Denis Caulfield Heron

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Denis Caulfield Heron LL.D QC (1824 – 15 April 1881)[1] was a lawyer and Catholic Liberal MP for Tipperary.

Born in Newry, County Down, he was educated at Downside Abbey, Stratton-on-the-Fosse.[2]

In December 1845 Heron was the subject of a hearing at Trinity College, Dublin. Heron had previously been examined and, on merit, declared a scholar of the college but had not been allowed to take up his place due to his religion. Heron appealed to the Courts which issued a writ of mandamus requiring the case to be adjudicated by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Primate of Ireland. [3] The decision of Richard Whately and John George Beresford was that Heron would remain excluded from Scholarship.[4]

In 1848 he received his law doctorate.[5] By 1852 Heron was professor of jurisprudence and political economy at Queen's College, Galway. [6] In July 1860 he was appointed Queen's Counsel.[5]

In the 1869 by-election for Tipperary constituency, Heron was defeated by 1054 to 898 votes by the incumbent, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. However the election was declared invalid because Rossa was an imprisoned felon[7] and, in the second election, Heron defeated the Fenian candidate and was returned to the Commons. He held until 1874.

[edit] References

  1. ^ House of Commons constituencies: T (part 1). Leigh rayment's Peerage pages. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
  2. ^ The Times; The New Members Of Parliament 9 Jun 1870; pg 7 col A
  3. ^ The Times, Important Collegiate Question., Denis C. Heron 13 Dec 1845; pg3 col E
  4. ^ The Times; Ireland. Protestant Alliance; 9 Jan 1846; pg5 col D
  5. ^ a b The Times', Ireland 5 July 1860; pg 12 col B
  6. ^ The Times, Election Intelligence 27 Apr 1852; pg 8 col D
  7. ^ A. M. Sullivan, New Ireland, London, n.d. [c. 1877], pp. 329–330. The Princess Grace Irish Library profile of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa claims the result was 1131 to 1028.
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