730 Denis Heron

Constituency  :  Tipperary  1870-74

In  1869  the  Liberal  MP  for  Tipperary  Charles  Moore  died  and at  the  by-election  Denis  was  defeated  by  a  Fenian  nationalist  Jeremiah  Rossa. Although  sympathetic  to  nationalist  aspirations  Denis  was  unacceptable  to  militants  because  lawyers  were  professionaly  associated  with  government. The  Nation  reported  that  priests  supporting  Denis  had  to  have  a  police  guard  "to  protect  them  from  a  thrashing  at  the  hands  of  enraged  Christians  of  their  own  flock ". Fortescue  wrote  to  Gladstone  "Heron  has  pandered  to  the  mob  as  far  as  he  dared, wearing  a  green  sash  on  the  hustings  etc  and  has  failed  in making  himself  popular". Rossa  was  actually  in  prison  at  the  time  and  Denis  immediately  challenged  the  result  on  those  grounds  ( Rossa's  candidature  had  caught  he  and  his  supporters  on  the  hop ). He  was  successful  and  beat  the  new  Fenian  candidate  at  the  election  by  four  votes.

Denis  was  a  Catholic  educated  at  Downside  Abbey. In  1845 he  was  excluded  from  Trinity  College  on  the  grounds  of  his  religion. He  later  became  a  professor  of  jurisprudence  and  political  economy  at  Queen's  College, Galway.

Denis  stood  down  in  1874.

He  died  in  1881  aged  57  when  he  had  a  heart  attack  while  salmon  fishing.