Edmund O'Flaherty - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Biography

A native of Knockbane, Moycullen

Moycullen

Moycullen Moycullen Moycullen (official name: Maigh Cuilinn, Plain of Holly, or Plain of Cullen (a local giant) is a suburban village in County Galway, Ireland, about 10 km (7 mi) north west of Galway city. It is located near Lough Corrib, on the N59 road to Oughterard and Clifden in...

, was active in Irish politics in the middle years of the 19th century. Described as "a man of great warmth, cleverness and inexhaustible resource", he was a friend of William Keogh

William Keogh

William Keogh PC was an unpopular and controversial Irish politician and judge, whose name became a byword for betraying one's political principles.- Background :...

and John Sadleir

John Sadleir

John Sadleir was an Irish financier and politician.He entered the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1847 as a Member of Parliament for Carlow...

.

His abilities was recognised by the Duke of Newcastle

Duke of Newcastle

Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a title which has been created three times in British history while the title of Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne has been created once. The title was created for the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 when William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne...

, who wanted to forge an alliance between the Peelite party and that of the Irish M.P.'s.

The Duke employed O'Flaherty as an emissary

Emissary

Emissary may refer to:* Ambassador* Apostle* Diplomat* The Subspace Emissary, the single-player Adventure Mode in the video game Super Smash Bros...

and gave him a Commissionership of Income Tax in Ireland.

In 1854 he disappeared from London and rumours were current throughout the city that warrants were out against him for forgery

Forgery

Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...

. Persons concerned included Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Dunkellin, Bernal Osborne and Sir William Gregory

William Gregory

William Gregory may refer to:*William Gregory * William G. Gregory , NASA astronaut* William Gregory , American governor...

.

O'Flaherty escaped to the U.S.A. under the name Captain Stewart. He began by writing for the papers, made some money, and then rented a theatre called the Winter Garden. He became successful and again famous for his hospitality and parties. It was well known that there was something against him, but it was presumed that he left England being unable to pay his debts. Englishmen of great position, on their return from America, told how they had been entertained by the pleasantest and wittiest of Irishmen, Captain Stewart. He spent the large income he was making, fell into poverty, and died in 1887.

Justin Huntly McCarthy, M.P., wrote of him:

John Sadleir had [been] embezzled, swindled, forged; he [O'Flaherty] ruined half Ireland with his fraudulent bank; he made use of his position under Government to embezzle public money; he committed suicide - that is to say, he was supposed to have committed suicide, for there were many persons who believed then, and there are many persons who believe still, that the body which was found on Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath
Hampstead Heath is a large, ancient London park, covering . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London clay...

, and which was consigned to the grave under circumstances of mysterious haste and secrecy, was not the body of John Sadleir ... There were many persons who believed that John Sadleir, like another Siebenkaas, had died only in name, and was quietly enjoying the rewards of his deception in the security of self-chosen exile. The story is not very credible ... O'Flaherty hurried to Denmark, where there was no extradition treaty, and then to New York, where he lived ... under another name, a familiar figure in certain circles of New York society, famous as a diner-out, as a good story-teller and a humourist ... Keogh, the fourth of this famous quadrilateral, their ally, their intimate, their faithful friend, contrived to keep himself clear of the crash, he was immediately made a judge, and was conspicuous for the rest of his life for his unfailing and unfaltering hostility to any and every national party.

External links

http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter33.html

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Biography

See also

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