Denis Mahon

Major Denis Mahon was the Irish landlord of Strokestown in County Roscommon who was shot and killed during the Great Famine of Ireland. His death is considered the first murder of a landlord during the Great Famine and to this day there is debate over the real reason for his murder and the identity of those responsible. Mahon's murder caused panic among the aristocracy and turned English public opinion against the Irish in the midst of the Black ‘47.

Biography Born in about 1787 to Reverend Thomas Mahon and into a family of clergymen, Denis Mahon joined the British Army and rose to the rank of Major in the 9th Dragoons.

He married Henrietta Bathhurst and the two had one child together, Grace Catherine Mahon. Grace would go on to marry Henry Sandford Pakenham, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, in 1847. Henry took the last name Pakenham Mahon as he would be the heir to the estates of the Mahon family upon Denis' death.

Landlord of Strokestown

Strokestown debts One of Denis Mahon's predecessors, his uncle Maurice Mahon took over running the Strokestown estate in 1782, and in 1800 was raised to the Irish peerage as Baron Hartland of Strokestown. Maurice borrowed 15,000 pounds in order to enlarge the estate and by the time of his death, the debt grew by 50%. Ships like the ones Mahon chartered were often referred to as Coffin Ships for the inhumane conditions that the people in transport suffered. McDermott denied the accusation and stated the sole cause of Mahon's murder was "the infamous and inhuman cruelties which were wantonly and unnecessarily exercised against a tenantry, whose feelings were already wound up to woeful and vengeful exasperation by the loss of their exiled relatives, as well as by hunger and pestilence".

The investigation was led by police who flooded Roscommon and began investigating the death of Mahon and John Lloyd at the same time. They bribed possible witnesses for information and even evicted people who refused to cooperate in the hopes of finding out the names of the culprits. Beirne and Hasty were both hanged on the 8th of August, 1848, and signed gallows confessions. In Hasty's confession, he renounced his association with the "accursed system of Molly Maguireism", which has furthered speculation that this was a conspiracy involving the Molly Maguires targeting landlords as enemies of the people.