Irishlives

William Bourke Kirwan c1814-1880?

WILLIAM BOURKE KIRWAN, convicted murderer, was born in Dublin, the son of picture dealer Patrick Kirwan and his wife. He studied art with Richard Downes Bowyer and became a skilled miniature painter.

Kirwan is remembered, however, for his involvement in the Ireland's Eye tragedy of 1852. He had married (Sara) Maria Louisa Crowe (1824-52) around 1840. He and Maria resided at 11 Lower Merrion Street; they had no children. Kirwan also kept a second house, at Sandymount, where his mistress, Maria Theresa Kenny, resided; they had eight children. Kirwan divided his week between the two establishments, and it appears that the two women were aware of each other's existence.

In June 1852 Kirwan and his wife went to Howth, Co Dublin, on a painting holiday. They made visits to the nearby island of Ireland's Eye, including one fateful trip on September 6th.

After being ferried across to the island, Kirwan sketched while his wife bathed. When the boatmen returned in the evening Kirwan reported Maria missing. After a search her body was found laid on a wet sheet at Long Hole. A verdict of "found drowned" was returned at the inquest, though people in Howth were suspicious of Kirwan, and his landlady there claimed she had once heard him threaten his wife. The fact that he was an evangelical Protestant (and his wife a Catholic) also aroused suspicion. Insensitively, Kirwan soon moved his mistress and their children into his family home. Witnesses in Howth claimed to have heard screams on the day in question, and Kirwan's private life was reported to the police. The body was exhumed, and it was found that Maria had died of asphyxiation, not drowning.

Kirwan was arrested, and his trial for murder began in December 1852. He was defended by Isaac Butt, but the jury returned a guilty verdict. Kirwan was sentenced to death, though the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment when new evidence showed that it would have been impossible to hear screams from the island and that Maria had been subject to epileptic fits.

Kirwan was sent to Spike Island, Co Cork, and, apart from a spell in Bermuda penal colony, stayed there until his 1879 release. He is said to have visited Ireland's Eye before emigrating to the US. It is believed he rejoined his common-law wife, and died in 1880. What truly happened on Ireland's Eye has never been resolved.

Patrick M Geoghegan

From the Royal Irish Academy's Dictionary of Irish Biography. See dib.ie