Attempt to murder a Vicar in 1839
In this week's Times Past column, historian Jonathan Smyth looks at the attempted murder of the rector of Drung and Larah in 1839...
The Cavan Spring Assizes of 1839 got off to a brisk start with the trial of three men, John Brady, James Brady and Terence Rudden who were indicted for an attempt made on the life of a local Church of Ireland rector. A man had fired a potentially dangerous pot-shot at the rector of Drung and Larah as he travelled to church on a Sunday and the shooting incident seems to have stemmed from a grievance against the vicar.
The assizes that year were described as being heavy on the ‘criminal side’ with twenty-one people assigned for transportation, six of them for life.
Drung and Larah
The Rev. Marcus Gervaise Beresford was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and later awarded an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from the University of Oxford in 1864, his first parish was ‘Kildallon’ and in 1828 he was transferred to the united parishes of Drung and Larah, and from 1839, he also held the archdeaconry of Ardagh in addition to these united parishes. Beresford lived at Clonervy House and was later responsible for replacing that building with a new vicarage known as Coravahan House, in Drung. He served in Drung and Larah until 1854 when he became Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. Beresford’s father was the Bishop of Kilmore at the time of the attempted assassination.
Attempted Murder
Appearing before Baron Foster, the case was opened on March 6, 1839, by Mr Schoales, QC, and first to be examined was the reverend gentleman himself who told the room that he was on his way to church at Larah on July 22, 1838, and just opposite the priest’s house he heard a ‘loud shout’ from behind and could see smoke on the road and beyond was a man standing by McKeon’s gate. Beresford jumped from the gig, as did his servant and gave chase on foot after some men and on passing a quarry he questioned a couple of boys if they had seen a shot fired at him and they confirmed one had been fired.
Beresford spotted John McEvoy on the road and shouted at him to stop the gunman and then on turning into a gateway there were two more men armed with guns, one of them wearing a ‘brown frock coat, dirty white trousers, and a cap’, and the other wearing darker clothes and a cap but they ran-off at great speed, heading over Aughagoldrick hill, and on across Phil Farrelly’s hill till they were out of sight. McEvoy later testified that he had seen a man at McKeon’s gate fire a shot at Beresford.
A 10-year-old boy, Edward Hartley, had seen two men with guns hiding at the back of a ditch, one with white trousers and black frock, and the other dressed in black and when Beresford’s carriage came past McKeon’s gate, one of the men stood up and fired at Beresford. Another child, a 12-year-old boy, W. McCartney was with Hartley that day playing at the quarry, and he saw a different carriage go by earlier and the men stood up but ‘lay down’ again.
The Vicar’s man-servant, John Armstrong, had seen the two men at McKeon’s gate and saw the smoke and one of them taking a gun ‘from his shoulder.’ Afterwards, Armstrong went back to where the men lay and found six more men there who had taken off their coats and as the police came over, they threw their coats back on and like the shooters, they too ran for Farrelly’s hill. Another witness, James Maguire informed the court, ‘that on the day in question he heard cheers near McKeon’s; went out and saw two men armed; they said they were after a mad dog’ and ‘witness said he would join them’, as they ran on, he followed them for a brief time and telling the court that the men were unknown to him apart from John Brady who he knew to see around. Witness Pat Johnston identified Rudden and one of the Bradys. Biddy Dowd said she saw four men that day and heard a shot and looking out the window saw the men run off.
Francis Skelton who had been sub-sheriff in 1837, once remembered serving an ejectment on John Brady and that Brady confronted him with a pitchfork and threatened to stick him at the time. Forced from his home and farm, Brady said he would get revenge and would happily hang on Cavan’s gallows. The landlord of the said property was the Rev. Marcus Gervaise Beresford whose bailiff was present when the eviction notice was served.
The trial ran into a second day, resuming on Thursday, March 7. By two o’clock the jury returned a ‘guilty verdict’ against John Brady, but acquitted Terence Rudden and James Brady. The Impartial Reporter noted, ‘great credit is due to Mr Tierney, the crown solicitor, and his talented assistant, Mr Graves, for the able manner in which they investigated and arranged so difficult a case and brought it to an issue so favourable to the peace of the country.’ Incidentally, Baron Foster who oversaw the case was himself the son of a former Bishop of Kilmore, William Foster.
After 1839
Beresford took services on alternate Sundays in the churches of Drung and Larah and having survived the shooting, he always brought an armed servant seated behind him. The security conscious reverend also had a police officer stationed in his yard and at his house had the lower windows built up and the upper windows barricaded with ‘strong timber’ and each windows had portholes. By the time he left Drung, the neighbourhood had settled with no bad feelings towards Beresford.
In 1854, he was consecrated in Armagh Cathedral as Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. Eight years later, on the death of his cousin Lord John George de la Poer Beresford, he became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. It could be said that the Beresfords were something of a dynasty in the Church of Ireland in those days. An account of the shooting at Larah appeared in the Cavan Weekly News, dated July 14, 1906.
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY: