Colonel Thomas McMahon of Clonina

Genealogy, Archaeology, History, Heritage & Folklore

Moderators: Clare Support, Clare Past Mod

Post Reply
Jim
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:24 pm

Colonel Thomas McMahon of Clonina

Post by Jim » Thu Mar 28, 2019 7:25 pm

Col Thomas McMahon is listed several times in the 1821 freeholders List in relation to lands at Kiltumper etc.
Ennis Chronicle Wednesday 28 Oct 1818: died last Monday morning at Cahircalla, the seat of David Arthur England Esq, Thomas M'Mahon Esq of the 82nd Regt, eldest son of the late Colonel McMahon of Clonena, in the 23rd year of his age. He had been in a rapid decline for some time and but lately returned from Mallow.
Clare Journal 26 April 1819: Death, at the seat of his brother Newcourt, Bray, in his 22nd year Robert Andrew M'Mahon Esq of the 80th Regt, son of the late Col M'Mahon of Clonina. (The wills of Thomas McMahon, Newcourt, Co Wicklow with the date 1819, and Maria McMahon, Newcourt, Bray with the date 1847 is listed in the Index to Prerogative Wills.
The will of Thomas McMahon, Clonina, Co Clare is listed with the date 1820 in the Diocesan & Prerogative wills & administrations Indexes.
I cannot find the military record of the Colonel anywhere, it is possible that he was Colonel of a Militia Regiment rather than a regular army regiment. Also I have not been able to find a newspaper report of his death. there is an outside chance that he served in a French regiment as he was born probably in the 1750s. He may have been the son of Mortagh McMahon of Clonina & his wife Mary Ellen Mc Donnell.
Does anyone have any info on Colonel McMahon?

smcarberry
Posts: 1281
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:31 pm
Location: USA

Re: Colonel Thomas McMahon of Clonina

Post by smcarberry » Fri Mar 29, 2019 10:48 am

Not much that is immediately related to the Col. Thomas you are researching, but the Dublin newspapers may also have articles found through the various search engines now available. Here is an old set of references I saved, for the Freeman's Journal:

Year of Publication: 1819
Surname: MCMAHON
Place: Bray County: Wicklow, Ireland
Additional Place on the record: Cloona?
Additional County on the record: Clare, Ireland
Additional Place on the record: New-Court

Year of Publication: 1818
Surname: MCMAHON
Place: Cahircalla County: Clare, Ireland
Additional Place on the record: Clonlea
Additional County on the record: Clare, Ireland

You may also want to check Nick Reddan's Registry of Deeds transcription project (just Google those terms to find the website) and the Limerick Library's local studies newspaper transcriptions which go far enough back for your time period. Since Col. Thomas may have had daughters who married into gentry around Ireland, you may want to check various publications by John and Bernard Burke, to see if you can catch a reference to Cahircalla or Bray in relation to a McMahon, using search engines for any of those books in the Internet Archives, Hathaway Trust site, or Google Books. Clonlea is the name of the civil parish for which Kilkishen is the major population centre. I have no notes for a military man named McMahon in or around Kilkishen or Clonlea, which was my family's home area.

Sharon Carberry

Jim
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: Colonel Thomas McMahon of Clonina

Post by Jim » Fri Mar 29, 2019 3:38 pm

Thanks for those very helpful suggestions Sharon. That 1819 reference to Newcourt, Bray, certainly refers to these McMahons. Cloona? is almost certainly Clonina. I haven't found any connection to Cahircalla for them. I must look into the possibility that Colonel McMahon served in the Irish Brigade of the French Army. In her book 'The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade, Count O'Connell and Old Irish Life at Home and Abroad 1745 – 1833' (published in 1892), Mrs Morgan John O'Connell tells of the visit to Clonina of one of the O'Connells (who went to France soon after) in 1777. The O'Connells were connected to the McMahons of Clonina by marriage via The O'Donoghue of the Glens. Count O'Connell was an uncle of the Liberator.
Col Thomas McMahon seems to have been the last of these McMahons as Burke's LGI in the entry for the O'Donoghue of the Glens says that the family was extinct in the male line. The Colonel seems to be the Thomas McMahon whose will was listed in 1820. This coincides neatly with Col McMahon & Reps of Col McMahon being listed in the 1821 Freeholders List. The use of 'Reps' in some of the entries indicates that he had died shortly beforehand. All the McMahon estates Clonina, Kiltumper etc were held by Fr Patrick O'Kelly & his relatives by 1825 (TABs). When I am back in Ireland I must check if there are any surviving wills of these McMahons.

Jim
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: Colonel Thomas McMahon of Clonina

Post by Jim » Fri Apr 19, 2019 11:56 am

I finally tracked down the elusive Colonel.
Death: In Clonmel, Colonel M'Mahon of Clonina, County Clare, and Newcourt, Co Wicklow, late of the 27th, and Barrack Master of that Town. (Saunder's Newsletter 18 Aug 1818).
The reason that it took so long to find was that I searched for McMahon & MacMahon but the old newspapers listed the name as M'Mahon. I think he must have converted to Protestantism as Catholics weren't allowed to hold commissions in the British Army until the 1790s.

Post Reply