MacNevin Family
Emily Blake Forster married Daniel McNevin (or MacNevin) and they resided at Clooneene (Ashfield) in the 1830s. Daniel McNevin is recorded as the proprietor of lands in the parish of Beagh in the mid 1830s but with an address at Middle Gardiner St. Dublin. His agent was Mr. Darcy of Rickfield.
Daniel and Emily's son was Thomas McNevin who was associated with the Young Ireland movement. Lands from the McNevin estate were offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates court in December 1853. The owner was Daniel McNevin, a minor. Ashfield later came into the French family.
The MacNevin's (Daniel MacNevin, and hisson's Thomas and Richard) were very heavily involved with "The Emancipator" - Daniel O'Connell, until Daniel turned his support (sold out) to the Whig Party and the MacNevin's basically disowned O'Connell.
Houses
Ashfield House
The house at Ashfield seems to have been known as Clooneene, particularly when it was the home of the Blake Forster family. In 1814 it was the home of Francis Blake Forster but by 1837 Lewis records it as in the ownership of D. McNevin. Earlier, in 1786, Wilson wrote that it was the seat of Mr. Forster. Ashfield House is demolished but substantial parts of the walled garden and the gate lodge are still extant.
Rosehill
The house at Rosehill is included in the sale of the estate of Denis Boland of Gort, in the Land Judges' Court, in the 1880s. It appears on the 1st editon Ordnance Survey map but is not marked on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. An old entrance gateway survives.
Thomas MacNevin (1814-1848)
Thomas MacNevin (1814– 8 February 1848) was an influential Irish writer and journalist, who died under "peculiarly sad circumstances" in a Bristol asylum. According to T. F. O'Sullivan, he was one of the most "brilliant intellects" to be associated with The Nation newspaper and with the Young Ireland movement.
According to the official records of Trinity College, Dublin, which he entered at the age of 17, Thomas MacNevin was born in Dublin, the son of Daniel MacNevin, although it has also been suggested that he was born in Galway (if born in Galway, he may have possibly been born in Beagh, as it is known this is where his family resided) . Charles Gavan Duffy in his Young Ireland a fragment of Irish history, 1840–45 described MacNevin as being "below the middle size but well made, well poised, and agile" woth auburn hair and clear blue eyes, "which he believed he inherited from Danish ancestors." His face was "mobile, and possessed the power not given to one man in ten thousand, of expressing a wide range of feeling without exaggeration or grimace."
During his time at Trinity College, MacNevin became treasurer of the College Historical Society between 1834–35, and auditor in 1837–38. The society had been founded by Edmund Burke nearly a century before, and had trained three generations of Irish orators and statesmen. However, in 1838 the society was exiled from the college that gave it a name. It was during this period that MacNevin became its President.
The meetings were held in Radley's Hotel, and attracted audiences with their vehement and flamboyant eloquence. Isaac Butt, Joseph Lefanu, Torrens M'Cullagh, Thomas Wallis, James O'Hea, William Keogh, and Joseph Pollock all debated in a style reminiscent of that of the old Irish Parliament. At Trinity College, MacNevin studied elocution under Vandenhoff and Sheridan Knowles. He completed his degree in 1838, and was called to the Bar the following year.
In 1844, MacNevin edited the State Trials, and later he wrote two volumes for the Young Ireland "Library of Ireland". The first, a History of the Irish Volunteers of 1782, was published in 1845, followed by The Confiscation of Ulster in 1846. In 1845, he published Gerald, a three-act play on the invasion of Ireland by Henry II in 1171. Also in this year he edited and published The speeches of the Right Honourable Richard Lalor Sheil.
In june 1845, he proposed the motion that ‘they (the Young Irelanders) seek success in the present struggle solely by moral and legal means and without the spilling of blood or the infliction of injury on any man’, seconded by William Smith O’Brien. This ultimately lead to the Young Irelanders’ withdrawal in July 1845.
MacNevin worked on The Nation newspaper of the Young Ireland group for two years. He felt the death of Davis in 1845 keenly, and in the last remaining years of his life was mentally affected. MacNevin died on 8 February 1848 in an asylum in Bristol. On 19 February, The Nation paid a tribute to their former colleague and friend.
Quote
‘It has been the misfortune of this country scarcely ever to have known the English natives or settlers otherwise than enemies, and in his language the Irish peasant has but one name for Protestant and Englishman, and confounds them; he calles them both by the name of Sassenagh’ (Quoted in Madden, The United Irishmen, Vol. III [n.d.], p.28; cited in D. George Boyce, Nationalism in Ireland, 1982, p.129.)
Thomas McNevin Esquire - portrait in National Gallery of Ireland. Click HERE
Further Reading; Jnl. of the Irish Family History Society: INGHAM, George R. The McNevins, A Patriot Family. XII (1996), 81-83
Daniel and Emily's son was Thomas McNevin who was associated with the Young Ireland movement. Lands from the McNevin estate were offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates court in December 1853. The owner was Daniel McNevin, a minor. Ashfield later came into the French family.
The MacNevin's (Daniel MacNevin, and hisson's Thomas and Richard) were very heavily involved with "The Emancipator" - Daniel O'Connell, until Daniel turned his support (sold out) to the Whig Party and the MacNevin's basically disowned O'Connell.
Houses
Ashfield House
The house at Ashfield seems to have been known as Clooneene, particularly when it was the home of the Blake Forster family. In 1814 it was the home of Francis Blake Forster but by 1837 Lewis records it as in the ownership of D. McNevin. Earlier, in 1786, Wilson wrote that it was the seat of Mr. Forster. Ashfield House is demolished but substantial parts of the walled garden and the gate lodge are still extant.
Rosehill
The house at Rosehill is included in the sale of the estate of Denis Boland of Gort, in the Land Judges' Court, in the 1880s. It appears on the 1st editon Ordnance Survey map but is not marked on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. An old entrance gateway survives.
Thomas MacNevin (1814-1848)
Thomas MacNevin (1814– 8 February 1848) was an influential Irish writer and journalist, who died under "peculiarly sad circumstances" in a Bristol asylum. According to T. F. O'Sullivan, he was one of the most "brilliant intellects" to be associated with The Nation newspaper and with the Young Ireland movement.
According to the official records of Trinity College, Dublin, which he entered at the age of 17, Thomas MacNevin was born in Dublin, the son of Daniel MacNevin, although it has also been suggested that he was born in Galway (if born in Galway, he may have possibly been born in Beagh, as it is known this is where his family resided) . Charles Gavan Duffy in his Young Ireland a fragment of Irish history, 1840–45 described MacNevin as being "below the middle size but well made, well poised, and agile" woth auburn hair and clear blue eyes, "which he believed he inherited from Danish ancestors." His face was "mobile, and possessed the power not given to one man in ten thousand, of expressing a wide range of feeling without exaggeration or grimace."
During his time at Trinity College, MacNevin became treasurer of the College Historical Society between 1834–35, and auditor in 1837–38. The society had been founded by Edmund Burke nearly a century before, and had trained three generations of Irish orators and statesmen. However, in 1838 the society was exiled from the college that gave it a name. It was during this period that MacNevin became its President.
The meetings were held in Radley's Hotel, and attracted audiences with their vehement and flamboyant eloquence. Isaac Butt, Joseph Lefanu, Torrens M'Cullagh, Thomas Wallis, James O'Hea, William Keogh, and Joseph Pollock all debated in a style reminiscent of that of the old Irish Parliament. At Trinity College, MacNevin studied elocution under Vandenhoff and Sheridan Knowles. He completed his degree in 1838, and was called to the Bar the following year.
In 1844, MacNevin edited the State Trials, and later he wrote two volumes for the Young Ireland "Library of Ireland". The first, a History of the Irish Volunteers of 1782, was published in 1845, followed by The Confiscation of Ulster in 1846. In 1845, he published Gerald, a three-act play on the invasion of Ireland by Henry II in 1171. Also in this year he edited and published The speeches of the Right Honourable Richard Lalor Sheil.
In june 1845, he proposed the motion that ‘they (the Young Irelanders) seek success in the present struggle solely by moral and legal means and without the spilling of blood or the infliction of injury on any man’, seconded by William Smith O’Brien. This ultimately lead to the Young Irelanders’ withdrawal in July 1845.
MacNevin worked on The Nation newspaper of the Young Ireland group for two years. He felt the death of Davis in 1845 keenly, and in the last remaining years of his life was mentally affected. MacNevin died on 8 February 1848 in an asylum in Bristol. On 19 February, The Nation paid a tribute to their former colleague and friend.
Quote
‘It has been the misfortune of this country scarcely ever to have known the English natives or settlers otherwise than enemies, and in his language the Irish peasant has but one name for Protestant and Englishman, and confounds them; he calles them both by the name of Sassenagh’ (Quoted in Madden, The United Irishmen, Vol. III [n.d.], p.28; cited in D. George Boyce, Nationalism in Ireland, 1982, p.129.)
Thomas McNevin Esquire - portrait in National Gallery of Ireland. Click HERE
Further Reading; Jnl. of the Irish Family History Society: INGHAM, George R. The McNevins, A Patriot Family. XII (1996), 81-83