Daniel Charles, Count O'Connell (21 May 1745 – 9 July 1833) was the uncle of Daniel O'Connell "the Liberator." He was from a noble family of Derrynane House, 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) and served in Europe and Mauritius 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 in 1785. He became an officer in the French king's Irish Brigade. He was a friend of, among others, Benoît de Boigne. O'Connell left France for England after the French Revolution. The laws against Catholics were weakening, and in 1794, at the instigation of British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, he now joined the British Army and raised the fourth regiment of the Irish Brigade of the British Army, 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, France, at the chateau of his stepdaughter, in July 1833, holding the ranks of General in the French and Colonel in the British army.

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{{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

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