Maurice Power

Maurice Power (1811-1870) was member of parliament for County Cork (1847-1852) and served as Lieutenant Governor for St Lucia from 1852.

He was born in Deelish, Skibbereen, County Cork, the fourth son of Andrew Power. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and subsequently qualified as a doctor. He travelled to America where he married Catherine Livingston in 1832; she was the youngest daughter of Judge Henry Brockholst Livingston and Catherine (Seaman) Kortright.

Power returned to Ireland and became involved with local politics, supporting the Repeal Party. He was appointed a member of the Clonakilty bench of magistrates, but resigned in 1843 when a fellow magistrate was dismissed by the Lord Chancellor for attending a political meeting. He was reappointed in 1846 and became a magistrate in Cove.

In 1847, Daniel O'Connell, the member of parliament for County Cork died. Maurice Power was selected to stand as the Repeal Party candidate, winning the election and holding the seat until 1852.

In 1852 Power was appointed the Lieutenant-Governor for St Lucia. This was received with incredulity amongst those who had supported his election campaign. They believed that he had pledged not to take a government appointment, and that he was now being rewarded for supporting the ruling Whig party, in particular Lord Clarendon during the Birch affair. Power retired from his posting in St Lucia in 1855, moving to Freiburg in Prussia on health grounds. He returned to Cork in the early 1860s, purchasing Ringacoltig House and Estate, resuming interest in local politics. He died there on 28 December 1870, buried locally, although his remains were exhumed in the following year, and re-buried in the family plot in Rosscarbery.

Two of Maurice Power’s brothers were prominent members of the Irish-American community in New York: John Power was the Roman Catholic Pastor of St Peter's Lower Manhattan from 1819 to 1849 and Vicar General of the diocese of New York. He was the priest who married Maurice Power and Catherine Louise Livingston in 1832. His other brother, William, was a doctor who worked in the Irish community. Power’s sister, Anne, also lived in New York and was the wife of property developer Thomas E. Davis.

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