. (ed.) ''German Studies presented to Leonard Ashley Willoughby – by pupils, colleagues and friends on his retirement'', Oxford: Blackwell

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenealy, Edward Vaughan Hyde 1819 births 1880 deaths Irish male poets Writers from Cork (city) Pseudohistorians UK MPs 1874–1880 Disbarred lawyers Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish Senior Counsel 19th-century King's Counsel Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Members of Gray's Inn 19th-century Irish poets Lawyers from County Cork 19th-century Irish lawyers