Conor Myles John O'Brien, 18th Baron Inchiquin (born 17 July 1943) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born Irish clan chief and holder of an

Irish peerage The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divis ...

. Although his family's ancestral Irish residence has been sold, he remains a landowner in

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

Early life

He is the son of the Fionn Myles Maryons O'Brien (28 October 1903 – 2 August 1977) and Josephine Reine O'Brien ''Bembaron'' (''circa'' 1913-27 October 2011). Fionn was the son of Lucius William O'Brien, 15th Baron of Inchiquin and Ethel Jane Foster. O'Brien was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

Career

O'Brien commissioned into the 14th/20th Kings Hussars of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1963. He served as a troop commander in Benghazi, Tripoli,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

Operation Tosca British Forces Cyprus (BFC) is the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the UK Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus and at a number of related 'retained sites' in the Republic of Cyprus. The United ...

Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, south ...

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

(as assistant adjutant),

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, and Tidworth as adjutant of the regiment. He became Aide-de-Camp to Commander British Forces Gulf in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and left the army in 1975, retiring with the rank of Captain. Although the ancestral seat of

Dromoland Castle Dromoland Castle ( ga, Drom Ólainn) is a castle, located near Newmarket-on-Fergus in County Clare, Ireland. It is operated as a five-star luxury hotel with a golf course, with its restaurant, the "Earl of Thomond", being awarded a Michel ...

has since left family hands O'Brien has continued to run the lands on the estate left in family hands. O'Brien ran an exclusive guest house in the new family home, Thomond House, adjacent to the former seat, from 1984 until 2008. O'Brien also turned the residual Dromoland Estate into a sporting and leisure venue. In April 2010, he was awarded €7.9m in damages by the High Court over the repudiation of an agreement to buy 377 acres out of the 600 acres of the Dromoland estate which his family still owned. In 2012, in a long-running dispute with the management of Dromoland Castle, O'Brien was refused an initial application to the High Court for them to immediately return 37 paintings that were loaned several decades prior; the hotel wanted to copy the paintings and then return them, possibly on a phased basis.

Other work

In 1998, Conor O'Brien visited

Antioch, California Antioch is the third-largest city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. The city's population was 115,291 at the 2020 cen ...

for St. Patrick's Day and Antioch's first St. Patrick's Day Crinniu, hosted by then-Councilman Allen Payton and the city's council proclaimed "Sir Conor O'Brien Day". O'Brien has also served as chairman of the

Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains ( ga, Buanchomhairle Thaoisigh Éireann) is an organisation which was established to bring together the surviving Chiefs of the Name from the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. As a republic, the Cons ...

Family

O'Brien succeeded to the peerage on the death of his uncle,

Phaedrig O'Brien, 17th Baron Inchiquin Phaedrig Lucius Ambrose O'Brien, 17th Baron Inchiquin (4 April 1900 – 20 May 1982) was the holder of a hereditary peerage in the Peerage of Ireland, as well as Chief of the Name of O'Brien and Prince of Thomond in the Gaelic Irish nobility. He ...

, in 1982. O'Brien has a sister. He married Helen O'Farrell in 1988, and together they have two children. The family seat of

was sold after financial strains required Donough O'Brien, 16th Baron Inchiquin to sell a large part of the estate (c. 350 acres) to billionaire industrialist Bernard McDonough. The castle today functions as a luxury hotel and is owned by a number of

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

businessmen.Dermot Walsh: ''Mr. Shannon' ... All His Dreams Come True''. - in: Clare, Our People Our Place, Special Diamond Jubilee Edition. - The Clare Association. . Original publication in Yearbook 2009 of The Clare Association. The 16th Baron built a smaller residence adjacent to the estate, Thomond House, which he moved into in 1965. Conor O'Brien continues to reside in Thomond House.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inchiquin, Conor Obrien, 18th Baron People educated at Eton College Living people

Conor Conor is a male given name of Irish origin. The meaning of the name is "Lover of Wolves" or "Lover of Hounds". '' Conchobhar/Conchubhar'' or from the name ''Conaire'', found in Irish legend as the name of the high king Conaire Mór and other hero ...

1943 births Barons Inchiquin Graduates of the Mons Officer Cadet School Irish Anglicans Irish chiefs of the name