M. M. Bodkin

Life
1849-1933 [Mathias McDonnell Bodkin; var. 1850-1928, IF2]; b. Tuam; son of Dr. Bodkin of Tuam, Co. Galway; ed. St. Stanislaus, Tullabeg (S.J.), and Catholic University; County Court Judge [KC], 1907; read out the Bodkin Report in his court, citing 129 government outrages, Feb. 1921; Nationalist MP for N. Roscommon; historical work on Grattan’s Parliament; novels include Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1896); The Rebels (1899); also wrote Recollections of an Irish Judge (1915) based on service as County Court Judge from 1907; d. 7 June. PI JMC DIW SUTH OCIL

 

Works
Fiction
  • Poteen Punch (Gill 1890).
  • Pat o’ Nine Tales (Gill 1894).
  • Lord Edward Fitzgerald (Chapman & Hall 1896).
  • The Rebels (Dublin: Duffy [1899]; NY: Benziger 1908) [sequel to Lord Edward F.]
  • Shillelagh and Shamrock (London: Chatto 1902).
  • In the Days of Goldsmith (Long 1903).
  • Patsy the Omadhaun (London: Chatto 1904).
  • True Man and Traitor (Dublin: Duffy 1910).
  • Old Rowley (Holden & Hardingham 1916).
Memoir
  • Recollections of an Irish Judge (NY Dodd, Mead & Co. 1915), 366pp. [rep. edns. from BCR and Gale in 2010].

Index of works available at Internet Archive

Recollections of an Irish judge
Press, bar and Parliament.
by Matthias McDonnell Bodkin
Published in 1915, Dodd, Mead (New York)
Pagination: 366pp.; 25 ills. incl. photogravure port.; front. [with engr. signature]
Subject: Lawyers — Ireland
Ireland — Biography
Available at Internet Archive

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Copy held in Robarts Library, Univ. of Toronto

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Criticism
See Irish Book Lover, 1.

 

Commentary
Peter Costello, History of Clongowes Wood (1991), writes, ‘[...] his detective stories have come back into vogue, in recent years, though When Youth Meets Youth, his novel about Tullabeg, vivid and amusing though it is, remains in the limbo of lost literature.’ (p.52).

James Cahalan, The Irish Novel (Syracuse UP 1988), counts Bodkin among numerous historical novelists who fed the increasing Irish nationalism of the late nineteenth century. (p.76.)

Joseph Lee, The Modernisation of Ireland (Cambridge UP 1973), writes: ‘[...] Mathias Bodkin, who scraped home as the anti-Parnell (nationalist) candidate in North Roscommon, asserted that the towns were heavily Parnellite [in the 1892 general election].’

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References
Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington: University of America 1904), gives ‘The Lord Lieutenant’s Adventure,’ an extract from Poteen Punch.

D. J. O’’Donoghue, The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical Dictionary (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co 1912), accredits him with ‘several clever and pop. novels and romances and humorous prose and verse collections’, including Poteen Punch and Pat o’ Nine Tales published over the pseud. ‘Crom-a-boo’; records that he was born in Galway [presum. Co. Galway]; cites name as Bodkin and McDonnell.

Stephen Brown, Ireland in Fiction (Dublin: Maunsel 1919), lists Poteen Punch (Gill 1890); Pat o’ Nine Tales (Gill 1894); Lord Edward Fitzgerald (Chapman & Hall 1896); The Rebels (Dublin: Duffy [1899]; NY: Benziger 1908) [sequel to Lord Edward F.]; Shillelagh and Shamrock (London: Chatto 1902); In the Days of Goldsmith (Long 1903), Patsy the Omadhaun (London: Chatto 1904); True Man and Traitor (Dublin: Duffy 1910), and Old Rowley (Holden & Hardingham 1916).

John Sutherland, The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction (Harlow: Longmans 1988); fiction with a fiery patriotic content in Lord Edward Fitzgerald (1896)), and The Rebels (1897), and detective stories such as Dora Myrl, The Lady Detective (1900), and Paul Beck, The Rule of Thumb Detective (1899).

Libraries & booksellers
Belfast Public Library holds has Famous Irish Trials (1918); Lord Edward Fitzgerald, hist. rom. ((1896); Patsy the Omadhaun (1904); Lord Edward, trag. (1918); Recollections of an Irish Judge (1914); Famous Irish Trials (1918); cites name as M. M. Bodkin. Booksellers: HYLAND (1997) lists Guilty or Not Guilty (Dublin [n.d.]), and Grattan’s Parliament Before and After [1st ed.] (London 1912), ills.; Lord Edward Fitzgerald, A Historical romance (London: Chapman & Hall 1896), x, 11-415pp.; 19 b/w pls.; M. McD. Bodkin, A Trip Through the States (1st ed. 1907). M. McDonnell Bodkin, The Quest of Paul Beck [q.d.]. CATHACH (Cat. 12) lists Halt Invader [n.d.] [Donegal interest]. WHELAN (Cat. 32) lists Lord Edward Fitzgerald (Phoenix n.d.)

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Notes
The Kirwan Murder: Bodkin’s Famous Irish Trials contains an account of the Kirwan murder case on Ireland’s Eye which was the subject of Denis Johnston’s play, Strange Occurrence ... &c.], and also of a novel by Mrs Frances Cashel Hoey.

Recollections of an Irish Judge (1915): Anecdotal chapters in Recollections of an Irish Judge include clerical persons such as Father James Healy (Chap. VII) and Father Tom Burke (Chap. VIII) as well and Dr. Delany SJ and an obnoxious missionary Presbyterian minister called Seymour who caused a social disturbance in Tuam. Chapter XXVIII is devoted to Justin McCarthy whilom leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Parnell Split is the topic of Chap. XVII (p.168ff.).

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