Henrietta O'Neill (1758 – September 1793) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

poet. The only daughter of

Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan (27 January 1729 – 16 September 1759) was an Anglo-Irish politician. Boyle was the eldest son of John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and his first wife, Henrietta, daughter of George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney. He ...

, and his wife, the former Susannah Hoare, she was born Henrietta Boyle. Her father died in 1759 and her mother later married Thomas Brudenell-Bruce; her younger half-siblings included

Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury (14 February 1773 – 4 January 1856), styled The Honourable Charles Brudenell-Bruce from birth until 1776, Lord Bruce from 1776 to 1814 and The Earl of Ailesbury from 1814 to 1821, was a Britis ...

. She married John O'Neill in 1777, when he was an Irish MP. Henrietta O'Neill was a friend of the English novelist and poet Charlotte Smith. She was also an amateur actor and painter. Her best known poems are "Ode to the Poppy" and "Written on Seeing her Two Sons at Play". Her two children were: * Charles O'Neill, 1st Earl O'Neill (1779-1841) *

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 ...

(1780-1855) O'Neill died in Portugal in 1793, while still in her thirties. Her husband outlived her, becoming a baron in 1793 and a viscount in 1795, but was killed during the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

at the age of 58.

References

1758 births 1793 deaths Irish poets {{Ireland-writer-stub