Sir John Pentland Mahaffy: Owner of Earlscliffe, 1901–1922
In 1901 Earlscliffe passed into the hands of one of the most colourful scholars in Irish academic life: Sir John Pentland Mahaffy. 1 A classical scholar, historian, conversationalist and public intellectual, Mahaffy was already famous long before he came to live in Howth. His reputation extended far beyond Ireland, particularly through his work at Trinity College Dublin and his influence on a generation of students that included Oscar Wilde and Oliver St. John Gogarty.
Mahaffy owned Earlscliffe from 1901 until his death in 1919, after which the property remained connected with his family until the early 1920s.
Family history
Sir John Pentland Mahaffy (Resident 1901–1922)
Early Life and Family Background
John Pentland Mahaffy was born on 26 February 1839 in Chapponnaire, near Vevey in Switzerland. His father, Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy, was a Church of Ireland clergyman who served as a chaplain in Switzerland and when John was about four his parents moved to the Bavarian spa town of Kissingen in central Germany.
Mahaffy’s childhood was unusually cosmopolitan for a 19th‑century Irishman. Born in Switzerland and raised in Germany, he became fluent in German and French at an early age. While living in Kissingen, he reportedly mixed with Europe’s elite. One story claims that the young Tsarevitch of Russia, later Tsar Alexander II, spent time with him practising English. 2
His father, by contrast, famously refused to learn German, relying instead on Latin to communicate with locals, a habit that no doubt shaped Mahaffy’s lifelong devotion to classical culture. These early experiences gave Mahaffy a strong sense of himself as European rather than narrowly Irish, a self‑image that would later place him at odds with the Irish cultural revival. 33 34
The Mahaffy family income was derived from being 'absentee landlords', renting out their Monaghan estate. However, autumn 1845 saw the start of the Great Famine resulting in a fall in income for the Mahaffys, which only got worse over the next few years.
In 1848 revolution was sweeping through central Europe with rioting in a number of German cities. With falling income, and unrest in Europe, the Mahaffys decided that it was now time to return to Ireland.
The journey back was via Rotterdam with a stormy boat trip to Hull followed by a journey through England a final boat journey from Liverpool to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire). It was a journey that Mahaffy recalled many times during his life. 2
Spending his early years in Europe gave Mahaffy a broad cosmopolitan outlook with a good knowledge of foreign languages 3 which certainly influenced his career going forward.
Scholar at Trinity College Dublin
Mahaffy entered Trinity College Dublin in 1855 and quickly distinguished himself as a classical scholar, graduating in classics and philosophy in 1859. He became a Fellow of Trinity in 1864 and from then he started to publish papers and books. His first was on Kant, but then he turned to the history of Greece and by 1871 a chair of Ancient History was created for him.
His academic work focused particularly on Greek history and literature. Among his most influential works were books on Greek social life and Hellenistic culture, subjects that were relatively neglected in nineteenth-century classical studies.
Mahaffy was unusual among classical scholars of the period in that he wrote for both academic audiences and the general public. His books were widely read and helped popularise classical civilisation among Victorian readers.
Tutor to Oscar Wilde
Mahaffy’s most famous student was Oscar Wilde, who studied classics at Trinity College in the 1870s. Wilde later acknowledged Mahaffy’s influence on his intellectual development, describing him as one of the most brilliant conversationalists in Dublin and who described Mahaffy as his "first and greatest teacher". Wilde credited Mahaffy with awakening his love of Hellenism. Mahaffy, in turn, encouraged Wilde to leave Trinity for Oxford, famously telling him he was “not clever enough for us here”. 31
The relationship between the two men was not simply academic. Mahaffy encouraged Wilde’s interest in Greek culture and aesthetics, interests that later shaped Wilde’s literary career.
For a time, Mahaffy openly claimed credit for Wilde’s intellectual formation, even employing Wilde to help proof‑read Social Life in Greece. After Wilde’s 1895 trial and disgrace, however, Mahaffy publicly distanced himself, later referring to Wilde as “the only blot on my tutorship.” The relationship, intense and formative, later soured into a mutual embarrassment that historians still debate for its intellectual and personal complexity. 31 35 36
Move to Howth
Mahaffy studied the meteorological records of the time and concluded that Howth had the highest average hours of sunshine of any point in Ireland, and very soon rented a summer residence called Sea Lawn on the Sutton side of the Howth Peninsula. 4 5
Oscar Wilde used to visit Mahaffy when he lived in Sea Lawn in Sutton. In 1876 Wilde wrote to William Ward:
I am with that dear old Mahaffy every day. He has a charming house by the sea here, on a place called the Hill of Howth, one of the crescent horns that shuts in the Bay of Dublin, the only place near town with fields of yellow gorse and stretches of wild myrtle, red heather and ferns...
--Oscar Wilde, 1876 6
A number of publications have mistook this as a quote about Earlscliffe. However, 1876 was a full 25 years before Mahaffy purchased the house.
In 1865 Mahaffy married Frances Letitia, daughter of William MacDougall who lived in Drumleck House in Howth.
Once married they moved to Dublin city and had four children.
Purchase of Earlscliffe
According to the book on Mahaffy by Stanford and McDowell, the story at the time was that his wife, Frances, bought Earlscliffe for Mahaffy from spare cash saved from her housekeeping money!
...tradition says that taking advantage of a fall in prices towards the close of the century she [Frances] steadily saved from her housekeeping money until she was able to present her unobservant husband with a seaside house [Earlscliffe] 2
How true this is, nobody knows, but certainly Mahaffy would have been well paid at Trinity and would have earned royalties in Britain and America from the many books he had published.
It has also been said that Mahaffy had a reputation as 'an out-and-out snob'. For instance, it was noted that Mahaffy loved the nobility and would prefer the company of dukes and kings. When he moved into Earlscliffe as his second major residence, a wag at the time suggested that maybe it had better be renamed Dukescliffe! 2
Mahaffy's children
Mahaffy had two daughters, Rachel Mary and Elsie, and two sons, Arthur William and Robert Pentland.
Rachel, the youngest daughter, was born around 1874. She loved botany and had a great knowledge of plants. 7 She contributed to the "Irish Naturalist" with sightings of rare plants spotted in and around the Earlscliffe estate. 8 She was also a good friend of the dramatist, George Bernard Shaw, who wrote to her and her father during the time they lived at Earlscliffe and North Great George's Street 9, and afterwards when she lived in Sandymount in Dublin. 10 Rachel, who never married, was also a great supporter of her father, especially after her mother (Frances) died in 1908. 2 Rachel died on the 18 Jan 1944. 7
In contrast to Rachel, Mahaffy apparently found his eldest daughter Elsie (Elizabeth) to be rather difficult. 2 She did, however, write a good account of the events in Trinity College during the rising of 1916 (see below). Her diary on this can still be found in Trinity College archives. 11 She, too, never married and died on 4th November 1926. 12
The eldest Mahaffy son was Arthur William who was born in Howth on 22nd Oct 1869. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and at Oxford where he was a distinguished oarsman and went into the army. 13 In 1910 he was assistant to the high commissioner for the Western Pacific Islands 14 and rose to being the administrator of Dominica. 2 15 He died in October 1919 16
The youngest Mahaffy son was Robert Pentland. He was born in 1871 17 and graduated at Cambridge in 1893. He was called to the Bar in 1901 and was a barrister in London for some time. 18 In 1902 it was reported in the New York Times that he was engaged to Miss Beatrix Jones from the US. 19 However, we know that Robert never married Miss Jones as in 1904 he sailed from Liverpool to Ellis Island, New York with his father and it was recorded on the ships manifest that he was single. 20 He eventually married Hon. Evelina Victoria Dillon, daughter of Hon. Conrad Adderly Dillon and Ellen Lousia Dashwood, on 6 May 1919. 21
In the first world war Robert Mahaffy served with The Devonshire Regiment and in the Egyptian Army and in 1920 was promoted major of The Royal Fusiliers (T.A.). He died on the 8th May 1943. 17
Sport and the arts
Despite his professorial bearing, Mahaffy was a committed sportsman, excelling in shooting, fishing, and cricket. According to reminiscences published in The Classical Journal, he once accidentally shot a farmer in the face during a shooting party. Rather than panic, Mahaffy reportedly adopted an aggressive conversational defence, loudly dismissing the seriousness of the pellets and overwhelming the injured man with confidence and authority. 32
The episode illustrates both Mahaffy’s lifelong love of field sports and his instinctive belief that intellectual dominance could resolve almost any situation. The same source notes his speech impediment, his inability to pronounce the letter “r”, and his fondness for reminding listeners of his titled acquaintances, including “my fwend the King of Gweece.” 32
Another passion of his was music, especially Bach and Brahms.
He was a well travelled man, spending long periods in Greece, Africa and a number of trips to America. On his trips to Greece Mahaffy discovered two snowdrop species and named them after his daughters. The first was found on Mount Hymettus and he named it Galanthus Rachelae and the second found on Mount Athos he named Galanthus Elwesii. 22
A Man of Contradictions and Wit
Mahaffy’s personality made him a legendary figure in Dublin society. Contemporaries described him in strikingly different ways. Admirers regarded him as witty, brilliant and intellectually adventurous. Critics sometimes found him arrogant or provocative.
The definitive book on Mahaffy describes him as follows:
Historian and philosopher, man of letters and musician, conversationalist and controversialist, sportsman, publicist, diner out and don (Wilde's tutor) - even among so versatile race as the Irish, and in an epoch so favourable to versatility as the Victorian, John Pentland Mahaffy was outstanding. Mahaffy became, long before his death, a legendary figure, the subject of many anecdotes, believable and unbelievable, and this book explores the contradictory and often extravagant legend. Mahaffy was a man much admired and much disliked; descriptions by friends and enemies range from near idolatry to sheer venom, and the authors show how these widely divergent opinions can be explained by conflicting elements in Mahaffy's own character and career. 2
Mahaffy enjoyed debate and often took strong positions on cultural and political questions, which sometimes brought him into public controversy. He was also widely regarded as one of Dublin’s sharpest conversationalists, combining classical learning with a delight in barbed humour. One of the most frequently repeated stories concerns his ambition to become Provost of Trinity College Dublin. When he heard that the incumbent Provost was seriously ill, Mahaffy is said to have remarked dryly: “Nothing trivial, I hope?” The line became emblematic of his reputation as a brilliant but caustic wit, and contributed to the mixed affection and irritation he inspired among colleagues and students alike. Contemporaries routinely described him as both “malicious” and unforgettable in conversation, a man who could dominate a dinner table as effortlessly as a lecture theatre. 32 33
Another example of his dry wit was when a suffragette confronted him and asked what was the essential difference between a man and a woman,
he replied: Madam, I cannot conceive.
Biographers have struggled to reconcile Mahaffy’s contradictions: a clergyman accused of heresy, an anti‑nationalist who helped found the Irish Literary Theatre, a scholar who mocked professionalism in sport but represented Ireland internationally in cricket and shooting.
Long before his death, he had become “a legendary figure, the subject of many anecdotes, believable and unbelievable”. Mahaffy himself seemed to relish this status, once defining an Irish bull as “always pregnant”, and famously remarking:
In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.
Even his critics conceded that few figures loomed so large over Trinity College or Dublin intellectual life in the late Victorian period. 35 32
His political views
Mahaffy was a staunch unionist and pushed his political views through his work and his actions whenever he could.
In 1914, when Mahaffy finally became provost of Trinity College Dublin at the age of seventy-five (a role he had waited many years for), his political views now had some clout around the college.
Mahaffy vs. Ireland: A Willing Cultural Provocateur
Mahaffy was openly hostile to Gaelic revivalism and Irish‑language education, once stating that Irish texts were “religious, silly or indecent”.
In 1914, when Britain was at war in Europe, Pádraic Pearse was invited to speak at
a meeting to commemorate the birth of Thomas Davis, a Trinity graduate who had made an outstanding contribution to the Irish
Nationalist tradition. Pearse was vocal at the time against Ireland's participation in the war. When hearing he was going to
speak at the event, Mahaffy stated that he would not allow Pearse a speaker with these to me traitorous views
to address the college
unless he could be assured that Pearse said nothing against enlisting in the imperial army.
In the end, he was so
stubborn about it that Trinity had to abandon the whole idea of the commemoration. 2
Yet Mahaffy was not simply reactionary. During the Irish Convention of 1917–18, he proposed a Swiss‑style federal solution for Ireland, drawing directly on his childhood experiences there. Seen by some as anti‑Irish and by others as a cosmopolitan outsider, Mahaffy deliberately embraced controversy, believing that intellectual rigour mattered more than popular opinion. 35 37 38
The 1916 uprising
On the morning of Easter Monday, 1916, Mahaffy was in the Provost's house in Dublin with his two daughters when news reached the front gate about the uprising. The porters locked the gate and told Mahaffy he should close the shutters on his house.
Because the British Army was quartered in Trinity, Mahaffy used to have the generals round for dinner where they would discuss the tactics for putting down the rebels and returning Dublin back to 'normality'.
All of this was captured in Rachel Mahaffy's diary of the uprising. 11
When the end of the week came and the rebellion had been stopped, Mahaffy must have been pleased that the union was still in place.
Charity work
Mahaffy's wife, Frances, and their daughter, Rachel, were both contributors to charities. For example, at Christmas 1905, Frances gathered large donations from her friends for the 'Irish Distressed Ladies Fund'.23 Also, in March 1906, Rachel got involved with the "Lend-a-Hand" club in Dublin. The club was was for "girls living at home who, although having many interests and amusements, nevertheless wish to do a certain amount of useful work for others less happily circumstanced than themselves." 24 Their work included entertaining patients in hospital, and working with temperance clubs and choirs.
Rachel was also Hon. Secretary of the Bethesda Female Orphan school on 67 Eccles Street in Dublin. This school was founded in 1784 for female orphans who were members of the Church of Ireland. According to an article in the Weekly Irish Times:
The girls are taken from the professional or better classes in the country, and every care given to their education and well-being, so as to fit them for any position in life they may choose to adopt.
-Weekly Irish Times, 29th Nov 1913 25
As part of this role, Rachel was present at a prize giving ceremony in February 1913 where the prizes were distributed by the Very Rev Charles Thomas Ovenden, Dean of St. Patrick's, and and future owner of Earlscliffe! 25
During the first World War, Rachel and her father were involved in supporting and raising funds for the Dublin University Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Emergency Hospital, where wounded soldiers from the war were treated. 26
Travel
Mahaffy did a lot of foreign travel, sometimes with family members. For instance, in 1904, Mahaffy and his son Robert travelled together to go to the Congress of Arts and Science at St. Louis. Mahaffy paid for his sons trip. This was Robert's first time in the U.S., but Mahaffy had been there before (New York 1889). 20
In 1907, the Irish Times reported that Mahaffy and his daughter, Rachel were off on a trip to Italy. 27
Life at Earlscliffe
When Mahaffy purchased Earlscliffe in 1901, he was already a well-known academic figure and a prominent member of Dublin’s intellectual society.
The house, overlooking Dublin Bay on the slopes of Howth Head, offered a retreat from the city while remaining close enough to Trinity College for regular travel. The railway connection between Dublin and Howth, opened in 1846, made such commuting practical for many professional families.
During Mahaffy’s residence, Earlscliffe became associated with a lively intellectual household. Visitors included academics, writers and students connected with Trinity.
However, Mahaffy and his family only lived in Earlscliffe during the summer months, spending the balance of the year at his property at 38 North Great George's Street in the centre of Dublin.
Summering at Earlscliffe placed Mahaffy within the gentle rhythms of early twentieth-century coastal life: a mix of intellectual retreat, social exchange and country-by-the-sea living that had become typical of Dublin’s professional and academic classes at that time.
Death of Frances Mahaffy
On 26th Feb 1908, Mahaffy's wife, Frances died and was buried in St. Fintan's Cemetery in Sutton. This was a sad time for Mahaffy who confided to a younger friend:
...for a youth like you to know what the rupture of a close intimacy of love and respect lasting nearly 43 years is to a man of declining years. I feel that in the deepest sense I have lost my home, and am henceforth a mere lodger in my own house. She was so sound in sense, tender in heart, large in sympathy. Many people loved her, all respected her.
-Mahaffy 2
After the death of Frances, his two daughters remained with him and managed his house for him. 2
Local dispute
As mentioned earlier, Mahaffy was known as a lover of music. However, his definition of music did not extend to the popular sound of music at the funfair!
In June 1913, a funfair was set up at Howth summit, consisting of "steam hobby horses, hurdy gurdy band, swing boats, rifle saloon, and other noisy and offensive amusements and variety show".28 However, the one item that really got everyone's attention was a steam powered organ that produced "steam hooters" and "screaming ...whistles".
The locals put in an application for an interlocutory injunction to stop the fair and the noise which "continued every fine day until late at night, and the language of some of the persons gathered together by the show was most objectionable."
Gaisford St. Lawrence, owner of the Howth estate, said that when it was playing "it was difficult to read or attend to anything else, as it made a most penetrating and offensive noise."
An affidavit was put forward by Mahaffy who was described as having "a keenly sensitive ear for music". Mahaffy then went on to describe to the Counsel his view of the events "in language which counsel thought was very appropriate". Mahaffy said:
I, John Pentland Mahaffy, Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and Chairman of the Howth Petty Sessions, residing at Earlscliffe, Howth, make oath and say: -There have recently set up close to Howth Summit, certain mechanical devices for the production of music by steam, to accompany hobby horses the music consisting of blasting, booming and clashing, with intermittent shrieks from whistles. This constitutes a grave nuisance to all the inhabitants, and will, if allowed to continue, have the effect or greatly depreciating the value of property in the neighbourhood. In my position as chairman of the Bench of Magistrates at Howth, I am enabled to state that serious complaints have been made by residents not only on account. of the nuisance caused by the noise, but also on account of the very undesirable crowd which is gathered by this hurdy-gurdy show.
The outcome of the case is not known.
1911 census
As mentioned above, Mahaffy only used Earlscliffe as a summer residence. This was shown in the 1911 Census of Ireland which was taken in April that year and does not mention Mahaffy or any of his family living in any property in Howth. However, the house named as "house number 1 in Censure (Howth, Dublin)" refers to Earlscliffe and Mahaffy is named as the landlord. The only occupants listed in the census were Thomas Meharry (the gardener) and his family: 29
- Thomas Meharry (Husband), 33 years old, Gardener (Domestic), from Co. Cavan
- Margaret Meharry (Wife), 29 years old from Co. Meath
- Martha Jane Meharry (daughter), 3 years old, born in Dublin
- David T Meharry (son), 1 years old, born in Dublin
- Thomas Meharry (son), 8 months, born in Dublin
We must assume that the Meharry family were expected to manage the maintenance and upkeep of the Earlscliffe property over the winter months, leaving the Gardener's cottage as being listed as unoccupied. 29
In that same 1911 census, Mahaffy's two daughters (Rachel and Elsie) were listed as living at North Great George's Street. However, their father was not listed at all. We assume that he must have been travelling at that time. 29
Knighthood
In 1918, Mahaffy received the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, which was thought to be unusual as tradition was that a man in holy orders (he had been ordained as a clergyman) could not become a knight.
However, he wasn't Sir John for long as he died on the 30th April 1919 after a short illness and was buried with his wife in St. Fintan's Cemetery in Sutton. 2
In the same month in 1919, Éamon de Valera, who had been briefly on the books at Trinity as a student in the early 1900s, was elected President of Dáil Éireann, the new republican assembly that claimed to be the legitimate government of Ireland. 3 Mahaffy wouldn't have been happy with that!
When he died in 1919 at the age of eighty, he had become one of the most recognisable figures in Irish academic life.
Today Mahaffy is remembered not only for his scholarship but also for his influence on a generation of Irish writers and intellectuals. His connection with Oscar Wilde alone ensures that his name remains widely known.
Earlscliffe after Mahaffy's death
After Mahaffy died, Earlscliffe house remained with the Mahaffy family for a few years more. The lease of Earlscliffe was renewed in 1922 with Howth Castle Estates for a period of 250 years by his daughter Rachel Mahaffy. 30
Rachel Mahaffy finally sold the house in 1922 to the Very Rev. Charles Thomas Ovenden, the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. 30
Conclusion: Scholar, Provost, and Man of the World
“the finest talker in Europe.”
— Oliver St. John Gogarty Wilde on John Pentland Mahaffy 39
Mahaffy left behind the reputation of a scholar who was anything but cloistered. Historian and classicist, conversationalist and provocateur, he moved easily between the lecture hall, the dinner table and the pages of popular books. Students remembered his wit as much as his scholarship, and friends valued his lively conversation and wide curiosity about the world.
His tastes were firmly on the side of convivial society; Mahaffy had little patience for strict teetotalism, which he regarded as unnecessarily dour. Perhaps for that reason he might have appreciated a small modern tribute to his name. At the beginning of the twenty-first century a pub called Mahaffy’s stood near Trinity College at the corner of Pearse Street and Westland Row, only a short walk from the rooms where he had taught generations of students. One suspects that the old Provost, who believed that good conversation was one of life’s great arts, might have felt perfectly at home there. 34
Next chapter: Very Rev. Charles Thomas Ovenden
Earlscliffe timeline
- 1845–1864: Cornelius Egan
- 1864–1878: Captain William Bunbury McClintock
- 1878–1896: The Knox family
- 1896–1901: John Randal Plunkett
- 1901–1922: Sir John Pentland Mahaffy
- 1922–1924: Very Rev. Charles Thomas Ovenden
- 1924–1927: Robert Rooney
- 1927–1930: Dr Ella Webb
- 1930–1945: Sir John Lumsden
- 1945–1949: William Martin Murphy
- 1949–1950: Lily Margaret Graham Gough
- 1950–1952: Olive & "Kit" Stanley-Clarke
- 1952–1961: Peggy & Bobby Woods
- 1961–1969: Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Knowles
- 1969–today: Robinson & Foley family
References & Further Reading
- A History of the County Dublin, Francis Elrington Ball, originally published in six volumes (1902-1920). Volume 5 " Howth & its Owners", Chapter 9 "As a Packet Station and After" https://archive.org/details/historyofcountyd05ball ↩
- John Pentland Mahaffy: Biography of an Anglo-Irishman, W B Stanford and R B McDowell, Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1971, ISBN 0 7100 6880 8 ↩
- Brief life story especially his academic career at Trinity College Dublin https://www.tcd.ie/provost/history/former-provosts/jp_mahaffy.php ↩
- Howth Through The Eye of the Artist, Vincent McBrierty, Publisher Trinity College Dublin Press, (2005), ISBN 1871408407 ↩
- https://consult.fingal.ie/en/system/files/materials/4389/Howth-Mal%20-%20Building%20Structure%20-%20Prop%20Add.pdf retrieved on 21-Sep-2021 ↩
- The Howth peninsula: Its history, lore & legend, Vincent J McBrierty, Publisher: North Dublin Round Table (1981) ISBN: 0950755303 ↩
- Irish Times obituary for Miss Rachel Mahaffy, January 21, 1944 page 3 Also. https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar/GetImgSrc?filePath=%2F1944%2FM%2F003598_maguire_1944.Png ↩
- The Irish Naturalist was an important scientific journal that was first published in April 1892. Rachel Mahaffy identified a number of plants that were native to Howth and were not included in the standard book on the subject, " Flora of Howth", by H. C. Hart, B. A., F.L.S. Dublin: published by Hodges, Figgis, and Co., 1887. See https://www.archive.org/stream/irishnaturalist04roya/irishnaturalist04roya_djvu.txt ↩
- As referenced in " A Bernard Shaw chronology" by Anthony Matthews Gibbs Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 ISBN 0312231636, 9780312231637, page 227 ↩
- As referenced in " Shaw: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies" by Fred D. Crawford Published by Penn State Press, 1998 ISBN 0271017791, 9780271017792, page 9 ↩
- As referred to in https://www.tcd.ie/Library/manuscripts/collections/rebellions.php and https://www.tcd.ie/library/1916/elsie-mahaffys-record-of-the-rising/ ↩
- Irish Times obituary for Miss Elizabeth Mahaffy, November 6, 1926, page 7. Also https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar/GetImgSrc?filePath=%2F1926%2FM%2F002077_maginnis_1926.Png ↩
- See https://www.archive.org/stream/oxfordmen188018900fostuoft/oxfordmen188018900fostuoft_djvu.txt ↩
- See https://www.trussel.com/kir/gilbibm.htm ↩
- See https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Dominica.html and https://rulers.org/ruld.html ↩
- Irish Times obituary for Mr Arthur W. Mahaffy O.B.E., October 20, 1919, page 5 ↩
- As reported in the London Times on the 10th May 1943, and quoted here: https://www.geneagraphie.com/getperson.php?personID=I188862&tree=1 Please note that the London Times obituary states that he was born in 1871. However, on the manifest for the ship S.S. Arabic quoted above for a journey taken in August 21, 1904 he is stated as being 36 years old. ↩
- "Mahaffy Descendants", Compiled by Estelle Kinports Davis and Mary E. Mahaffey Carst, HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, published in 1914, pp 144-167, as seen here: https://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bbunce77/Mahaffey8.html ↩
- New York Times, Aug 31, 1902 https://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9901E1DC153DE433A25752C3A96E9C946397D6CF The full transcript is as follows: "From abroad comes the report of the engagement, which cannot now be verified, as Mrs. Jones and her daughter are abroad, of Miss Beatrix Jones, daughter of Mrs. Cadwallader Jones, and Robert Mahaffy, a son of John Pentland Mahaffy of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. J. P. Mahaffy is well known as an author of various educational and other works, and is a member of many English and foreign societies. Miss Jones is a granddaughter of the late William Rawle of Philadelphia. Mrs Jones and her daughter sailed for Europe in June." ↩
- The manifest for the ship S.S. Arabic that arrived at Ellis Island from Liverpool on August 21 1904, can be found here: https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org Mahaffy and his son Robert travelled together to go to the Congress of Arts and Science at St. Louis. Mahaffy paid for his sons trip. This was Robert's first time in the U.S., but Mahaffy had been there before (New York 1889) ↩
- https://www.thepeerage.com/p3771.htm ↩
- As reported in the Irish Times " The Garden" section May 10, 1919 page 5 and pointed out to David Foley by Peter Boyle, Fellow emeritus, TCD. As there are a large number of snowdrops in the grounds of Earlscliffe, we are currently looking out to see if these varieties can be found in the garden. ↩
- The donations to the Irish Distressed Ladies Fund were listed in the Irish Times, 15th Dec 1905. Out all of the many donations, it looks like Frances managed to get the largest donations (a whopping £50!) from a friend. ↩
- The 'Lend-a-Hand' club was discussed in the Irish Independent on March 20th 1906. ↩
- As reported in the Weekly Irish Times 29th Nov 1913, page 2. ↩
- The work of the Dublin University Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Emergency Hospital was discussed in the Irish Times on May 19th 1915, page 7. A letter appealing for funds, signed by Rachel, was sent to the Irish Times on September 15th 1916, page 6. ↩
- As reported in the Irish Times, 24th March 1908. ↩
- As reported in the Freemans Journal 26th June 1913, page 8. ↩
- The National Archives of Ireland, Census of Ireland 1911, https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Howth/Censure/20121/ ↩
- Title deeds and other legal documents that are currently in the possession of Karen & David Foley ↩
- John Pentland Mahaffy - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pentland_Mahaffy. ↩
- Personal Reminiscences of J. P. Mahaffy - The Classical Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Oct., 1931), pp. 42-44 (3 pages) https://www.jstor.org/stable/3290600. ↩
- John Pentland Mahaffy: ‘The extravagant and contradictory legend’ Andy Carte, March 28,2023, Hind Zeit: A look into the rear view mirror of time https://hindzeit.wordpress.com/2023/03/28/john-pentland-mahaffy-the-extravagant-and-contradictory-legend/. ↩
- Mahaffy, Sir John Pentland Maume, Patrick, Dictionary of Irish Biography https://www.dib.ie/biography/mahaffy-sir-john-pentland-a5381. ↩
- John Pentland Mahaffy Ricorso.net https://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/m/Mahaffy_JP/life.htm. ↩
- Mahaffy and Wilde: A Study in Provocation Alastair J. L. Blanshard, Oxford Acedemic https://academic.oup.com/book/36306/chapter-abstract/318371200?redirectedFrom=fulltext. ↩
- A man called Mahaffy: an Irish cosmopolitan confronts crisis, 1899–1919 Tomás Irish, Historical Research, Volume 89, Issue 246, November 2016, Pages 846–865, https://academic.oup.com/histres/article-abstract/89/246/846/5603518. ↩
- ULSTER ON THE NILE: IRISH ANALOGIES IN THE CLASSICAL SCHOLARSHIP OF J. P. MAHAFFY (1839-1919) Rachel Mairs, Classics Ireland Vol. 17 (2010), pp. 51-70 (20 pages) Published By: Classical Association of Ireland https://www.jstor.org/stable/41408161. ↩
- Words At WillSeamus O'Mahony, Dublin Review of Books, February 2014 https://drb.ie/articles/words-at-will/. ↩
Page last updated: 4 Aug 2026