McMahon

The Thomond MacMahons were part of the great tribal grouping, the Dál gCais, and claimed descent from Mahon O'Brien, son of Muirchertach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland.[2] Corcu Baiscin was held by the descendants of Carbry Bascain until the 11th Century, when the descendants of Mahon O’Brien conquered them.[3]

Frost, J "History and Topography of Clare" 1893, at p. 74, says that Mahone 'a quo MacMahon' died in 1129 leaving two sons Murtagh and Dermot. According to Frost the main line of MacMahons or McMahons in Clare descended from Murtagh. The McMahons seized the Corcabaskin territory in the south of what is now County Clare in the 12th century about the same time as they adopted the fixed surname.

Quoting the "Annals of the Four Masters", Frost says that Donogh MacMahon, Lord of Corcabaskin, died in 1488 and two MacMahons, Brian and Teige Roe, were established in his place - Brian in West Corcabaskin (known as Moyarta) and Teige Roe in the East (known as Clonderalaw). The two ruling branches of the clan became firmly established in Corcabaskin, West Clare, where their once strongholds, Carrigaholt Castle and Clonderlaw Castle, are prominent landmarks and a source of local interest today.[4]

In August 1585, the Irish leaders of Thomond were forced to sign an Indenture with Sir John Perrott, the English Lord Deputy of Ireland. Frost says that "some of the signatories of the Deed of Composition seem to have been bribed into conformity by Perrott ... [including Teige MacMahon ... of Clonderalaw [and] Turlough MacMahon ... of Moyarta". They were allowed to retain their castles and lands free of crown rent. The two MacMahons would have received the English titles of Baronet, replacing their traditional Irish titles, about this time. The two sons who succeeded them as heads of their families certainly each carried the English title.

The last chief of the West Corcabaskin MacMahons, Sir Teige Caech MacMahon, was killed at or shortly after the battle of Kinsale in 1602, and his title became extinct.

Sir Turlough Roe MacMahon, Baronet of East Corcabaskin, received the honour of becoming High Sheriff of County Clare in 1609. He died in 1629. According to an Inquisition held at Ennis in 1630 (reported in Frost's "History ... of Clare"), Turlough's title was inherited by his eldest son, Sir Teige MacMahon. Sir Teige (or Teague) represented the Earl of Thomond in negotiations with Sir William Penn in 1646, but in 1651 General Ireton seized Clonderlaw Castle from Sir Teige. Frost's "History" records 31 Townlands in County Clare being seized from Sir Teague. James Barry's "The Cromwellian Settlement of the County of Limerick" mentions Sir Teague MacMahon as the holder of other lands in that County.

There is evidence that Sir Teague had a son called Turlough (or Terlagh). Honour, Lady Dowager of Kerry and Lixnaw, was granted the "guardianship and tuition of Torlogh MacMahon, son and heir to Teague MacMahon" on 27 June 1673 (recorded in MS Carte 38, fol(s) 742v (Carte Caleb=ndar Vol 52, 1673-1674, Bodleian Library, Uni of Oxford). Ainsworth's edited Inchiquin Manuscripts, MS No 1845, at p. 625, contains a note made following the death of Mary Rua O'Brien in 1686 which refers to "her nephew Sir Terlagh McMahon". The title appears to have died out with him.

After the defeats of the native Irish in 17th century, many of the Clare MacMahons emigrated to serve in the Irish Brigade of the French Army.

Patrice de MacMahon (1808–1893), was created Duke of Magenta, became a field marshal and later the French president. The MacMahon family are still prominent in France; the family home is the Château de Sully outside Dijon.[5]

Map of Gaelic Ireland circa 900 A.D.

The Oriel (Anglicisation of Airgíalla) MacMahons were based in the barony of Truagh in the north of County Monaghan and ruled the kingdom of Oriel between the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Their last chief, Hugh Oge MacMahon, who had become a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish army, was beheaded by the English in 1641. A separate McMahon family in County Fermanagh is descended from Mahon Maguire, a grandson of Donn Carrach Maguire. Today, although widespread throughout Ireland, MacMahon remains most common in the two ancestral homelands of Counties Clare and Monaghan.[6]

John O'Hart notes that the MacMahons (sometimes there O'Mahons) were earlier chiefs of the over-kingdom of Ulaid, which then bordered Airgíalla.[7]

• Niall McMahon (Ladrannaibh, or the bandit), (early 12th century)
• Ross Bui McMahon (late 16th century)
• Brian Mac Hugh Og of the Dartrey MacMahons (late 16th century)
• Raymond McMahon of the Killyleen Mc Mahons (late 17th century)
• Nicholas McMahon of the Cluaincoinin Mc Mahons (early 19th century)
• Patrick McMahon of the Cluaincoinin Mc Mahons (late 19th century)
• Martin McMahon [Motto] of the Cluaincoinin Mc Mahons (early 20th century)
• John McMahon [Jack Martin] of the Cluaincoinin Mc Mahons (late 20th century)

The motto of the Thomond sept of McMahons is "Sic Nos Sic Sacra Tuemur", which means "Thus We Defend Our Sacred Rights".

"McMahon" is the family name of the following people:

• Aline MacMahon (1899–1991), American actress
• Bernard MacMahon (bishop) (1680–1747), Irish bishop
• Bernard MacMahon (filmmaker), contemporary British filmmaker
• Brian MacMahon (1923–2007), British-American epidemiologist
• Bryan MacMahon (judge) (born 1941), Irish judge
• Bryan MacMahon (writer) (1909–1998), Irish playwright, novelist and short story writer
• Heber MacMahon (1600–1650), Irish bishop and general
• Hugh MacMahon (1660–1737), Irish bishop
• Norman McMahon (1866-1914), British Army general
• Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta (1808–1893), French general and politician
• Percy Alexander MacMahon (1854–1929), a British mathematician
• Tony MacMahon (born 1939), Irish button accordion player and radio and television broadcaster

MV Empire MacMahon was an oil tanker converted by the British for WWII service as a merchant aircraft carrier or MAC ship, that is an escort carrier for anti-submarine warfare, an anti-submarine warfare carrier.

• McMahan
• McMahen
• McMahon, Saskatchewan, hamlet in Canada
• McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• The McMahon Act or the Atomic Energy Act of 1946
• McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, exchange of letters during World War I concerning the fate of the Middle East
• McMahon system tournament, tournament pairing system invented for Go competitions
• An electorate area of Australia, NSW
• Mathgamain mac Cennétig

• Macmahon Holdings, an Australian infrastructure and mining company.
• MV Empire MacMahon
• Mahon (disambiguation)
• Marquis de MacMahon d'Eguilly, Duke of Magenta
• MacMahon Master theorem