| Irish Chiefs Back to Homepage |
Irish Chiefswatch
In response largely to the Mac Carthy Mór hoax and its own entanglement in same, the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland in July 2003 terminated the procedure of recognising Gaelic chiefs by courtesy, abandoning genuine and bogus claimants alike. This decision has created a vacuum in which more bogus and questionable claimants to chiefship have emerged to declare themselves, free from the necessity to produce rigorous genealogical proofs. Before his retirement in 2003, the Chief Herald of Ireland solemnly conferred upon the writer the title of 'self-appointed saviour of Irish genealogy', and in accordance with the duties which accompany this appellation, the following profiles are offered. Any demonstrated errors of fact will be speedily corrected, and the writer may be contacted by e-mail at sjbmurphy@SPAMOUTeircom.net (remove 'SPAMOUT' from address).
Mac Sweeney Doe
Historically there were three branches of the MacSweeneys of
County Donegal, Fanad, Doe and Banagh, each with its own chief. Since
1979 the titles of Mac Sweeney Fanad and Banagh have been claimed by
two individuals who have not presented any serious pedigree evidence.
Since 1999 or thereabouts Thomas Sweeney has claimed to be Mac Sweeney
Doe, not in any honorary or self-appointed sense, but insisting that he
is the senior descendant of the last chief appointed under the Gaelic
system. This claim has given rise to controversy, and such pedigree
evidence as has been presented has been challenged by the present
writer. Indeed in October 2005 the claimant quietly rewrote a section
of the pedigree he had been advancing for some years, altering his
purported line of descent from the Chiefs of Doe. On account of the
issues raised, the continuing involvement of
the Office of the Chief Herald, and because this is now the most
debatable claim to chiefship post-Mac Carthy Mór, a separate
webpage has been devoted to the Mac
Sweeney Doe chiefship.
O Cahan
The following 'legal notice' was published on the web at http://hometown.aol.com/dolmenx/Page5.html on 11
January 2005:
Leonard M. Keane, Jr., of Wakefield, MA, USA, publicly-declared sole claimant to the Chiefship of the Ulster Irish Family of Ó Catháin (O'Cahan) since 1984, has asserted his succession by salic tanistry to that Chiefship, in compliance with applicable Brehon Law. Parties having an interest may reply with full details within 90 days of the publication of this notice to: Keane, Box 1923, Wakefield, MA 01880.
A pedigree supporting this claim appears at http://hometown.aol.com/dolmenx/index.html, but no sources are cited for same, and in particular adequate documentary proof would be required to show that the claimant is descended from Sean O'Cahan, The O Cahan, died 1498, and his alleged great-grandson Daniel O'Cahan, who is stated to have settled in County Clare about 1525. It would appear that some of this information may derive from O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees (volume 1, pages 495-97), which alas by itself cannot be considered to be a reliable source. Of course, it seems strange as well that the headship of the Ulster sept of O'Cahan should be claimed by one descended from a County Clare branch. Furthermore, it should be noted that while the surname Keane in Munster and Connacht may indeed refer to O'Cahans from Ulster, the form is also used as an anglicisation of the distinct septs of Ó Catháin of Galway and Ó Céin of Waterford (Edward MacLysaght, Irish Families, 4th Edition, Dublin 1985, page 110).
Following a trend among 'clan' groups, there is also a page containing DNA information at http://hometown.aol.com/dolmenx/Page2A.html, which provides nothing in the way of evidence in relation to the claim of chiefship. In any case, the claimant's case appears to be based less on documented senior descent from the last duly inaugurated O'Cahan chief, than on an historically debatable reinvention of Tanistry. Tanistry, whereby a chief's successor was appointed by a derbfine, or male descendants of a common great-grandfather, was in fact a political process largely outside Brehon Law (Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law, Dublin 1988, page 26). Tanistry was alternately suppressed and exploited to create divisions by the English, and following the collapse of the Gaelic order in the early seventeenth century, the small number of families maintaining chiefships turned to male primogeniture or succession of the eldest son.
The current revival of Tanistry as a means to lay claim to long dormant chiefships owes much to the efforts of Terence MacCarthy, whose spurious claim to be MacCarthy Mór was exposed by the present writer in June 1999 (see report at http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/chiefs/maccarthy.htm, with sources cited).While Mr Keane has renounced all association with MacCarthy, it is reasonable to point out that his exposition of 'salic Tanistry' bears a strong similarity to that of the latter. Compare for example the following passages:
The Irish mode of succession is tanistry, a concept that the English conquerors tried very hard to suppress, offering Irish princes English Earldoms governed by primogeniture in exchange ("Surrender & Re-grant") for abdication of their ancient royal and princely ranks governed by the old Gaelic form of Salic tanistry. (Leonard M Keane, now styled The O'Cahan, 'Practical Application of Gaelic Irish Tanistic Succession', http://hometown.aol.com/dolmenx/Page4.html.)
While the crown of Desmond was vested by hereditary right in the royal house of MacCarthy Mór it devolved according to the Gaelic principles of salic tanistry rather than by primogeniture. (Terence MacCarthy, styled The MacCarthy Mór, Prince of Desmond, Historical Essays on the Kingdom of Munster, Kansas City, Missouri, 1994, page 213.)
There is no evidence that MacCarthy or any other 'Tanistic' chiefly claimant ever assembled a full derbfine including cousins to ratify their appointments, and even if they did, this exercise in romantic revival could not overcome the want of proper genealogical evidence of descent from the last duly inaugurated chief. Of course, documentary evidence, properly cited so that it can be checked, remains the key in these cases.
McShane-Johnson
A webpage at http://www.clanmcshane.org/
declares the existence of a 'McShane-Johnson Clan', a branch of the
O'Neills of Ulster, whose current chief is Jameson Riley McShane
Johnson. It is observed, 'The Irish Clans are only starting down the
road the Scots Clans have already paved', and to underscore this point
an illustration of a McShane tartan is provided. Now while it is true
that there was a branch of the O'Neills called MacShane, anglicised
Johnson, there is no evidence that it continued into modern times as a
'clan' or
that it has a recognised chief. It should be noted that there have been
other and unrelated MacShanes in Ireland, one a branch of the
O'Farrells in Longford, another a branch of the Fitzmaurices in Kerry.
Furthermore, the surname can mean simply 'son of Seán/Shane',
hence its translation as Johnson, which is best known as a Scottish
surname, and it has sometimes also been assimilated to the distinct
English surname Johnston. What we have here is another example of an
artificial Irish 'clan', complete with chief and Scottish-style
accoutrements. Again, if such organisations are presented simply as
convivial associations with 'honorary' chiefs, then there should be no
problems, but if there are pretensions to 'real' or 'bloodline' or
'Tanistry' chiefships, then this blurring of the distinction between
fantasy and history needs to be challenged.
O Hanlon
In November 2005 a Wikipedia article on Irish Chiefs of the Name was featuring an entry for one Anthony Michael Hanlon, claiming to be 'O Hanlon, Prince of Ulster': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiefs_of_the_Name (webpages subject to periodic revision). No evidence proving senior descent from the last duly inaugurated O Hanlon has been presented, and it would seem that this claimant is merely self-styled. The last chief appears to have been Sir Oghie O'Hanlon, who was living in 1605. The O'Hanlons were known as Lords of Orior, but certainly not Princes of Ulster.
Mac Mahon
The 'Hon' Michael McMahon lays claim to be 'MacMahon of Thomond' and 'Prince of Corcabaskin and of Thomond' on his website at http://www.orgsites.com/ca/clanmacmahon/_pgg1.php3 I have been assured that the webpage should have contained the qualifying word 'honorary' before the titles in question, and although the term appeared online for a while it has now been removed. The last duly inaugurated chief, Teige MacMahon, was slain at the Battle of Kinsale in 1602 (1601 Old Style dating), and no evidence has been presented to show that the current claimant is his senior descendant.
O Higgins
In or about the middle of 2006 there appeared on the Internet another claimant to chiefship, 'The Hon' Thomas O'Higgins, styled 'The O'Higgins, Lord of Ballynary', who is resident in Cheshire, England. Mr O'Higgins claims to be sixteenth chief in succession to Twohill Ó hUiginn, born 1460. It is candidly admitted that two names in the chiefly pedigree, Charles O'Higgins of Ballynary, County Sligo, born 1721, and John Higgins of Summerhill, County Meath, born about 1755, are 'based on family naming patterns as there is no known record of their first names'. However, it is stated 'that they existed, because their wives are named on the Higgins tombstone in Agher, Summerhill, Co Meath' (http://www.ohigginsclan.com/chief_succession.htm and http://www.ohigginsclan.com/chief's_family_tree.htm). It is obvious therefore that the pedigree on which the claim to chiefship is based is not fully documented, but contains an imaginative interpolation of names at a key point. This is a familiar technique in cases of this kind, and means that the claimant cannot be regarded as recognised, as he cannot prove definitively that he is the senior descendant of the last duly inaugurated O'Higgins chief. There is also a claimed connection with Bernardo Higgins, President of Chile, born 1783 and died 1869. Finally, it should be noted that there is a page on Wikipedia uncritically presenting Mr O'Higgins as a genuine chief (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_O%27Higgins), underscoring the necessity for extreme caution in utilising 'Wiki'-information.
Baron of Castleshort
In 1999 I had the honour to be warned that I had been placed under surveillance by the 'Royal Eoghanacht Galloglas Guard', sworn bodyguards of Terence MacCarthy 'Mór'. The Galloglas Guard continues in existence as the Royal Galloglas Guard, and is commanded by a former MacCarthy supporter 'Baron' James Shortt of Castleshort (http://home.earthlink.net/~rggsibiba/html/galloglas/galloglas.html). The aforementioned unreliable list of Irish Chiefs on Wikipedia as of August 2007 features an entry for 'An Caisleanghearr', which appears to indicate that the Barony of Castleshort has been upgraded to a full chiefship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiefs_of_the_Name). The Baron is also listed as the head of the newly formed 'Clan MacShort', allegedly of Scottish Galloglas origin (http://www.ulsterclans.org/). The surname Short in Ireland can be of two origins, straightforward English or an anglicisation of Mac an Ghirr, the second element being a form of the Gaelic for 'short'. I cannot at the moment confirm a Scottish galloglas association for Mac an Ghirr, usually anglicised McGirr. The idea that there existed a 'clan' to which all Shorts belonged is clearly nonsensical. Terence MacCarthy of course invented the baronial title of Castleshort, and the good Baron's references to various places of the name in Kerry and Cork do not show that they had any association with the surname Short (http://home.earthlink.net/~rggsibiba/html/castleshort/castleshort.html).
The Baron and his military claims have been the subject of critical discussion on an unofficial British Army chat website, and a photograph posted showing him wearing the breast star of Terence MacCarthy's discredited 'Niadh Nask' order (http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=8811/start=3300.html). I have been mentioned by one participant in the discussion, 'Galloglaigh', as 'a mysterious sad little character' who has 'pursued virtually all the named Irish chiefs as frauds', but 'ceased pursuing the issue after he did the hatchet job on Terence MacCarthy' (http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=8811/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=105.html). Unfortunately, I am still very much active in exposing unustified claims to titles, and having written the book on the Mac Carthy Mór hoax, I maintain this and other webpages to keep things up to date.
Sean J Murphy MA
Centre for Irish Genealogical and Historical Studies
Commenced 6 March 2005, last updated 9 September 2007