Morgan O'Connell (31 October 1804 – 20 January 1885), soldier, politician and son 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 ...
, ''the Liberator of Ireland ''. He served in the Irish South American legion and the Austrian army. He was MP for
Meath from 1832 until 1840 and afterwards assistant-registrar of deeds for Ireland from 1840 until 1868. He did not agree with his father on the repeal question, but fought a duel with
Lord Arden, on his father's account.
Biography
O'Connell, second son of Daniel O'Connell, was born at 30
Merrion Square
Merrion Square () is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin city centre.
History
The square was laid out in 1752 by the estate of Viscount FitzWilliam and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. The demand fo ...
,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
, 31 October 1804. In 1819, self-styled General came to Dublin to enlist military aid for
Simón Bolívar's army to liberate
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
from Spanish rule. He succeeded in forming an Irish Legion, to be part of Bolivar's
British Legions
The British Legion () or British Legions were foreign volunteer units that fought under Simón Bolívar against Spain for the independence of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and José de San Martín for the independence of Peru in the Spanish Ameri ...
;
and O'Connell, encouraged by his father, was one of the officers who purchased a
commission in it even though only 15 years old. The enterprise was mismanaged; there was no
commissariat organisation on board the ships, and a part of the force died on the voyage. The remainder were disembarked on the
Spanish Main
During the Spanish colonization of America, the Spanish Main was the collective term for the parts of the Spanish Empire that were on the mainland of the Americas and had coastlines on the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. The term was used to di ...
at
Margarita Island
Margarita Island (, ) is the largest island in the States of Venezuela, Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on t ...
, where many deaths took place from
starvation eight days after the Irish mutineers left for Jamaica. Bolivar, who had noted his pleasure at the departure of "these vile mercenaries", was too astute a diplomat to offend the son of his Irish counterpart. Morgan was accorded the appropriate privileges of his rank, and toasts were drunk to the health of his father, the ''"most enlightened man in all Europe"''. A portion of the expedition, under
Francis O' Connor, effected an alliance with Bolivar, and to the energy of these allies the republican successes were chiefly due.
Bolivar made sure that the untrained Irish lad stayed out of danger.'' "I have numberless hardships to go through,"'' said Bolivar, ''"which I would not bring him into, for the character of his father is well known to me."'' But ceremonial duties soon bored the restless young Irishman, and after a year at Bolivar's headquarters Morgan left for Ireland.
If South America did not satisfy Morgan's taste for adventure, he had more than his fill on the return journey. He survived a bout of tropical fever, and was shipwrecked twice in succession, ending up stranded in Cuba. A schooner captain, who turned out to be a long-lost Irish cousin, rescued him. After the captain was killed in a fight with his boatswain, Morgan hitched a ride to Jamaica on a Danish ship commanded by a skipper from Cork. From Jamaica, another Irish officer offered Morgan passage home on a British Islands.
Arriving in January 1822, Morgan was greeted by his proud father as a prodigal son returned. His South American adventure, declared Daniel O'Connell, had made a man of Morgan. Otherwise, said O'Connell, ''"it would have been difficult to tame him down to the sobriety of business."''
O'Connell after his return to Ireland again to seek foreign service in the
Austrian army
The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria.
The military consists of 22,050 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 0.74% of nati ...
.
On 19 December 1832 he entered parliament in the Liberal interest, as one of the members for
Meath, and continued to represent that constituency till January 1840, when he was appointed first assistant-registrar of deeds for Ireland, at a salary of £1,200 a year, a place which he held till 1868. In politics he was never in perfect accord with his father, and his retirement from parliament was probably caused by his inability to accept the Repeal movement. During his parliamentary career he fought a
duel with Lord
William Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley
William Arden, 2nd Baron Alvanley (8 January 1789 – 16 November 1849) was a British Army officer, peer and socialite, who was a friend of Beau Brummell and one of a close circle of young men surrounding the Prince Regent.
Early life and militar ...
, a captain in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, at
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden.
History
Manor of Rugmere
Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned ...
, on 4 May 1835. A challenge had been sent by Alvanley to O'Connell's father, who, in accordance with a vow he had made after shooting D'Esterre, declined the meeting. Morgan thereupon took up the challenge. Two shots each were exchanged, but no one was hurt. He afterwards, in December 1835, received a challenge from
Benjamin Disraeli, in consequence of an attack made on
Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...
by Morgan's father. Morgan declined to meet Disraeli.
Family
Morgan O'Connell was one of seven children (and the second of four sons) of the
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 ...
Nationalist leader
Daniel and
Mary O'Connell. His brothers
Maurice Maurice may refer to:
People
* Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr
* Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor
*Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...
,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
and
Daniel were also MPs.
O'Connell married, on 23 July 1840, Kate Mary, youngest daughter of Michael Balfe of South Park,
County Roscommon. He died at 12 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, 20 January 1885, and was buried in
Glasnevin cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Ghlas Naíon) is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum.
Location
The cemetery is located in Glasne ...
on 23 January.
See also
*
O'Connell of Derrynane
The O'Connell family, principally of Derrynane, are a Gaelic Irish noble family of County Kerry in Munster. The principal seat of the senior line of the family was Derrynane House, now an Irish National Monument.
Ancestry and extraction
Accord ...
Notes
References
*
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**Hitchman's Public Life of the Earl of Beaconsfield, 1881, pp. 47–55;
**Greville's Memoirs, 1874, iii. 256–7;
**Times, 5 May 1835 p. 4, 31 Dec. 1835 p. 5, and 22, 23, 24 Jan. 1885;
**Freeman's Journal, 21 Jan. 1885 p. 5, 24 Jan. p. 6;
**Burke's Landed Gentry, 1894, i. 79;
**cf. art. O'Connell, Daniel, the ‘Liberator.’
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Morgan
1804 births
1885 deaths
Irish duellists
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Meath constituencies (1801–1922)
UK MPs 1835–1837
UK MPs 1837–1841
Morgan
Irish Repeal Association MPs
People of the Venezuelan War of Independence
Irish civil servants