Daniel Charles, Count O'Connell (21 May 1745 – 9 July 1833) was the uncle of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

"the Liberator." He was from a noble family of

Derrynane House Derrynane House () was the home of Irish politician and statesman, Daniel O'Connell. It is now an National Monument and part of a 320-acre (1.3 km²) national historic park. The house is located on the Iveragh peninsula on the Ring of Kerry ...

, County Kerry, Ireland, but because of the Penal Laws (Ireland) of the time, which forbade a Catholic to have any education or profession, he, like many other ambitious young Irishmen, went to the Continent for an education, and remained abroad. He entered the service of the king of France in the Royal Swedish Regiment (

Royal Suédois The Régiment de Royal Suédois ( en, Royal Swedish Regiment) was a foreign infantry regiment in the Royal French Army during the Ancien Régime. It was created in 1690 from Swedish prisoners taken during the Battle of Fleurus. The regiment event ...

) in 1761, and in 1769 was transferred to Lord Clare's Regiment of the

Irish Brigade (French) The Irish Brigade (, ) was a brigade in the French Royal Army composed of Irish exiles, led by Lord Mountcashel. It was formed in May 1690 when five Jacobite regiments were sent from Ireland to France in exchange for a larger force of French ...

and served in Europe and

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

until 1778. Then he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel and transferred back to the Royal Swedish Regiment, with which he saw action at the siege of Port Mahon and at the

Great Siege of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. The American war had end ...

. "At Gibraltar he was on board one of the famous floating batteries and was severely wounded." He was later appointed Colonel Commander of the , and was created a Chevalier of the

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (french: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a rewar ...

. He also was appointed to a military committee charged with revising French infantry tactics. Daniel Charles O'Connell was created Count O'Connell by

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

in 1785. He became an officer in the French king's Irish Brigade. He was a friend of, among others,

Benoît de Boigne Benoît Leborgne (24 March 175121 June 1830), better known as Count Benoît de Boigne or General Count de Boigne, was a military adventurer from the Duchy of Savoy, who made his fortune and name in India with the Marathas. He was also named presid ...

. O'Connell left France for England after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. The laws against Catholics were weakening, and in 1794, at the instigation of British Prime Minister

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

, he now joined the British Army and raised the fourth regiment of the Irish Brigade 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 ...

, which he commanded until the corps was disbanded. After visiting France in 1802, he was seized by Napoleon, and remained his prisoner until 1814.Library Ireland
/ref> He died at

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

, France, at the chateau of his stepdaughter, in July 1833, holding the ranks of General in the French and Colonel in the British army.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Daniel Charles 1745 births 1833 deaths 18th-century Irish people 19th-century Irish people People from County Kerry Irish generals French generals British Army officers Knights of the Order of Saint Louis

Daniel Charles Daniel Paul Charles was a French musician, musicologist and philosopher. He was born on 27 November 1935 in Oran (Algeria) and died on 21 August 2008 in Antibes (France). Biography He was a student of Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conser ...

Irish soldiers in the French Army Irish soldiers in the British Army Irish expatriates in France French military personnel of the Seven Years' War

See also

References