Luke Smythe O'Connor (15 April 1806 – 24 March 1873) was a British army officer and colonial administrator. He served as

Governor of the Gambia This is a list of colonial governors and administrators in the Gambia from the establishment of a British settlement on St Mary's Island, now known as Banjul Island, in 1816, through to the Gambia Colony and Protectorate's independence from the U ...

from 1852 to 1859, and held senior roles in the

Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was pri ...

during the 1860s, including President of the Privy Council of Jamaica.

Early life

O'Connor was born in

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 1806.

Army career

O'Connor was appointed as an

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in the 1st West India Regiment on 27 April 1827. He was promoted to

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 22 March 1831, and

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 17 January 1834. In 1843, it was decided that the British colonies in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

should be garrisoned by the West India Regiments in turn, rather than just by the 3rd West India Regiment. O'Connor was dispatched from

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, in command of two companies of his regiment. He was promoted to Brevet (military), brevet

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 9 November 1846, and to a full major on 1 January 1847. In 1848, he was dispatched from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

, where there were disturbances among the Yucatan Indians. In September 1852, O'Connor was appointed as

, and was invested with command of all British troops in West Africa. He played a key role in the Soninke-Marabout War and commanded a force of the West India Regiments, black pensioners of those regiments, and the Gambia Militia, against Marabout rebels in the neighboring Kingdom of Kombo in 1853. In particular, he led the Storming of Sabbajee, which was a significant victory over the Marabouts. O'Connor was promoted to brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 3 February 1853, and brevet Colonel on 28 November 1854. During the conflict with the Marabouts, known as the Soninke-Marabout War, O'Connor negotiated an attempted peace that acquired for Britain a significant tract of land in Kombo. O'Connor led a joint Anglo-French force against the Marabouts again in 1855, having been personally wounded in an earlier battle, with shots through the left shoulder and right arm. In August 1855, he was able to storm Sabbajee again, raising the town and preventing the growth of Marabout forces in that area of Kombo. He was awarded

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for his role in this conflict. He was promoted to Regimental Lieutenant-Colonel on 21 September 1855. O'Connor led British troops against

Morant Bay rebellion The Morant Bay Rebellion (11 October 1865) began with a protest march to the courthouse by hundreds of people led by preacher Paul Bogle in Morant Bay, Jamaica. Some were armed with sticks and stones. After seven men were shot and killed by th ...

in Jamaica in 1865, when several Europeans were murdered by rebellious Jamaicans. Up to 439 black peasants were killed in the reprisals led by O'Connor, some 600 flogged and about 1000 houses burned down. O'Connor was rewarded for his response to the rebellion by the Jamaica colonial government. On 24 April 1866, he was promoted to Major-General, and in January 1867 was President of the Legislative Council of Jamaica and a senior member of its Privy Council. He administered the government in this period during a brief absence of

John Peter Grant Sir John Peter Grant, GCMG, KCB, (28 November 1807 – 6 January 1893), was a British colonial administrator who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal (1859–1862) and as Governor of Jamaica. Life John Peter Grant was born in London on 28 N ...

. By 1870, he had become President of the Privy Council, and remained as an official member of the Legislative Council. Although the connection is unclear, a vault on the north-west slopes of the

Glasgow Necropolis The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral (St. Mungo's Cathedral). Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typical for the period, only ...

memorialises O'Connor and contains some of his children.

Personal life

O'Connor was married in 1856. He died of dropsy and atrophy in

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Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, on 24 March 1873.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Luke Smythe 1806 births 1873 deaths Governors of the Gambia West India Regiment officers Military history of the Gambia British Army generals Colonial Administrative Service officers