Patrick4 was the only one of the four brothers to live out his adult life in Ireland. On his return from the USA, he took over the Corglass farm and remained there with his family until the late 1940s, when he moved to Killeen, about 15 miles away. 

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Patrick occasionally appears in the local newspapers , usually as a result of legal disputes over land. I had heard a story that he believed that he had been swindled out of a lot of money as a result of a dispute with 'The O'Phelan, Prince of the Decies'. Why he would have a dispute with someone who claimed to be the hereditary chieftain of an ancient clan in the south of the country was a bit of a mystery. 

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The Decies (from the Irish Na Déise) is the name given to an ancient territory now contained in counties Waterford and parts of Kilkenny and Tipperary, in south-east Ireland. Its heyday was in the period before the Viking and Norman invasions, when its principal ruling tribe were the Uí Faoláin, now anglicised as Phelan, O'Phelan and Whelan - still very common names in the area.

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A search of local newspapers reveals that the 'Prince'  was in fact a solicitor (attorney) practicing in Longford, and he represented Patrick in a court case for re-possession of a house on a farm owned by Patrick at Ballinroey, near Granard. Arguing that he needed the house for his son, Patrick won the case. However, some six months later, the farm is offered for sale, once again with  'The O'Phelan' acting for Patrick.

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It seems likely that the contention between them had its source in these land transactions. There is now no way of knowing what happened, or whether there really was a serious financial impact on Patrick, and whether it was due to a misunderstanding, negligence,  incompetence or a deliberate intent to deprive him of his due. But from Patrick's perspective, it was significant enough for him to complain about it in the years that followed.

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But who was this 'Prince of the Decies? Was he entitled to use the old Gaelic title of 'The O'Phelan'?  In the period of Gaelic dominance, Irish chiefs were known by their surname alone. This was rendered into English by the use of 'The' preceding the surname. By calling himself 'The O'Phelan' he was claiming to be the leader of the sept, a direct descendant of the medieval chiefs. 

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He appears in Longford in 1939, according to a piece in the Irish Press, taking over an existing legal practice of Thomas William Delaney, who had been solicitor for the Brady family in some of their legal affairs, and it may have been for reasons of continuity that Patrick Boyle retained O'Phelan's services.

 

Delaney had been a member of the Irish Senate for less than a year at the time of his death in July 1939. Though the offices are now disused, the Delany name is still (2022) clearly visible.

 

Whatever about his legal skills, O'Phelan had a gift for self-publicity, especially in promoting his claims to nobility.  For the next ten years, in every mention of his personal family affairs , for example his sisters' achievements, or his father's minor accident, he is highlighted as "the Prince of the Decies".One suspects that many of these news stories were provided by him with the purpose of promoting his name and title. 

 

A good example is the announcement of his engagement in the 'University Notes' column of the Irish Times on 2/10/1939. It  is notable for the high praise lavished on the husband-to-be, for his accomplishments yet there is barely a mention of his fiancé's qualities. The listing of his achievements has a certain autobiographical ring!  

 

Within a few weeks of taking on his new legal practice in Longford, O'Phelan is married in Dublin.  The wedding is reported in the Irish Press. What is strange about this brief report is that there is no mention of his parents. It would have been the norm, then as now, to name them, even more so if one claimed a title of nobility. Also, both witnesses were from the bride's family. Even when his daughter is christened , there is no mention of the mother in the announcement.

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As mentioned elsewhere, for most Irish families there is no documented descent from the medieval Gaelic chieftains or nobles. Most of these lost whatever power and wealth they had, and over the course of a couple of centuries, even the memory of past nobility had faded. With the Gaelic Revival and Irish independence, renewed interest in the ancient past prompted  some people to lay claim to chiefly titles, often on the flimsiest of evidence, or none at all. To regulate this, in the 1940s the Genealogical Office (successor to the medieval heraldic authorities) established a system of 'courtesy recognition' of Irish Chiefs, to those individuals who could provide convincing evidence of direct descent from the last formally inaugurated Chief of the Name. Only about 15 families were thus recognised, and O'Phelan was not one of them (nor was O'Boyle).  (This practice of 'courtesy recognition' was stopped in 2003, after a neglectful lapse in standards of proof allowed several fraudsters and fantasists to claim chiefly titles - see the MacCarthy Mór Hoax)

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Unlike the north and west of Ireland, where the traditional Gaelic society persisted and where the Gaelic septs were ruled by their chiefs up to the 17th century, the territory of the Uí Faoláin was effectively under the control of the Norman invaders from the 13th century.  The Uí Faoláin faded from history, and the chances that a single family could have preserved the memory of a genealogy stretching back six or seven centuries without the benefit of documentation up to the 20th century stretches credibility. beyond its limits.

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I haven't been able to find out what evidence, if any, the man who claimed to be The O'Phelan, Prince of the Decies submitted to the Genealogical Office to verify his claim. It seems he tried to do so, but his claim was not accepted.  An unattributed statement  mentions that the claim of  "The gentleman who styles himself "O'Phelan, Prince of the Decies" (was) not allowed by the Genealogical Office". 

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On his appointment as the Chief Herald at the Genealogical Office in 1943 Edward MacLysaght, the foremost authority on Irish genealogy, tried to regularise the "vexed problem of the Irish Chiefs", and in his memoirs he specifically mentions O'Phelan: 

"...anyone could call himself "The Mac This" or "The O'That" and...get themselves included in the lists...under the heading "Ancient Irish Chieftains" and so acquire in they eyes of the world a certain cachet...The situation verged on the ridiculous when a Mr. Phelan became, on his own initiative, "O'Phelan Prince of the Decies" and half a dozen other persons were quasi-officially designated by titles to which they had no right, as fine sounding as that of the genuine O'Connor Don". (MacLysaght, E, ( 1978 ) Changing Times, p.190)

 

​If he had no authority to the title, how was he able to persist in using it for many years, and getting others to accept it as valid? Even his marriage certificate describes him as 'The O'Phelan'. The answer may lie in an off-hand comment in an article discussing some abuse or other of the honours system in the UK. 

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​​​​​​​​​​​He simply changed his name by deed poll, and it seems, nobody could challenge him!

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In fact, he was born Michel Joseph Phelan in May 1912 to Michael Joseph Phelan, hotel keeper and spirit merchant of Ballybricken, Waterford, and his wife Hannah Quinlan . They had married in January 1911 when Michael senior was 47 and Hannah 22 - he is described as a widower. The following children have been identified (there may be others)

Michael Joseph was born on 7 May 1912

Elizabeth Clare was born on  23 June 1913 and died 5/9/13

Elva was born on 27 August 1914

A second Elizabeth Clare was born on 23 October 1916

Eileen Mary was born on 31 May 1918

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Ballybricken is in the the old centre of Waterford, and Phelan's hotel was situated in the markets area,  close to the bacon factories for which Waterford was famous. In the photo of the market day in 1910 by A. H. Poole, the hotel is the three-storey building in the background. As a prominent business owner, Michael senior would have been well known in the city, and he was sufficiently well-off to provide his children with a good education.

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Michael  attended University College Dublin in the early 1930s, and obtained an undergraduate degree in political science before embarking on his legal studies. If the glowing tribute to him in the 'University Notes' column of the Irish Times 2/10/1939 on his engagement is anything to go by, he was a distinctive and ambitious presence. By this time he is already describing himself as 'The O'Phelan'.  There is surviving correspondence from him in 1934, using this title, as secretary of the UCD branch of Fine Gael (one of the two main political parties). He seems to have been interested in politics, producing at least one pamphlet -  'The Evil of Extremes', dated 6 April, 1934 and addressed to Fine Gael expressing concern they may give rise to a totalitarian regime; and he is possibly the author of an article in the London 'Spectator' magazine entitled 'Political prospects in the Irish Free State'.

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Also around this time he incorporates 'de Riva' into his name;  I have not found any explanation for this - it may just have been to add an additional exotic touch to his Gaelic title.  For whatever reason, it was also taken up by his sisters. Though they were registered at birth as plain 'Phelan', both Eileen and Elva used 'de Riva O'Phelan' as their surnames. Furthermore, where they are mentioned in the press, they are always described as 'the sister of The O'Phelan, Prince of the Decies' and not as the daughter of Michael J and Hannah Phelan. 

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Eileen Mary de Riva O’Phelan had the distinction of being among the first twenty women barristers ever in Ireland.  She was called to the Bar on the 3rd November 1941. But in addition to that, she made her mark,  advertising cosmetics and as a singer in the Dublin amateur operatic circles of the day. The advertisement for Pond's Cream, a very popular face cream then, appeared regularly in Irish newspapers of the late 1940s. Here also, her status as the sister of the Prince of the Decies is noted. 

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Elva was described as "one of the most travelled ladies in Ireland" in the Munster Express, September 1937, when she was still only 23, and she appears to have had some modest success as an actress with the Gate Theatre company in Dublin.​

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What are we to make of this character? He comes across as someone of strong intellectual ability and determination to succeed, but with a personality that needed affirmation and status. His adoption of an ancient title that no-one in his family before him laid claim to, as far as we know, suggests a sense of self-importance and superiority. He wanted to be noticed and admired, and chose to present himself as the equal, at least,  of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy that was being replaced in the emerging new Ireland.  And it all seemed to be working out to plan. His stellar academic performance, oratorical skills and political connections held out the promise of a successful, high-profile career at the top levels of the new state.

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Why, then, did he choose to take on the business of a small-town solicitor where, as far as we know, he had no prior contacts or reputation? Still in his late 20s, was this all that was available to him, or did he view it as a launching pad for something else? Some eight years after setting up in practice in Longford, he is reported to be living in Killiney, Dublin - then, as now, one of the most desirable addresses in Dublin.  He may have found Longford dull, but to build up a successful legal practice in rural Ireland of the 1940s would require an intense involvement with the local community, where a posh Dublin address would not carry much weight.​​​​