On the formation of Lord John Russell's government, in 1846, Monahan was appointed solicitor-general for Ireland, and in the following year was elected a bencher of the King's Inns. At a by-election, in February 1847, he was returned for Galway Borough, after a severe contest, by a majority of four votes, but at the general election in August of that year the opposition of the Young Ireland party to the government prevented his re-election. In December 1847 he became attorney-general for Ireland, and in 1848 he was sworn of the Irish privy council. As attorney-general he conducted in 1848 the prosecutions arising out of the revolutionary movement of that year, including those of Smith O'Brien, Meagher and McManus at Clonmel, and of Gavan Duffy, Martin, and Mitchel in Dublin. He was accused of jury-packing by excluding catholics from the jury-box. In his speech in Mitchel's trial he warmly repudiated the charge, referred to the fact that he was himself a catholic, and stated that his instructions to the crown solicitor were to exclude no one on account of his religion, but only those, whatever their religion, who he believed would not give an impartial verdict (Report of Trial of John Mitchel, pp. 32-3, Dublin, 1848). In October 1850 Monahan was appointed chief justice of the common pleas in succession to Doherty. He held that office till January 1876, when he resigned owing to failing health. In 1867 he presided at the special commission for the trial of the Fenian prisoners at Cork and Limerick. He was an able and conscientious judge, uniting a comprehensive knowledge of law with strong, practical common-sense. He possessed the confidence alike of the bar and the public. The university of Dublin conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1860, and placed him upon the senate. In 1861 he was appointed a commissioner of national education. He died on 8 Dec. 1878 at his residence, 5 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin. In 1833 he married Fanny, daughter of Nicholas Harrington of Dublin; two sons (James Henry, called to the Irish bar 1856, Q.C. 1868; Henry, registrar of the consolidated nisi prius court) and four daughters survived him.
[Ann. Reg. 1878; Times, 13 Jan. 1876; Irish Times, 10 Dec. 1878; Report of Trial of William Smith O'Brien, Dublin, 1849; Report of Proceedings under the Treason Felony Act, Dublin, 1848; Four Years of Irish History, by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy; information from family.]
MONAMY, PETER (1670?–1749), marine painter, born of poor parents about 1670, was a native of Jersey. He was sent to London when a boy, and apprenticed to an ordinary house-painter on London Bridge, but having a real aptitude for painting he devoted himself to drawing the shipping and other similar subjects on the Thames. He based his manner on those of the two William Van de Veldes, and soon became known to the seafaring community. His pictures were marked not only by good execution, but by close and accurate acquaintance with all the minor details of shipping. His colour was, however, somewhat tame and ineffective. There are two pictures by him at Hampton Court, and a large sea-piece by him is in the hall of the Painter-Stainers' Company, to which it was presented by the painter in 1726. Monamy painted parts of the decorative paintings at Vauxhall, including some representing Admiral Vernon's victories. He also decorated a carriage for the ill-fated Admiral Byng. He resided during the latter part of his life on the riverside in Westminster, where he died early in February 1749 in poor circumstances, as most of his work was done for dealers. His portrait, painted by H. Stubly, was engraved in mezzotint by J. Faber, junior, in 1731, another, engraved by Bretherton, is in Walpole's 'Painters.' An interesting picture of Monamy showing a picture to a patron, Thomas Walker, is in the possession of the Earl of Derby, and was formerly at Strawberry Hill; the figures were painted by William Hogarth, and the sea-piece by Monamy. Monamy also executed a few etchings.
[Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum; Vertue's MSS. (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 23074 f. 1, 23076 f. 13; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Catalogue of a Century of British Art (Grosvenor Gallery, 1887-8).]
MONAN, Saint (d. 875?), missionary in Fifeshire, is called in the Scottish calendars (Forbes, Kal. Scottish Saints, passim) arch-deacon, confessor or abbot, and his name is variously spelt as Mynnanus, Minnan, or Monon. According to the legend in the Aberdeen Breviary (Pars Hyem. f. lix.), he was born in Pannonia, and came over to preach among the Picts with a troop of Hungarians, numbering 6,606, led by St. Adrian, afterwards bishop of St. Andrews. This legend was accepted by many of the chroniclers (Skene, Celtic Scotland, ii. 312); but Hector Boece or Boethius [q. v.], probably using materials now lost (Forbes, loc. cit. p. 413), states that, though some call these men Hungarians, others say they were Scots from Ireland and Angles (Scottish Hist. vol. x. p. ccvi), and this is far more probable, for the Hungarians were not christianised in the ninth century (Bollandists' Acta SS. 1 March, p. 86). Scottish clergy,
