Matthew Joseph Kenny KC (1 February 1861 – 8 December 1942) was an Irish lawyer and Nationalist politician from County Clare.
He was elected to the United Kingdom House of Commons at the age of 21, qualified as a barrister whilst still a member of parliament (MP), and later became a judge in the Irish Free State.
Ennis's Home Rule MP James Lysaght Finegan had resigned his seat on 15 September 1882, owing to ill health.
[8] According to Kieran Sheedy's The Clare Elections (p. 269), the Home Rule party candidate was Matthew J. Kenny who was selected at the request of local electors and with the agreement of Parnell.
[...] Matthew (M.J.) Kenny arrived in Ennis accompanied by John Redmond, the Home Rule member for New Ross, and they addressed a crowd from a window in Carmody's Hotel before attending a nomination meeting which was chaired by Edward Finucane.
[...] Polling took place on Tuesday 14 November and the Miltown Brass Band was in attendance from an early hour to support Kenny.
[13] Kenny retired from political life in 1895 and apart from his activities as a breeder of pedigree horses, cattle and sheep devoted himself to the practice of law.
The Irish Times of 6 October 1941 published Matthew Kenny's memories of Charles Stewart Parnell to mark the 50th anniversary of the latter's death.