Heber Arthur Magenis (1873-1933), the son of Eiver Magenis, was a farmer, and an auctioneer and valuer. We met him earlier, when he wrote to the newspapers about Redmond O’Hanlon having been born in several centuries earlier in his own family home, Iveagh House, Aughantaraghan. He continued his father’s agency for Hornsby farming equipment and some of his livestock and farm equipment sales were held at Iveagh House.
Heber inherited Eiver’s intellectual gifts and his political passions. He was a staunch supporter of Irish independence throughout his life, and in 1900, aged 27, he agreed to stand for Parliament as the South Armagh candidate for the United Irish League whose motto was “The Land For the People”. Heber was Chair of the Poyntzpass branch of the League, which had its own meeting rooms in the village, just below the parish church. And given his passion for land reform, and his profession, Heber was the obvious choice to represent the interests of the tenants of the Close estate in 1897.
He was appointed as a JP in April 1907, in his mid-thirties – the first Catholic JP in the area. From around this time, he was very involved with the Newry Agricultural Society and was also frequently mentioned as attending meets of the Newry Harriers, the local hunt. The role of Master Of Foxhounds was virtually a hereditary right of the Close family, who provided stabling for the hounds. Hunts often started from Drumbanagher House and ranged over their former estate.
The land purchase agreements Heber had negotiated on behalf of the Close estate tenants had reserved the rights for the Close family to hunt over their former lands in perpetuity. So, the great local landlord family, staunch defenders of the Unionist ascendancy, and the great local land reformer and fierce nationalist, were now united in the common pursuit of their sport, and of the fox!
At a Land Court hearing in Newry in 1909, after some banter about how to spell his first name, and about his lineage, the chairman asked whether Heber intended to reclaim the title from Lord Iveagh. He replied that he did not but thought the least the Guinness family could do was to leave him the brewery!
Heber had two close scrapes while cycling along the canal bank. On 25th August 1905, his bicycle slipped on the wet towpath when he was returning from Warrenpoint fair. He hit his head on a post as he fell into the water and was only rescued when lockkeeper William Moody fished him out with a crome[1]. On …. July 1914 he was again cycling home along the canal bank when a dog collided with his bicycle and all three were pitched into the canal. He became entangled with the bicycle, and only just managed to reach the bank.
In its report of his death, the Frontier Sentinel said of him as “He was the best Irishman and most popular figure in all South Ulster.”
Heber’s funeral in November 1933 was enormous and was attended by no fewer than twenty-nine Catholic clerics, three MPs, a Senator, the Irish Minister of Defence and the Secretary to the Irish President.
[1] A very long-handled rake with large tines, used to remove vegetation from waterways.