Born: 1860 (circa), Ireland
Died: 1935
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: Mary O’Geran
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Maria O’Brien and Desmond McCabe. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
John Mandeville was survived by his wife Mary Mandeville (c.1860–1935), daughter of James O’Geran, a nationalist JP, of Broomhill in the parish of Kildorney, Mitchelstown, whom he had married on 3 February 1880; they had no children. She had known John Mandeville from childhood. After his arrest and imprisonment, she intermittently kept a journal between 27 November and 31 December 1887, detailing his time in prison, although she had to rely on second-hand accounts of his well-being. While he was imprisoned in Tullamore, she was not permitted to visit him and received few letters. Following her husband’s death, she was a key witness at the inquest, during which the crown lawyers accused her of lying about the state of her husband’s health. There had already been attempts to defame his character; rumours were spread that she had left Mandeville to return to her father’s home because of his drinking, late hours, and general neglect of business. In 1888 she returned to live in her father’s house until her death on 12 December 1935 at Granite Lodge Kliworth, Co. Cork. At her funeral there were not enough pallbearers to carry her coffin into the graveyard at Kilbehenny; a teenager was summoned from the local pub to make the sixth pallbearer. By contrast, 20,000 people had attended her husband’s funeral in 1888. Her diary is held in the William O’Brien papers, UCC.