The agent and son-in-law of Joe Flannelly, whose ambition to dispossess the Macdermots from Ballycloran is one of the main themes of The Macdermots of Ballycloran.

"He was a hardworking man.... he was a plausible man, a good flatterer, not deficient in that sort of sharpness which made him a successful attorney in a small provincial town.... Principle had never stood much in his way.... In appearance he was a large, burly man, gradually growing corpulent, with a soft, oily face, on which there was generally a smile.... it concealed the malice, treachery and selfishness which his face so plainly bore without it. His eyes were light, large and bright.... his mouth was very large, and his lip heavy, and he carried a huge pair of brick coloured whiskers. His dress was somewhat dandified"