‘Donal O’Mahony stands unrivalled and unequalled in the fight for Irish freedom’ – T M Donovan
In 1927, Castleisland historian, T M Donovan, described patriot Daniel O’Mahony of Castleisland as ‘An Irish Nimrod’:
About forty years ago Mr Dan O’Mahony left his native Kerry for South Africa; and, after working his way through Cape Colony and the Transvaal to Rhodesia, the fascination of the ‘big game’ so attracted him that he became a mighty hunter. With his rifle he has, perhaps, brought down more lions than any other hunter of big game.[1]
Donovan recalled his schooldays with O’Mahony:
As a boy I knew Mr O’Mahony going to the National School in Castleisland in the 1870s. He was of a modest and retiring disposition. No one of us then could discern the mighty hunter in our quiet and gentle schoolmate. The slayer of many lions and elephants and the organiser of rebellion is in character just the same today.[2]
O’Mahony hunted the Pungwe district for nine years, and was well known as the greatest lion slayer of that part of Africa and a first class shikari. No one knew the hunting grounds between the Busi and the Zambesi as he did.
Daniel O’Mahony returned to Ireland in 1912 and became one of the leaders of the Sinn Fein movement in Kerry and afterwards organised the local Volunteers, becoming their first Commandant. Donovan described O’Mahony, who was imprisoned in Frongoch after the 1916 rebellion, as ‘a fine man physically, and a man of great will-power’ who, ‘had the Rising eventuated in Kerry, the British would have found in him their most formidable opponent.’[3]
O’Mahony retired from active politics in 1921 and traded as a merchant in Castleisland. His elaborate diaries kept during his years of big game hunting in Africa – which he intended to publish – were burned by the Black and Tans in 1920. Nonetheless, in 1927, Donovan remarked that Captain Galwey Foley, founder of the Castleisland Rugby Club, was preparing O’Mahony’s memoirs for publication.[4]
Daniel O’Mahony died at his residence, Killarney Road, Castleisland on 23 October 1934 and was buried in the New Cemetery, Castleisland.
Daniel O’Mahony never married but, wrote Donovan, ‘gave all his devotion to Dark Rosaleen, it may be said with truth that that symbolic young lady never had a truer and more faithful lover’:
Ireland has lost one of its bravest sons. As a true lover of Erin and a great Republican few living Irishmen have such a claim on our affectionate remembrance. During his boyhood as a Moonlighter and Land Leaguer, and in his prime as a Sinn Feiner and Republican, all his thoughts and endeavours were given to the freedom of his country. The wonder is how, with only a National School education, he had such a very capable and fertile mind. He proved himself always broad-minded, wise in counsel, entirely unselfish, and very resolute in putting his ideas into action. Travel had given him the equivalent of a university education.[5]
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[1] The Kerryman, 12 November 1927. [2] Ibid. Article in full: ‘About forty years ago Mr Dan O’Mahony left his native Kerry for South Africa; and, after working his way through Cape Colony and the Transvaal to Rhodesia, the fascination of the ‘big game’ so attracted him that he became a mighty hunter. With his rifle he has, perhaps, brought down more lions than any other hunter of big game. Mr Grogan (in his book From the Cape to Cairo) that Mr Sharp induced Mr Dan O’Mahony to join the expedition, and adds: ‘Mr O’Mahony who had only just recovered from a severe shaking administered by a cow elephant, has hunted the Pungwe district for nine years, and is well known as the greatest lion slayer of that part of Africa. No one knows the hunting grounds between the Busi and the Zambesi as he does, and as he is a keen observer, as well as a first class shikari, I only hope that he will yield to my persuasions and some day give us a book of his experiences.’ After coming home to Ireland in 1912, Mr O’Mahony became one of the leaders of the Sinn Fein movement in Kerry, and was the chief delegate from the South at all the conventions held in Dublin. He afterwards organised the local Volunteers and became their first Commandant. A fine man physically and a man of great will-power, had the ‘rising’ eventuated in Kerry in 1916, the British would find in him their most formidable opponent. At the time of the disastrous split in 1921, Mr O’Mahony retired from active politics, and he is now trading as a merchant in his native town of Castleisland. As a boy I knew Mr O’Mahony going to the National School in Castleisland in the eighteen-seventies. He was of a modest and retiring disposition. No one of us then could discern the mighty hunter in our quiet and gentle schoolmate. The slayer of many lions and elephants and the organiser of rebellion is in character just the same today – far more retiring and unassuming than some of our great men who won the war with their mouths. To indicate the great fame Mr O’Mahony as an African hunter, Captain Galwey Foley, who by the way is preparing Mr O’Mahony’s memoirs for publication, tells me that some years ago he met a British naval officer who was stationed in East African waters, and who made many incursions after big game into the interior. The officer told Captain Galwey Foley that there are many tribes in South East Africa that only know two words of English, and curiously enough these two words are Irish – ‘Dan Mahony.’ Mr O’Mahony kept elaborate diaries of his nine years’ experiences of big game hunting in Africa from which he intended to write a book; but, unfortunately, all his belongings were burned by the Black and Tans in 1920. After the 1916 rebellion he was imprisoned in Frongoch; but in spite of these hardships as an African hunter and as an internee he is still hale and hearty – a man of fine presence and distinguished manners and mentality, alert and vigorous. Some day we hope to see him representing East Kerry in the Dail.’ Donovan also writes about O’Mahony in A Popular History of East Kerry (pp112-113) and includes a photograph. Daniel O’Mahony is mentioned in this article http://www.odonohoearchive.com/sean-oc-riada-of-castleisland-mother-of-sinn-fein/#_ftnref16 and in From the Cape to Cairo The First Traverse of Africa from South to North (1900) by Ewart Scott Grogan and Arthur H Sharp and dedicated to the Rt Hon Cecil John Rhodes. [3] Ibid. [4] Ibid. Captain Edmund Galwey Foley was resident in Castleisland in the 1920s where he worked as an accountant in the National Bank. He founded the Castleisland Rugby Club in 1926, introducing the Galwey Foley Cup. The O’Mahony memoir, if published, cannot be traced. Edmund Galwey Foley was the son of Waterford-born John Matthew Galwey Foley (1849-1931) JP County Inspector RIC (second son of Edmund Foley Esq, Owbeg, Lismore) and Annie, eldest daughter of William Thompson Esq of Clare Hall, Raheny, Co Dublin. The couple married at the parish church, Baldoyle on 25 June 1877 and had issue William Galwey Foley killed in the Boer War; Gertrude Galwey Foley (1884-1941) who married Laurence Bidwell, Fleet Surgeon, RN; Edmund Galwey Foley (?1885-1961); Victor Galwey-Foley (1887-1916) Killed in Action in France; Pierce Netterville (sometimes Netherville) Barron Galwey Foley (1890-1961). Mrs Annie Galwey Foley died from Scarletina on 1 August 1890 at Londonderry (having given birth to a son on 25 July 1890 at Fountain Villa, Londonderry). In 1904, it was reported that J M Galwey-Foley JP of Newton Manor, Kilkenny was engaged to New Zealand born Mrs Arthur Taylor (Mary Louisa), daughter of Judge Von Sturmer of the Native Lands Court and widow of Arthur Henry Taylor (1856-1896) who was in the service of Sir John Campbell. In the Census of Ireland 1911 the couple, married for six years, were living at 6 Lissenhall, Carrigatogher, Tipperary. J M Galwey-Foley died at his residence, Taplow Sudley Road, Bognor Regis, Sussex on 21 December 1931 at age 81. Executors of his estate were Edmund Galwey Foley and Gertrude Bidwell, Buckeridge.Tower, Teignmouth. Captain Edmund Galwey Foley, who was manager of the Ardara, Co Donegal branch of the National Bank in the 1930s and 1940s, died at his home, Greystones, Co Wicklow in January 1967. He contributed a short biography of his brother Victor (with photograph) to the Stonyhurst War Record (1927) pp308-310. [5] Extract from obituary, ‘Death of Distinguished Kerryman, Comdt Daniel O’Mahony IRA’ Kerry Reporter, 27 October 1934.
