The perjury trial of Patrick Hurly of Moughna, Co. Clare

Elite Catholic responses to the emerging Protestant ascendancy

Brendan Twomey

On 31 May 1701, the former Jacobite functionary, and notorious cheat, Patrick Hurly of Moughna, Co. Clare, was convicted of perjury for swearing a false affidavit in respect of a ‘sham robbery’ of gold and jewellery worth £1,300. This study, based on the printed trial transcript, an extensive archive created by Sir Donat O’Brien as he worked to ward off Hurly’s attempted prosecution, and the state papers, rehearses the complex evidence produced in the trial, the legal manoeuvres undertaken by both sides, and the local rivalry that underpinned the case.

Brendan Twomey is a retired banker. In 2018 he completed his PhD from TCD. He has previously published two volumes in the Maynooth Studies in Local History; Dublin in 1707: A year in the life of the city (2010) and Smithfield and the parish of St Paul: 1698-1745 (2004). His current research interests centre on the world of finance in eighteenth-century Ireland and especially on the financial and legal affairs of Jonathan Swift.