John Cornelius O'Callaghan (1805 – 24 April 1883) was an Irish historian and writer. He is best remembered for his work ''History of the Irish Brigades in the Service of France''.

Life

O'Callaghan was born in Dublin. His father was a solicitor from Talbot St. in the city; his mother (née Donovan) came from the south of the country. He was educated at

Clongowes Wood Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a You ...

and later at a school in

Blanchardstown Blanchardstown () is a large outer suburb of Dublin in the modern Counties of Ireland, county of Fingal, Ireland. Located northwest of Dublin city centre, it has developed since the 1960s from a small village to a point where Greater Blanchards ...

. He first started writing in the ''Comet'' and in the ''Irish Monthly Magazine of Politics and Literature''. The latter's contributors included

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 ...

, his daughter Mrs. Fitzsimons,

Richard Lalor Sheil Richard Lalor Sheil (17 August 1791 – 23 May 1851), Irish politician, writer and orator, was born at Drumdowney, Slieverue, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The family was temporarily domiciled at Drumdowney while their new mansion at Bellevue, near ...

and one of O'Callaghan's closest literary friends,

Richard Robert Madden Richard Robert Madden (22 August 1798 – 5 February 1886) was an Irish doctor, writer, abolitionist and historian of the United Irishmen. Madden took an active role in trying to impose anti-slavery rules in Jamaica on behalf of the British gov ...

.O'Callaghan: Duffy, Dublin (2nd edition, 1845) He was in London in 1840 when the first edition of his book ''The Green Book'' was published, and back in Dublin shortly afterwards to contribute to the newly established ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

''. When Charles Gavin Duffy was arrested along with

and other Repealers in October 1843, Duffy was arrested in part due to his publication in "The Nation" of O'Callaghan's letters on the Irish in the English army and navy. In 1847, at the request of the

Irish Archaeological Society The Irish Archaeological Society (sometimes spelled as "Irish Archæological Society") was a learned society, founded in 1840. Among the founders was the Rev. Dr. Todd, who acted as secretary. The Irish Archaeological Society was one of the fir ...

, he published ''Macariae Excidium; The Destruction of Cyprus, or, a Secret History of the War of Revolution in Ireland''. He spent the following years preparing his greatest work, the ''History of the Irish brigades in the service of France,: From the revolution in Great Britain and Ireland under James II., to the revolution in France under Louis XVI.'', which was first published in 1867.

References

19th-century Irish historians Writers from Dublin (city) 1805 births 1883 deaths 19th-century Irish poets {{Ireland-writer-stub

Life

See also

References