Patrick Carron

343

Maureen Withey on 16th November 2024

Contributed by Maureen Withey on 16th November 2024 TRANSPORTS. — The high sheriff of Fermanagh has received an order to transmit forthwith to the hulk at Kingstown, for the purpose of being transported, the following persons convicted at the last assizes of Enniskillen :—Hugh Kerrin, Patrick Kerrin, Bernard Rooney, Pat. Rooney, Daniel Murphy, Arthur Macauley, John Droogan, James M'Manus, Pat. M'Caffrey, Terence M'Hugh, James Keenan, Thomas Kerrin, Michael M'Connell, and Owen M'Connell, for the affair at Macken ; … New Times (London) 1 May 1830. The Affair at Macken. Source: Kerry Evening Post, 22 July 1829 Ireland, Fatal and Alarming Riots. Monday a vast crowd persons assembled at Derrylin, (about seven miles from Enniskillen.) but for what purpose could not be ascertained. Lord Enniskillen, having being apprised of the circumstance, repaired to the spot, but his efforts to make them disperse, aided by the Priest, were ineffectual. In the evening they marched from Derrylin to Knockninny, and a false alarm having been given to an Orange Lodge (that had dined together at at Dromaine-bridge, in that neighbourhood) that Lord Enniskillen and the police were attacked, a few of them sallied forth, as they supposed, to his Lordship’s assistance. When they came near a place called Macken, they observed a crowd and a man near them, who was known to be of the Protestant party, one of whom advanced to him, and lifting his hands, said, Merciful God, are we not all fellow Christians, and why will we kill each other ?” He begged of the Roman Catholic to make the multitude retire, and he consented, and was, when he had got to the top of the hill, to give a signal to that effect—but, the treacherous man! he gave a contrary signal, and beckoned them to come on, when about 800 armed men with pikes, scythes on poles, pitch-forks, &c. &c., attacked the Protestant party, killed poor Mealy on the spot, who had advanced to make peace, and wounded seven others mortally, three of whom are since dead, and the remainder despaired of. The names of the persons dead are Mealy, Price, Robinson, and Scarlott. Baldwin’s London Weekly Journal, 25 July 1829. --------------------------------------------------------------- Background to the Macken Riot. Source, https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com/convict_ship_hercules.htm The Story of the Macken fight.by Michael McManus, YDNA Project....... The New Reformation of 1827 was a Protestant movement against Catholic emancipation in Ireland and it had sprung up at the end of 1826 in County Cavan. Apart from denying them emancipation many Protestants wanted to convert Catholics and.... 450 Catholics were converted in Cavan where they publicly renounced their faith in various Protestant churches. The movement obviously caused much friction in the communities and one side acted as badly as the other - Protestants tried to force Catholics to conform and Catholics tried to persuade ex-Catholics to return to Catholicism. The New Reformation movement spread to Fermanagh and Lord Enniskillen was one of its great supporters. According to one account, he ordered his Catholic tenants to attend Protestant church services or be evicted from their land. Three families, the Duffys, the Maguires and the MacManus, must have refused because they were evicted and settled in the hilly terrain at Ruscaw. So, at the time of the Macken Riot there was a polarisation of the usual religious and political conflict which had been going on in Ireland for many centuries. --------------------------------------------------------------- The Battle of Macken - The Montgomeries and McManus who were sentenced by Judge Jebb to be hanged at Enniskillen on Thursday last and whose lives the Duke of Northumberland has been graciously pleased to spare, by commuting their sentence to transportation for life, were brought up on the outside of the Cavan day coach yesterday and sent off to the hulk at Kingstown. We trust the ferment excited in Fermanagh by the trials of those men, and the unfortunate McManus who was executed last week, will induce his Grace to postpone the trial of the other fifteen Catholics who are in prison for the same crime of which they were found guilty. Freeman’s Journal, 3 April 1830.

221

D Wong on 20th November 2014

This information comes from Wikitree and was created by Veronica Williams This convict is one of a group of Australian convicts involved one of the most well known events in Fermanagh Ireland's history being the most serious sectarian clash of its time, in the the year of Catholic Emancipation 1829. The Macken Fight occurred on 14th July 1829. He was transported to Australia on Hercules II in 1830, aged 70 years, following his trial for murder and sentence of 14 years. His occupation was described as Labourer Reaper. He was married with 3 male 5 female children. He is listed as being the father of Thomas Kerrin (Carron) who arrived per same ship, as well as a cousin to Hugh Carron also on the same ship. He obtained his Certificate of Freedom on 20 FEB 1837. A Certificate of Freedom was a government issued document given to a convict in one of the Australian penal colonies at the end of the convict's sentence. This stated that the ex convict had been restored "to all the rights and privileges of free subjects" effectively now a free person and could seek out employment or leave the colony. Certificates of Freedom were introduced in 1810 and were generally granted to convicts, upon application to the Governor, who had served their 7, 10, or 14 year sentence. It is unclear what happened to Patrick after he was granted his Certificate of Freedom, he would have been abt 77 years of age. It is unknown whether he remained in Australia or left the county. Sometimes Certificates of Freedom were restricted with an exclusion of not being able to return to the UK or Ireland. I have not yet sighted a full copy of the certificate to check this. There is no death record in NSW BDM from 1837.