William Keogh

William Nicholas Keogh PC (1817– 30 September 1878) was an unpopular and controversial Irish politician and judge, whose name became a byword in Ireland for betraying one's political principles.

He joined the Connaught circuit where he rapidly acquired a large practice, due less to any great legal skill than to his eloquence and impressive presence; these gifts soon turned him towards politics.

The new party was pledged to repeal the Ecclesiastical Titles Act and to further the cause of tenant reform, and most crucially, its members gave an explicit promise not to take office but instead to hold the balance of power at Westminster.

Even a century later, John A. Costello turned down the offer by Éamon de Valera to make him a Supreme Court judge on the ground that he "did not wish face charges of being another Sadleir or Keogh".

[6] Keogh's conduct of the "Fenian Trials" of 1865–6 and the savage sentences which were handed down were much criticised, although his defenders said that Charles Kickham at least had been treated as leniently as the evidence allowed.

[1] On foot of the judgment the Government's Law Officers, much to their own embarrassment, felt obliged to prosecute Patrick Duggan, Bishop of Clonfert, and were clearly relieved when he was acquitted.

[1] His public clash with Peter O'Brien, which probably occurred in 1877, suggests that his bad temper was the result of stress rather than ill nature, and the reminisces of Oliver Burke demonstrate that he could still show considerable charm and good humour on occasion.

[9] In 1878 he travelled abroad to Belgium and Germany in an effort to regain his health, but on 19 August 1878, he attacked his valet with a straight razor in a fit of delirium,[10] and was confined to a hospital.

[11] Keogh's death did nothing to lessen the hostility to him at home; the Irish newspapers heaped abuse on him, causing The Times of London to protest that in any country but Ireland his talents would have won him popularity and respect.

There is no doubt of his intellectual gifts, while his friends recalled the charm and good humour he had shown in his earlier years, and his son-in-law, Mr Justice James Murphy, to whom he had been close, championed him to the end.