Arthur McMahon of Lisnagrot: Presbyterian Minister and United Irishman

November 25, 2023

Arthur McMahon of Lisnagrot: Presbyterian Minister and United Irishman

Cruikshank, Robert (1789–1856). “Irish Schoolmaster.” Drawing dated 1832. Online at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens *huntington.org*. Archival ref. object no. 71.26.

A review of our transcripts of historical news transcripts for Kilrea and environs reveals three articles pertaining to the Rev. Arthur Mc Mechan, ¹ A.M., alias M’Meekan, later McMahon. Mr. Mc. Mechan opened an Academy in Lisnagrot townland, only to shut down operations within the space of four years:

On 4th January 1791 , the Rev. Mr. Mc Mechan placed an advert in the Belfast News-Letter. He announced the opening of an Academy for young gentlemen. Education would be provided in order that graduates could apply for entry in the College or Counting-house. Fees were scheduled at £20 per annum for boarding and tuition or 4 guineas p.a. for day scholars. Mr. Mc. Mechan [sic] planned to provide this education in Lisnagrot townland which, while in the parish of Tamlaght O’Crilly, lies due south of the town of Kilrea. ²
On 10th February 1791 , Mr Mc. Mechan advertised for a teacher for the Academy. ³
On 3rd November 1794 , the landlord, Alexander Stewart, Esq., advertised an unexpired lease of six years in Lisnagrot, comprising 56 acres. The Rev. Arthur M’Meekan would undertake to receive applications and shew the premises. ⁴

How had these events unfolded? Had the academy suffered a business failure? Who was this Arthur Mc Mechan alias &c. &c.? — As it happens, the life of the Rev. Arthur McMahon (by which surname he has been immortalized) was of sufficient interest to Irish history generally and more specifically, to the story of the United Irishmen of 1798, that the Dictionary of Irish Biography ⁵ and other worthy journals have written extensively about him. References to these writings are provided in the See also section, below.

In lieu of a complete biography, we shall focus on the events leading to the Rev. Mr. McMahon going to Kilrea till the time he closed his academy.

Mr. McMahon was a licentiate in the presbytery of Killyleagh, county Down, when he was called to the Presbyterian congregation at Kilrea. He was ordained there in 1789, settling with his family in Lisnagrot townland on what was then the estate of Alexander Stewart, Esq. ⁶ ^, ⁷ Of the Rev. Mr. McMahon’s talents, he was described as a supposed tutor in the Londonderry family and of very inferior gifts as a preacher. ⁸ Of his temperament, he acquired a reputation for being a most daring and pugnacious man, impatient of all defiance and opposition. Yet, he was also described as a very fine ‘personed’ man, of high courage, with very red hair. ⁹ ^, ¹⁰

It was by Mr. Stewart’s influence that Mr. McMahon had obtained the favourable plot of land near Kilrea. Equally, it was Mr. Stewart, according to Mr. McMahon, who turned against him after McMahon’s father voted against Robert Stewart, the future Viscount Castlereagh, at the county Down election in 1790. ¹¹ ^, ¹²

How much truth was contained in these last statements has long been the subject of debate. Nevertheless, the Rev. Arthur McMahon parted ways with Kilrea congregation as their minister and from Mr. Stewart as landlord, and removed to Holywood in county Down. During the course of the next twenty-two years, Arthur McMahon joined the cause of the United Irishmen, fled Ulster for France in 1797, is thought to have served as an aide (from the continent) during the uprising, became captain in the Irish Legion, was held prisoner of war in England from 1809–1814, and returned to France where he died c.1816. ¹³ ^, ¹⁴ ^, ¹⁵

Footnotes :

Matriculated at the University of Glasgow (1773) with the surname, McMechan. Source: Woods, C.J. “McMahon (McMechan), Arthur.” Dictionary of Irish Biography dib.ie (accessed 25th Nov. 2023). ↩︎
Belfast News-Letter, 7th Jan. 1791. Citing the Rev. Arthur Mc Mechan, A.M., of Lisnagrot, near Kilrea. Digital image online at Ancestry.ca (transcript by Alison Kilpatrick, 20th July 2021). ↩︎
Op. cit., 18th Feb. 1791, ditto. ↩︎
Op. cit., 31st Oct. 1794, ditto. ↩︎
Woods, C.J., op. cit. ↩︎
Woods, C.J., op. cit. ↩︎
Essentially, Mr. Stewart was a middleman, as the Mercers Company of London remained the proprietors of record. ↩︎
Woods, C.J., op. cit. ↩︎
Woods, C.J., op. cit. citing Rodgers, H.W. and F.J. Bigger, “Arthur McMahon,” Ulster Journal of Archaeology, vol. xv (1909, pp. 36–41.. ↩︎
Rodgers, H.W. “Arthur McMahon, Presbyterian Minster of Kilrea and Holywood. A ’98 Informer. Statistics of the Scots Church, Kilrea, and the Succession of Its Ministers. Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Feb. 1909. Second Series, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Feb. 1909), pp. 36–41. Online at JSTOR (accessed 25th Nov. 2023). ↩︎
Woods, C.J., op. cit. ↩︎
Stewart, Rev. David, B.A. “Rev. Arthur McMahon.” Ulster Journal of Archaeology. Belfast; [Ulster Journal of Archaeology], 1853; pub. 1909, vol. 15, pt. 283, pp. 134–140. ↩︎
Woods, C.J., op. cit. ↩︎
Parkhill, Trevor. “The Wild Geese of 1798: Emigrés of the Rebellion.” Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. Vol. 19, No. 2, Golden Jubilee Issuee (2003), pp. 118–135. Online at JSTOR (accessed 25th Nov. 2023). ↩︎
Kernohan, J.W. “Part II – From the Restoration to the ‘Ninety-Eight,’ Part 2.” The Parishes of Kilrea and Tamlaght O’Crilly. Transcript and transcript hosted by Richard Torrens on his Bann Valley Genealogy website genealogy.torrens.org/BannValley/ (accessed 25th Nov. 2023). ↩︎

End notes :

Source citation for this page: Kilpatrick, Alison. “Arthur McMahon: Presbyterian Minister and United Irishman.” Published to Arborealis, online at arborealis.ca/2023/11/25/arthur-mcmahon/, accessed [insert date].

Published 25th Nov 2023; edited 29th Dec. 2023.