The Intriguing Story of an Anglo-Irish Landlord Murdered
During the Great Famine
THE KILLING OF MAJOR DENIS MAHON
By Peter Duffy
Harper Books
ISBN-10:0-06-084050-1
Reviewed by Sharon Greer
On the evening of Tuesday, November 2, 1847 near Strokestown, County Roscommon, Ireland, an Anglo-Irish landlord named Major Denis Mahon was assassinated while driving his carriage through his property.
The murder occurred at the height of the Great Famine (1845-50) as thousands of starving tenants were being evicted from their homes.
Peter Duffy's new book, The Killing of Major Denis Mahon (A Mystery of Old Ireland), attempts to interpret and understand the chain of events leading to the Major's death. Duffy has written an exceptional, harrowing story revealing more about the horrific conditions surrounding this time period than about the "mystery" of Mahon's demise. In itself, it is an excellent resource for material on the worst catastrophe of Ireland's history.
Between the 1841 census and 1851 census in Ireland the population of the country fell from 8.1 to 6.5 million. Officials at the time calculated that a normal growth rate should have placed the population at nine million in those 10 years.
The general estimate is that approximately one million people perished during the Famine; another million left the country for other lands (mostly the U.S., Canada and Australia). This occurrence would forever change Ireland and North America.
Although by no means the worst Anglo-Irish landlord of this period, Major Mahon's responsibility for the suffering on his estate played a predominant role in his fate.
He had 3,000 of his 11,000 tenants removed by either ejectments, offering some a pound or two to leave or by offering passage to North America on what would eventually become known as the "coffin" ships. Rife with disease, conditions were horrific on these vessels. Many people died during the voyage.
Peter Duffy tells the intriguing story of Mahon's killing having had full access to primary source documents, Mahon's private letters and exhaustive court and police documents.
The Killing of Major Denis Mahon is an extraordinary narrative of detailed accounts on how landlord properties were run, how clearances were affected and the Poor Law legislation.
It details how relief committees were formed and just how inept and incompetent the British government was in trying to organize a survival plan for the Irish poor reliant on one crop for sustenance. One interesting fact was that an average poor Irishman in the early 1800s would consume 10 pounds of potatoes daily.
Duffy's analysis of one of the most contentious controversies surrounding the Famine - the popular belief in Ireland that it was genocide is also examined. Although Irish scholars in general reject this idea, a large segment of Ireland's citizenry hold this belief. Genocide is the deliberate extermination of a race or group.
The uncaring British government had more of a bumbling, ineffectual approach to this complex crisis than anything else. But it is understandable how the Irish would come to the conclusion of genocide. It is very difficult to try to understand the scale of death and the lack of compassion for the poor of Ireland during this tragedy.
Duffy is the author of The Bielski Brothers and has written for The New York Times. He is a descendant of survivors from County Roscommon and resides in New York City.
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