Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murphy, John (1753-1798)
MURPHY, JOHN (1753?–1798), Irish rebel, the son of a small farmer, was born at Tincurry, in the parish of Ferns, in co. Wexford, about 1753. After receiving some instruction at a neighbouring hedge-school he proceeded to Seville, where he completed his education. Having taken orders, and apparently graduated D.D., he returned to Ireland in 1785, and was appointed coadjutor, or assistant priest, of the parish of Boulavogue, in the diocese of Ferns. His simple piety and upright life soon obtained for him considerable influence in the district. In November 1797, when the government proclaimed a number of parishes in the county, he was one of the first to take the oath of allegiance, and when in April 1798 the whole county was proclaimed he was very active in inducing the catholic peasantry to surrender their arms. Whether his motives were, as Musgrave insinuates, insincere, or whether, as seems more likely, he was driven into rebellious courses by the outrages practised on himself and his parishioners by the military (Plowden, Historical Register, ii. 716; Byrne, Memoirs, i. 46), he was the first to raise the standard of revolt in the county of Wexford at Boulavogue on 26 May 1798. Having routed a small body of yeomanry that tried to withstand him, he proceeded to the hill of Oulart. The inhabitants, animated by his success, flocked to his standard, and on the following day he defeated and almost exterminated a picked body of the North Cork militia. He displayed considerable military ability, and having captured Camolin and Ferns, he marched directly on Enniscorthy. Here he met with a stubborn resistance, but, having taken the place on 28 May, he established a permanent camp on Vinegar Hill. His followers, the majority a mere rabble of half-starved peasants, of whom a great number were women, armed with whatever weapons they could procure, now amounted to several thousands, and it required all his influence to prevent them dispersing in order to plunder and murder those who were personally obnoxious to them. After some hesitation as to what course to pursue, Murphy's opinion carried the day, and that night the rebels under his leadership marched in the direction of Wexford, as far as a place called Three Rocks. The following day Wexford surrendered, and the rebels, having appointed Matthew Keugh [q. v.] governor of the town, retired. They then divided into three bodies, and with one of these Murphy directed his march towards Arklow. On 4 June he encountered Colonel Walpole in the neighbourhood of Ballymore Hill, and having defeated and slain that officer, he advanced as far as Gorey. Here he imprudently, as the event proved, lingered several days accumulating provisions, and it was not till 9 June that he advanced on Arklow. After a desperate attempt to capture the town he was repulsed with heavy loss by General Needham. Discouraged by his failure he appears to have divided his forces, and, while the larger division penetrated into Wicklow as far as Tinahely, he himself retreated with the other in the direction of Wexford. He took part in the battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June, and, managing to escape to Wexford, he joined the main body of the rebels under Philip Roche [q. v.] at Three Rocks. He disapproved of Roche's plan of capitulation, and when the arrest of that general placed him at the head of the rebels, he resolved to make an effort to extend the rebellion into Carlow and Kilkenny. Accordingly, early on 22 June, he quitted Three Rocks, and, proceeding through Scollogh Gap, he made his way through Carlow towards Castlecomer, the centre of the coal district in the north of co. Kilkenny. Castlecomer was reached on 24 June, and a few miners were induced to join the rebels, but the inhabitants generally were apathetic, and, after plundering the town, Murphy and his followers, now greatly diminished in number, retraced their steps towards Wexford. At Kilcomney Hill, on the borders of Carlow and Wexford, they were attacked and routed by General Sir Charles Asgill [q. v.] on 26 June. Some uncertainty attaches to the fate of Murphy. He was missed by his followers during the fight, but it is credibly stated that he was captured by some yeomen, and taken to Tullow, where, after being grossly insulted and whipped, he was on the same day (26 June) hanged and beheaded, and his body burnt (Plowden, Historical Register, ii. 717, 752, note). Nearly a year afterwards subscriptions were solicited in Dublin to enable a person claiming to be Murphy to escape from Ireland, but the man was declared by Byrne (Memoirs, i. 230) to be an impostor. Father Murphy, as he was generally called, was a well-built, agile man, about five feet nine inches high, of a fair complexion, and rather bald. He was regarded even by members of his own creed as somewhat of a religious fanatic. He was personally very brave, and in the management of the rebellion he displayed considerable military skill. He was not naturally of a cruel disposition, but where religion was concerned he appears to have been indifferent to shedding blood, and was directly responsible for some of those outrages on life and property that marked the course of the insurrection.
[Sir R. Musgrave's Memoirs of the different Rebellions in Ireland; Edward Hay's Hist. of the Insurrection in the County of Wexford, A.D. 1798; Thomas Cloney's Personal Narrative of those Transactions in County Wexford in which the Author was engaged during the awful period of 1798; the Rev. J. Gordon's Hist. of the Rebellion in Ireland; Miles Byrne's Memoirs; Plowden's Historical Register; the Rev. George Taylor's Hist. of the Rebellion in the County of Wexford; Castlereagh Correspondence; Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography; Froude's English in Ireland; Lecky's England in the Eighteenth Century.]