Rev. John Delahunty
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From Danny’s Files: A Glenmore Bigamy Case
In the voluminous files of Glenmore Historian Danny Dowling (1927-2021) a small newspaper clipping was found regarding an 1866 Glenmore bigamy case. In attempting to find further information in the contemporary newspapers it was shocking the number of bigamy cases that were reported in Irish newspapers in the 1860’s. Perhaps the most famous of all was the cases involved the Honourable William Charles Yelverton (1824-1883) later to become the 4th Viscount Avonmore.
We shall briefly outline this famous case because it caused the law in Ireland to change, and it provides context for some of the questions asked in the Glenmore bigamy case. Most of the following information regarding the Yelverton bigamy case came from an article by Rebecca Gill (citation below).
Thelwall v. Yelverton
William Charles Yelverton (1824-1883) was a major in the British Army and met Maria Theresa Longworth (c. 1832-1881) in 1852 on a steamer between France and London. Theresa, as she was called, had completed her education at a French Convent and was returning home to England after visiting her married sister in France. Her father was a wealthy Manchester silk manufacturer. Yelverton and Theresa corresponded and according to Theresa exchanged vows in Scotland. Subsequently, while visiting Rostrevor, County Down they were married by a Catholic priest on 15 August 1857. Theresa was Catholic, but Yelverton was a Protestant.
Yelverton and Theresa lived together in France until April 1858 when Yelverton was recalled to the Army. He left Theresa pregnant in France. There are conflicting reports, but apparently the child did not survive. On 26 June 1858, Yelverton publicly married a widow, Mrs. Emily Marianne Forbes née Ashworth, in Holy Trinity Chapel, of Edinburgh, Scotland. Emily was the widow of Professor Edward Forbes (1815-1854) the famous Isle of Man naturalist.
In September 1861, Theresa through a friend brought a case against Yelverton in Ireland, alleging that Yelverton was married to her. Yelverton responded that there was no ceremony in Scotland and that the Catholic ceremony in 1857 was merely a blessing to ease Theresa’s conscious. The three jurisdictions of England, Ireland and Scotland had different marriage laws. At that time a Catholic priest could not perform a mixed marriage between a Protestant and a Catholic or legally marry two Protestants (19 Geo. 2.c.13).
After a ten-day trial the jury in Ireland decided in favour of Theresa’s Scottish and Irish marriages. Eventually the case went to the Law Lords who ruled in Yelverton’s favour in July 1864. This case led to the enactment of the Marriage Causes and Marriage Law Amendment Act 1870 which made valid any marriages performed by a Catholic priest subject to the usual provisos of the civil law. The Civil registration of all marriages, births and deaths in Ireland became required after 1 January 1864 (An Act for the Registration of Births and Deaths in Ireland). (Rebecca Gill (2004) “The Imperial Anxieties of a Nineteenth Century Bigamy Case,” 57 History Workshop Journal 58-78: Oxford University Press).
(For further information and details on this famous case and photos see, Morvern French (2018) “The Curious Case of Longworth v. Yelverton” Historic Environment Scotland; Albert Nicholson, “Maria Theresa Longworth (c. 1832-1881),” 34 Dictionary of National Biography, para. 126 and Edward Irving Carlyle, “William Charles Yelverton (1824-1883)” 63 Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, para. 318
The Glenmore Bigamy Case
The Kilkenny Moderator (Wed. 17 January 1866, p. 3) reported that in the Rosbercon Petty Sessions under Resident Magistrate, J. Moore Esq., a considerable amount of time was spent investigating a charge of bigamy made against John Delahunty, alias Keating. The charge was brought by Constable Powell, of the Glenmore R.I.C. station. “It appeared that this man, passing by the name of Delahunty, had settled sometime since at Glenmore, and there contracted matrimony in the Roman Catholic Chapel, with a woman named Bridget Power.” [We believe that Constable Powell was William Powell (c. 1808-1880) who became the first Post master of Glenmore after he retired from the R.I.C., see our post of 24 November 2019.]
The constable reported that he received some information which led him to proceed to the Barony of Iverk and there made inquiries. He was led to ascertain that the same man, then calling himself “John” Keatings, had in the year 1861 in Owing chapel married Judtih Walsh. Soon thereafter “he forsook her” and left the locality. Unfortunately the constable did not divulge or the newspaper did not publish the information that set Constable Powell to investigate the defendant.
The Constable brought forward the two wives, and the two Roman Catholic Clergymen who had officiated at the two marriages. The defendant was identified. Mr. Moore took the information of the witnesses, and committed the defendant to the county gaol to be tried for bigamy at the ensuing county Assizes. “The other business before the court was of an ordinary character.”
Notwithstanding that bigamy was not considered an ordinary criminal case very little detail was revealed in court or at least not in the newspaper accounts regarding the defendant or his two wives.
The Trial of the Glenmore Bigamist
In the Kilkenny Crown Court on Tuesday, 13 March 1866, the bigamy trial against Michael/John Keating alias Delahunty, was held. The Kilkenny Moderator (Kilkenny Moderator, Wed. 14 March 1866, p. 2) reported on the trial the following day in one paragraph. Thankfully the Kilkenny Journal (Wed. 14 March 1866, p. 2) published a much longer and detailed account of the trial. This longer account was also published later in the Waterford Citizen (Fri. 16 March 1866, p. 3).
Baron Deasy, and a petty jury, tried Michael Keating alias John Delahunty for bigamy. The defendant had been “indicted for that he, having on the 10th of June 1860, married Judith Walsh during her lifetime he again remarried with Bridget Power. The prisoner, who was undefended, traversed.” (Traversed is an old legal term meaning that the defendant was disputing the facts.) The Crown was represented by Mr. Wall, Q.C.
The Rev. Matthew Brennan, P.P., Tulleroan, examined by Mr. Wall Q.C. testified that in 1860 he was curate of the parish of Ooning (sic). He produced the Owning Parish Register which contained an entry of the marriage of Michael Keating and Judith Walsh on 10 June 1860. The entry was in his handwriting, but he told the court that he could not identify the prisoner as the Michael Keating he married in 1860.
John Finnean, testified that on 10 June 1860, he was a witness to the marriage of the defendant to Judith Walsh, by Fr. Brennan. Judith Walsh he stated was still alive.
The Rev. John Delahunty, C.C. of Rosbercon, and formerly of Glenmore, produced a private book which contained a list of marriages he performed in Glenmore Chapel. It contained an entry for the marriage of John Delahunty to Bridget Power, on 1 July 1861. Fr. Delahunty could not identify the defendant as John Delahunty who he had married in 1861..
Patrick Henneberry testified that he was present when the defendant, calling himself John Delahunty was married by Fr. Delahunty on 1 July 1861 to Bridget Power.
Catherine Rourke, also testified that she had been a witness to the second marriage and observed the parties subsequently living together as man and wife.
Bridget Power, the second wife, testified as to the marriage in Glenmore, and having lived with the defendant as his wife. She testified that they had no children and they were both Roman Catholics. She stated that she never knew of the defendant being of any other religion.
The defendant in his attempt at a defence made a “rambling statement to the effect that he was declined to be married to the last witness, and told the priest that he was a married man. However, as they persisted in telling him that he might get married, he thought it was no harm to do so.”
The jury “without hesitation” found the defendant guilty of bigamy, and he was sentenced to penal servitude for five years (Kilkenny Journal, Wed. 14 March 1866, p. 2).
Sent to Mountjoy
Four convicts were transferred from the Kilkenny County gaol on Monday the 26th of March to Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, including: “Michael Delahunty, alias John Keatings convicted at the recent Assizes of bigamy (Kilkenny Moderator, Wed. 28 March 1866, p. 3).
The Two Marriages
Without a date or place of birth it is impossible to determine much about the defendant. However, we were able to ascertain some facts concerning his known two marriages.
Marriage 1
According to the Parish Register on 10 June 1860 at Templorum, Co. Kilkenny, Michael Keating married Judith Walsh of Curramore. Witnesses to the marriage were John Finacane and Mary Conolly. Then on 20 September 1860 Anastatia Keatine (sic) was baptized at Dunnamaggin to “John Keatinge” and his wife Judith Walsh. Godparents were listed as James Murphy and Catherine Donovan. The address provided was Kiloganny. Thus in the space of 3 months Michael became John, and Judtih Keating née Walsh moved from Curramore north to Kiloganny. The child is not mentioned in the newspaper accounts of the trial. It is likely the child was not alive in 1866 or for whatever reason the birth of the child was concealed from the investigating constable.
Marriage 2
On 1 July 1861, at Glenmore, John Delahunty married Bridget Power. The only information provided in the Parish Register is the names of the witnesses: Patrick Henebary and Kate Rourk.
Thankfully, the surname Rourke or O’Rourke is not a common name in Glenmore. It is generally found in the townland of Weatherstown. Catherine Roork (sic) was baptized on 24 December 1846 at Glenmore, to Michael Roork and his wife, Bridget Bolger. Their address is simply listed as Glenmore. Godparents were James Bolger and Honor Mullins.
We then sought baptismal records for the more common name of Bridget Power looking for girls born about the same time as Catherine Rourke. Bridget Power, of Weatherstown, was baptized 7 February 1844, at Glenmore, to Thomas Power and his wife, Mary Walsh. Godparents were Patrick Fitzgerald and Nancy Fitzgerald. If this is the correct Bridget Power she was only 17 when she married in 1861 and was 22 when she learned her marriage was a sham.
Please send any corrections, additional information or photos to glenmore.history@gmail.com .
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh