Daniel Florence O'Leary ( ga, Dónall Fínín Ó Laoghaire; 14 February 1801 – 24 February 1854) was a military general and aide-de-camp under

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

Life

O'Leary was born in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

, Ireland; his father was Jeremiah O'Leary, a butter merchant. In 1817, Daniel O'Leary emigrated to South America. General Daniel Florence O'Leary 1801-1854, bust

General Daniel Florence O'Leary 1801-1854, bust

Unlike many of the Irish who fought for

Simon Bolívar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

in his many campaigns to win South American independence, O'Leary had not served in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. In 1827 he married Soledad Soublette, the younger sister of General

Carlos Soublette Carlos Valentín José de la Soledad Antonio del Sacramento de Soublette y Jerez de Aristeguieta (15 December 1789 – 11 February 1870) was the president of Venezuela from 1837 to 1839 and 1843 to 1847 and a hero of the Venezuelan War of Ind ...

, with whom he had nine children. After Bolívar's death in 1830, O'Leary disobeyed orders to burn the general's personal documents. He spent much of the rest of his life organizing them, along with writing his own very extensive

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

(spanning thirty-four volumes) of his time fighting in the revolutionary wars with Bolívar. He died in Bogotá, Colombia. He is buried in the

National Pantheon of Venezuela The National Pantheon of Venezuela (''Panteón Nacional de Venezuela'') is a final resting place for national heroes. The Pantheon (Latin ''Pantheon'', from Greek ''Pantheon,'' meaning " Temple of all the Gods") was created in the 1870s on th ...

. A bust and plaque honouring O'Leary were presented by the Venezuelan Government to the people of Cork and unveiled on 12 May 2010 by the Venezuelan Ambassador to Ireland,

Samuel Moncada Samuel Reinaldo Moncada Acosta (born 13 June 1959) is a Venezuelan politician and diplomat currently serving as Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations since 2017 and formerly served as Alternate Representative of Venezuela to ...

General Daniel Florence O'Leary 1801-1854, plaque

References

External links

Short biography on O'Leary
from the

Society for Irish Latin American Studies The Society for Irish Latin American Studies (SILAS) was created in 2003 to study Ireland's role in Latin America. History It was founded on 1 July 2003 to promote the study of relations between Ireland and Latin American countries. SILAS's range ...

Biography
from Journal 2001 of the historical society

Ballingeary Ballingeary (, ) is a village in the Shehy Mountains in County Cork, Ireland. The village is located within the Muskerry ''Gaeltacht'' (Irish-speaking area). According to the 2016 census, over 42% of the population speak Irish on a daily basis ...

Cumann Staire *Moisés Enrique Rodrígue
"Under Three Flags The Diplomatic Career of Daniel Florence O'Leary"
in ''Irish Migration Studies in Latin America'' 7:1 (March 2009), pp. 85–92 {{DEFAULTSORT:Oleary, Daniel Florence 1800s births 1854 deaths Irish generals People of the Venezuelan War of Independence Irish emigrants to Venezuela 19th-century Venezuelan writers People from County Cork Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Colombia Burials at the National Pantheon of Venezuela

Life

See also

References

External links