Online Encyclopedia

Make a correction

Your email address will not appear on the site. Note, comments may take some time to be approved.

Back to article: EDWARD VAUGHAN HYDE KENEALY (1819–188o)

Your email: Article name: Article content:

KENEALY, EDWARD VAUGHAN HYDE (1819–188o), Irish barrister and author, was born at Cork on the 2nd of July 1819, the son of a local merchant. He•was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; was called to the Irish bar in 184o and to the English bar in 1847; and obtained a fair practice in criminal cases. In 1868 he became a Q.C. and a bencher of Gray's Inn. It was not, however, till 1873, when he became leading counsel for the Tichborne claimant, that he came into any great prominence. His violent conduct of the case became a public scandal, and after the verdict against his client he started a paper to plead his cause and to attack the judges. His behaviour was so extreme that in 1874 he was disbenched and disbarred by his Inn.
He then started an agitation throughout the country to ventilate his grievances, and in 1875 was elected to parliament for Stoke; but no member would introduce him when he took his seat. Dr Kenealy, as he was always called, gradually ceased to attract attention, and on the 16th of April 188o he died in London. He published a great quantity of verse, and also of somewhat mystical theology. His second daughter, Dr Arabella Kenealy, besides practising as a physician, wrote some clever novels.