Maurice Power

Maurice Power (14 May 1811 – 28 December 1870) was an Anglo-Irish politician who served as member of parliament for County Cork (1847–1852) and as Lieutenant Governor of St Lucia from 1852.

Maurice Power
Lieutenant Governor of St Lucia
In office 1852–1855
Member of Parliament for County Cork
In office 1847–1852
Preceded by	Daniel O'Connell Baron Fermoy
Succeeded by	Baron Fermoy Vincent Scully
Personal details
Born	14 May 1811 Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland
Died	28 December 1870 Rushbrooke, County Cork, Ireland
Spouse(s)	Catherine Livingston ​ ​ (m. 1832; his death 1870)​
Relations	John Power (brother) Henry Brockholst Livingston (father-in-law) Thomas E. Davis (brother-in-law)
Parents	Andrew Power
Alma mater	Stonyhurst College

Early life

He was born in Deelish, Skibbereen, County Cork, the fourth son of Andrew Power. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and subsequently qualified as a doctor.

Two of Maurice Power's brothers were prominent members of the Irish-American community in New York: John Power was the Roman Catholic Pastor of St Peter's Lower Manhattan from 1819 to 1849 and Vicar General of the diocese of New York. He was the priest who married Maurice Power and Catherine Louise Livingston in 1832. His other brother, William, was a doctor who worked in the Irish community. Power's sister, Anne (d. 1895), also lived in New York and was the wife of property developer Thomas E. Davis.

Career

Power returned to Ireland and became involved with local politics, supporting the Repeal Party. He was appointed a member of the Clonakilty bench of magistrates, but resigned in 1843 when a fellow magistrate was dismissed by the Lord Chancellor for attending a political meeting.[1] He was reappointed in 1846 and became a magistrate in Cove.[2]

Member of Parliament

In 1847, Daniel O'Connell, the member of parliament for County Cork died. Maurice Power was selected to stand as the Repeal Party candidate, winning the election and holding the seat until 1852.

Lieutenant Governor of St Lucia

In 1852, Power was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor for St Lucia. This was received with incredulity amongst those who had supported his election campaign. They believed that he had pledged not to take a government appointment, and that he was now being rewarded for supporting the ruling Whig party, in particular Lord Clarendon[3] during the Birch affair.[4][5] Power retired from his posting in St Lucia in 1855,[6] moving to Freiburg in Prussia on health grounds. He returned to Cork in the early 1860s, purchasing Ringacoltig House and Estate, resuming interest in local politics.[7]

Personal life

Power travelled to America where he married Catherine Livingston (1815–1890) in 1832; she was the youngest daughter of Judge Henry Brockholst Livingston, an American Justice of the Supreme Court, and Catherine (née Seaman) Kortright.[7] Catherine Power's brothers were Henry Brockholst Livingston (1819-1892) and Jasper Hall Livingston (1815-1900), who was her twin. Jasper married Matilda Anne Cecila Morris, the youngest daughter of Sir John Morris, 2nd Baronet of Clasemont and died in England.[8] Henry married Marian Magdalen Gribaldo in Florence, Italy and is buried in the Swiss Protestant Cemetery of Florence.[9][10]

Together, they were the parents of many children, including three daughters who married Prussians and lived in that country; as well as:[11]

• Brockholst Livingston Power, a lieutenant in the Prussian army before joining the Federal army as a captain in the Corning Light Cavalry during the American Civil War.[12][13]
• John Livingston Power, was a surgeon in the British Army who fought as a volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War.[14] He died of cancer at Manheim, Germany, 25 Jan 1877 and was accorded a military funeral by the German officers of that garrison.
• Eliza Livingston Power (1839–1897), who married Hannibal, Freiherr von Schauenburg (1831–1906)
• Mary Power (1841–1921), who married Ludwig Freiherr Böcklin von Böcklinsau (1838–1922)
• Lucinda Frances Power (1850–1919), a twin who married Wilhelm Ludwig Ernst Leopold Emil, Freiherr Böcklin von Böcklinsau (1831–1905).[15]
• Alice Mary Power (b. 1850), also a twin who married her cousin Edwin Brockholst Livingston (1852–1929), an amateur historian.[16]

Powers died at Ringacoltig House on 28 December 1870, buried locally, although his remains were exhumed in the following year, and re-buried in the family plot in Rosscarbery.[7]

Property

Power and his wife Catherine inherited a share of properties owned by Catherine's mother who died in 1859. The beneficiaries of the will included the surviving children from her marriage to Judge Brockholst Livingston and the earlier marriage to John Kortright. The properties amounted to 15 lots located in New York.[17] Power also owner at least 2000 acres of land in Cork Ireland at the time of his death.[18]

References

1. Magistracy - more resignations and dismissals; Cork Examiner - Friday 2 June 1843 – page 4.
2. Exchange of letters between Maurice Power and Francis William Brady, Secretary to the Lord Chancellor, Dublin; Cork Examiner page 2- Monday 12 October 1846 –
3. "THE IRISH GOVERNMENT AND THE "WORLD" NEWSPAPER". Hanard. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
4. Cork Examiner page 2- Monday 4 March 1867
5. Political history of the late Mr Sadlier; Norfolk Chronicle page 4 - Saturday 8 March 1856;
6. "Dr Power, Governor of St Lucia". The Cork Examiner. 28 November 1855.
7. Timothy Cadogan & Jeremiah Falvey (2006). A Biographical Dictionary of Cork. Dublin: Four Court Press. p. 285.
8. "Mr Jasper Hall Livingstone". Ryde Social Heritage Group. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
9. "THE SWISS PROTESTANT CEMETERY OF FLORENCE". Retrieved 20 July 2014.
10. "An Eccentric New-Yorker in Florence" (PDF). New York Times. 19 July 1878. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
11. See items 24, 25 & 26. "Descendents of Katherine Seaman". Retrieved 27 January 2014.
12. Death of Mr B Power, Queenstown; Freeman's Journal page 4- Friday 12 June 1891
13. "Soldier Details". Brockholst L Power. National Park Service. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
14. "John Livingston Power". National Archives. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
15. "Births". Cork Examiner. 24 July 1850. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
16. Livingston, Edwin Brockholst (1910). The Livingstons of Livingston manor;being the history of that branch of the Scottish house of Callendar which settled in the English province of New York during the reign of Charles the Second; and also including an account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The nephew," a settler in the same province and his principal descendants. New York. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
17. "Legal Notices" (Page 2). New York Daily Tribune. 20 January 1860.
18. De Burgh, Hussey (1878). The Landowners of Ireland. HODGES, FOSTER AND FIGGIS.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Maurice Power