Cathal Ainrí Ó Néill, or Charles Henry O'Neill, was the chieftain of the

O'Neill dynasty The O'Neill dynasty (Irish: ''Ó Néill'') are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin, that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically the most prominent family of the Northern ...

Clandeboye Clandeboye or Clannaboy (from Irish language, Irish ''Clann Aodha Buí'', "family of Hugh the Blond") was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, comprising what is now south County Antrim, north County Down, and the barony of Loughinsholin, Northern Irelan ...

, (English - The O'Neill Clanaboy, Irish - Ó Néill Buidhe), from 1855 until his death in 1865. The son of Felix-Cunningham O'Neill, Esq., and Mary O'Neill (daughter of Bernard O'Neill of Ballygrooby and Dunmore, and Mary, the daughter of John O'Neill, Esq. of Muinterevelin, County Tyrone), Charles Henry was a Dublin barrister, born at Feeva House in County Antrim near present-day

Toomebridge Toome or Toomebridge () is a small village and townland on the northwest corner of Lough Neagh in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies in the civil parish of Duneane in the former Barony (Ireland), barony of Toome Upper, and is in the Antr ...

on 25 December 1809. He married Mary Adeline Louise O'Grady, daughter of James O'Grady, Esq. professor of Hebrew and principal of the Seminary of Saint Patrick, and they had one child. He was the lineal descendant of the last Chieftain of Clanaboy, Brian mac Féilim Ó Néill, through Briain's son and the last Tanaiste of Clanaboy, Con mac Briain Ó Néill. His daughter Elizabeth Catherine Mary Theresa was the last O'Neill of the Feeva to be born at Drumderg House in 1845; near Carlane, which had been the home of this line since Con mac Briain's son, Hugh Óg Ó Néill, fought alongside

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone Hugh O'Neill (Irish: ''Aodh Mór Ó Néill''; literally ''Hugh The Great O'Neill''; – 20 July 1616), was an Irish Gaelic lord, Earl of Tyrone (known as the Great Earl) and was later created ''The Ó Néill Mór'', Chief of the Name. O'Neil ...

and was dispossessed of the majority of his estates, and forced to leave Eden-duff-carrick settled in the adjoining lordship, The Feeva. From that time on Edendubhcarrig, later known as

Shane's Castle Shane's Castle is a ruined castle near Randalstown in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, having been destroyed by fire in 1816. The castle is on the north-east shores of Lough Neagh. Built in 1345 by a member of the Clandeboy O'Neill dynasty, it was ...

, was in the hands of the descendants of Sir Henry Ó Néill, who had converted to Anglicanism and conformed in Elizabethan times. In 1855, on the death of

John O'Neill, 3rd Viscount O'Neill John Bruce Richard O'Neill, 3rd Viscount O'Neill (30 December 1780 – 12 February 1855) was an Irish Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1802 to 1841 and then in the House of Lords. O'Neill was the son of John, Viscount O'Neill ...

, who was predeceased by his elder brother

Charles O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill Charles Henry St John O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill, KP, PC (I) (22 January 1779 – 12 February 1841) was an Irish politician, peer and landowner. He was born in 1779 to John O'Neill, 1st Viscount O'Neill, of Shane's Castle, County Antrim, Irelan ...

, Sir Henry O'Neill's will entailed the Shane's Castle estate on the descendants of Con mac Briain Ó Néill; an event which signified the extinction of issue of his daughter Rose and heirs male in his own line. In a matter of great dispute, while Charles Henry became recognised as The O'Neill Clanaboy,

was able to supersede the will by which he had inherited himself, and leave the

estate by his own will to William Chichester, who assumed the surname O'Neill and became

William O'Neill, 1st Baron O'Neill Reverend William O'Neill, 1st Baron O'Neill (4 March 1813 – 18 April 1883) was an Anglo-Irish hereditary peer, clergyman and musical composer. Born William Chichester, he changed his surname to O'Neill in 1855. Background and education The eld ...

. Elizabeth married the Judge

James Gervé Conroy James Gervé Conroy (April 12, 1836 – January 28, 1915) was an Ireland, Irish-born lawyer, judge and political figure in Colony of Newfoundland, Newfoundland. He represented Ferryland on the Irish Shore in the Newfoundland and Labrador Hou ...

and migrated to St. John's,

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in 1872, where their Dublin born son Charles O'Neill Conroy grew up.

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