Joseph Neale McKenna

Who was Joseph Neale McKenna?

Sir Joseph Neale McKenna was an Irish banker and politician whose career extended from the elite home rule politics of the mid-nineteenth century to the fall of Charles Stewart Parnell, whom he supported in later years.

He was a Member of Parliament for Youghal from 1865 to 1868 and for South Monaghan from 1885 to 1892, representing the Home Rule League and its successor the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1874 to 1885 in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was an early participant in the Home Rule movement, led by Isaac Butt, and played a leading role in forming Irish Nationalist thinking on the over-taxation of Ireland. He was knighted in 1867, and was a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for County Cork and a magistrate in County Waterford.

A Catholic, he was born in Dublin, the son of Michael McKenna, and educated at Trinity College Dublin. In 1842 he married Esther Louise Howe of Dublin, and after her death married Amelia, widow of R. W. Hole. He was called to the Irish bar in 1849. He was an able financier, was chairman of the National Bank of Ireland and became wealthy.

He entered Parliament as member for Youghal, Co.