Gentleman Without Legal Doubt
By
While some snobbishness lingered in England it increased in Ireland, and no place more than in Galway up to the end of the first half to he last century. A curious incident was elicited at an amusing trial in the Galway County Court house in 1845 before Mr. Justice Ball and a special jury. The plaintiff Michael Kelly, claimed a racing cup and stakes which Lieutenant Young of the Athlone garrison, the defendant, refused to give up on the ground that one of the conditions of the race was the horses should be ridden by gentlemen. The stewards had awarded the prizes to the army officer, who came in second, in preference to Kelly, the rider of the winning horse.
The plaintiff having proved that he rode the winning horse, his counsel submitted that he was a gentleman within the meaning of the word as defined in Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. The definition read that any man who could "live idly and without manual labour, and will bear the port, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, shall be called 'master', and accounted for a gentleman".
Counsel for the defendant endeavoured to show Kelly's ineligibility, and called witnesses to prove that Lady Clanricarde did visit at defendant's house, "although within a morning call" and therefore Mr. Kelly could not, with a scintilla of prosperity, weigh himself in the same scale with a Lieutenant of Her Majesty's 47th Regiment of Foot. On the other hand, it was submitted by counsel for the plaintiff that if the decision were that none should be described as gentlemen whose wives had not been visited by Lady Clanricarde then such decision would in fact result in the "degentlemanizing" of two or three counties.
James J. Skerritt of Carnacrow swore that he did not consider Kelly a gentleman, and defined "a gentleman as a person whose father was a gentleman and none other"! Asked by counsel "if Kelly's father was a peasant, Mr. Kelly would be a peasant still, no matter what amount of wealth or education he possessed"? "Precisely so"! answered the witness. Asked if he heard of the Lord High Chancellor of Ireland he stated, "I was a ward - a minor - in his court. His father, I'm told, was a barber". "Is the Lord Chancellor a gentleman?" queried counsel. "Most certainly not"! retorted the witness.
Counsel on both sides went back to the early days of the Roman Republic - Cicero being freely quoted. The judge, however, refused to go back to Cicero, and put the question to the jury: "Was Mr. Kelly who rode the foremost horse, a gentleman? If they found that he was, there would be no difficulty in their finding that he was entitled to the prizes he claimed. If they found the other way, then of course he should not have the prizes. By the articles of the race it was clearly meant to prevent jockey's professional riders, or people in an humble sphere of life, from riding the race". The verdict, with costs, was for the plaintiff, "who left the court with such a jaunty air as to leave no doubt in the minds of all that he had been legally declared a gentleman".