Sheehy, Nicholas (c. 1728–1766)

Irish Catholic priest. As parish priest of Clogheen, County Tipperary, he was hated by landlords because of his sympathies with the poor. Agrarian unrest by the Whiteboys (a secret agrarian protest society) was met by the repressive ‘Whiteboy Act’ of 1765, under which Father Sheehy was retired in March 1766 for involvement in the murder of a local landlord; he was hanged at Clonmel the same month. Popular tradition claims the alleged victim had survived an attempt on his life and was later seen in Nova Scotia. Father Sheehy's case is regarded as a miscarriage of justice, and he became a martyr figure among the destitute tenants.