Denis Caulfield Heron

Denis Caulfield Heron LL.D QC (1824 – 15 April 1881)[1] was an Irish 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.

Denis Caulfield Heron died of a heart attack while salmon fishing in the Corrib River in Galway.

References

  1. ↑ "House of Commons constituencies: T (part 1)". Leigh rayment's Peerage pages. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  2. ↑ The Times; The New Members Of Parliament 9 June 1870; pg 7 col A
  3. ↑ The Times, Important Collegiate Question., Denis C. Heron 13 December 1845; pg3 col E
  4. ↑ The Times; Ireland. Protestant Alliance; 9 Jan 1846; pg5 col D
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Times', Ireland 5 July 1860; pg 12 col B
  6. ↑ The Times, Election Intelligence 27 April 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.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Charles William White
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa		 Member of Parliament for Tipperary
1870 – 1874
With: Charles William White		 Succeeded by
Charles William White
William Frederick Ormond O'Callaghan