Denis Caulfield Heron

Who was Denis Caulfield Heron?

Denis Caulfield Heron LL.D QC was an Irish lawyer and Catholic Liberal MP for Tipperary.

Born in Newry, County Down, he was educated at Downside Abbey, Stratton-on-the-Fosse.

In December 1845 Heron was the subject of a hearing at Trinity College, Dublin. Heron had previously been examined and, on merit, declared a scholar of the college but had not been allowed to take up his place due to his religion. Heron appealed to the Courts which issued a writ of mandamus requiring the case to be adjudicated by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Primate of Ireland. The decision of Richard Whately and John George Beresford was that Heron would remain excluded from Scholarship.

In 1848 he received his law doctorate. By 1852 Heron was professor of jurisprudence and political economy at Queen's College, Galway. In July 1860 he was appointed Queen's Counsel.

In the 1869 by-election for Tipperary constituency, Heron was defeated by 1054 to 898 votes by the incumbent, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. However the election was declared invalid because Rossa was an imprisoned felon and, in the second election, Heron defeated the Fenian candidate and was returned to the Commons. He held until 1874.