Political Career
In 1851, Kavanagh succeeded to the family estates and to the title of The MacMurrough following the death of his older brother Thomas. He married his cousin, Mary Frances Forde-Leathley, in 1855. Assisted by his wife, he was a most philanthropic landlord, and was an active county magistrate and chairman of the board of guardians. Together they had seven children: Eva (d. 1896), May (d. 1949), Agnes (d. 1932), Walter (d. 1922), Arthur (d. 1882), Charles (d. 1950) and Osborne (d. 1897).
Kavanagh served as High Sheriff of County Kilkenny for 1856 and High Sheriff of Carlow for 1857. A Conservative and a Protestant, he sat in Parliament for County Wexford from 1866 to 1868, and for County Carlow from 1868 to 1880. On being elected he had to be placed on the Tory benches by his manservant; the Speaker, Evelyn Denison, gave a special dispensation to allow the servant to stay in the chamber during sittings. He was opposed to the disestablishment of the Irish Church, but supported the Land Act of 1870. On losing his seat in 1880 Gladstone appointed him to the Bessborough Commission but he disagreed with its conclusions and published his own dissenting report. In 1886 he was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland.
Kavanagh died of pneumonia on 25 December 1889, in London. He was succeeded in the title of the MacMurrough by his son, Walter MacMorrough Kavanagh, who also served as MP for County Carlow from 1908 to 1910.
Read more about this topic: Arthur Mac Morrough Kavanagh
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