Hugh Reily, also known as Hugh Reilly or Hugh O'Reilly (c.1630 – 1695) was M.P. for Cavan Borough in the

Patriot Parliament Patriot Parliament is the name commonly used for the Irish Parliament session called by King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland which lasted from 1688 to 1691. The first since 1666, it held only one session, which lasted from 7 May 16 ...

of 1689 and a famous political author. His Irish name was Aodh O'Raghallaigh and his ancestors were the Lords of East Breifne and Chiefs of the

O'Reilly O'Reilly ( ga, Ó Raghallaigh) is a group of families, ultimately all of Irish Gaels, Gaelic origin, who were historically the kings of East Bréifne in what is today County Cavan. The clan were part of the Connachta's Uí Briúin Bréifne kin ...

clan. Reilly was a close relative of John O'Reilly of Caulfield, Laragh Parish, Co. Cavan who was an ancestor of

John Charles McQuaid John Charles McQuaid, C.S.Sp. (28 July 1895 – 7 April 1973), was the Catholic Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin between December 1940 and January 1972. He was known for the unusual amount of influence he had over successive governme ...

, Archbishop of Dublin. Hugh Reilly was born in

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

, Ireland about 1630 and studied at the Irish Bar where he qualified as a barrister about 1650. Hugh Reilly was legal advisor to Saint

Oliver Plunkett Oliver Plunkett (or Oliver Plunket) ( ga, Oilibhéar Pluincéid), (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who was the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 and c ...

, Archbishop of Armagh during his trial in 1681, after Plunkett's previous advisor Sir

Nicholas Plunkett Sir Nicholas Plunkett (1602–1680) was an Anglo-Irish lawyer and politician. He was a younger son of Christopher Plunkett, 9th Baron Killeen and Jane (or Genet) Dillon, daughter of Sir Lucas Dillon: his brother Luke was created Earl of Fingall ...

died. Plunkett said about Reilly "he took many risks for me". On 22 May 1686 Reilly was appointed Master in Chancery. He lived in the parish of

Laragh, County Cavan Laragh or Larah () is a civil parish in County Cavan, Ireland. The principal village in the civil parish is Stradone which is located 1 km from the N3 national road. Laragh is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of ...

and in 1689 was elected from there, along with

Philip Og O'Reilly Philip Og O'Reilly (–1703) was an MP for Cavan in the Parliament of Ireland of 1689. Early life His name in Gaelic was Pilib Óg O'Raghallaigh. He was probably called Pilib Óg (Young Philip) to distinguish him from Philip Reyley who represe ...

, as an M.P. to represent the Borough of Cavan in the Dublin

of King

James II James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...

. In the 1689 Irish Jacobite Government he was appointed as Clerk of the Privy Council (Hugh Riley) on 5 March 1689. After the defeat of King James II by King William III, Reilly fled to France with the king. In 1690 James II appointed him

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

at St. Germains, but it was a titular title only as James then had no power to so appoint. Hugh Reilly was attainted in 1691 by King William III and his land in County Cavan was confiscated. In 1695 he published ''Ireland's Case briefly stated''; a second edition, appeared in 1720. It gives an account of the conduct and misfortunes of the Roman Catholics in Ireland from the reign of Elizabeth to that of James II, and complains of the neglect they suffered under Charles II. The statements throughout are general, and few dates or particular facts are given. The last speech of

is added. It is said that James II, offended by the tone of Reilly's book, dismissed him from his service. Harris in his edition of Ware's Works, (Ware, Sir James, Works: Walter Harris. Dublin 1764, vol. 2, p. 259), states- "King James was so offended at Reilly's free treatment of him, that he took away his small salary, and turned him out of his titular office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland; the loss of which lay so heavy upon his spirits that he died soon after, about the year 1694. It is said King James restored him to his pension a short time before his death and I have been assured that he shewed his book to King James before he put it under the press, who had the perusal of it for three weeks, and upon returning it, told the author there was too much truth in it; but did not forbid him to make it public—yet, when it appeared abroad, he treated him as before related." He is believed to have died in 1695. The ''Impartial History of Ireland'' (London, 1754) is a reprint of Reilly's ''Ireland's Case,'' and it was again issued under the same title at

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1787, and as the ''Genuine History of Ireland'' at Dublin in 1799 and in 1837.

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

's speech at the Bristol election of 1780 is printed with the edition of 1787, and a memoir 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 ...

with that of 1837. The form, paper, and type of the book show that it was bought by the populace in Ireland; its popularity was due to no special merit, but to the fact that it was long almost the only printed argument in favour of Irish Roman Catholics.

Notes

References

External links

Reily at Ricorso
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reily, Hugh Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cavan constituencies 1630 births 1695 deaths Irish non-fiction writers Politicians from County Cavan Irish political writers Irish MPs 1689 Irish barristers 17th-century Irish historians Lawyers from County Cavan Writers from County Cavan 17th-century Irish lawyers