A Mayo man in Kenya

Irishmen and women have always found themselves in the most unusual of places across the world. Scattered by famine and economic hardship, the Irish resilience helped them pave new lives on all continents. Involvement in the empire also brought the Irish to exotic locations.

Take for example this report in the Ballina Herald of December 1949 which reported on the return of one native of the county from the then far flung, Kenya:

Spending Christmas with Mrs. Macaulay, Francis St., Ballina, are Sir Joseph Sheridan, Chief Justice of Kenya Colony, and Lady Sheridan.  Sir Joseph is son of the late Mr. Joseph Sheridan, Castlebar, and brother of Dr. Alfred Sheridan, late R.M.S. Castlebar Mental Hospital, and Lady Sheridan is daughter of the late Dr. Macaulay and Mrs. Macaulay.

When Sheridan died in December 1964 the following obituary provided more details on his life:

Sir Joseph Sheridan, former Chief Justice of Kenya and Tanganyika, who has died aged 82, was a native of Castlebar. He was a son of the late Mr Joseph Sheridan. Educated at Castleknock College and Trinity College, he was called to the Bar in 1907. He went on the Connacht Circuit, but entered the British colonial the following year.  He was appointed assistant to the Attorney General of Nyasaland in 1912 and from 1913 to 1920 was resident magistrate in Kenya. In 1920 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Kenya. He acted as Chief Justice in 1928-29 and also as President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa. He was transferred to Tanganyika as Chief Justice in 1929 and was then Chief Justice of Kenya from 1934 to 1946. During those years he was also President of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa. He was knighted in 1932. In 1913 he married Muriel,  fourth daughter of Dr. Roger Macaulay, Ballina.

A truly remarkable story of about a Mayo emigrant!

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )