William Connellan () was an Irish harper. He was born in Cloonamahon,

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

. Connellan was a harper, who may or may not have composed the tune ''Caoineach Luimnigh'' (the lament for

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

). He was well known in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, where he travelled extensively. There his version of ''Luimnigh'' became '' Lochabar No More.'' He is also credited with ''Love's A Tormenting Pain'', and probably ''Killiecrankie''. His brother was the composer

Thomas Connellan Thomas Connellan ( – 1698) was an Irish composer. Connellan was born about 1640/1645 at Cloonamahon, County Sligo. Both he and his brother, William Connellan became harpers. Thomas is famous for the words and music of ''Molly MacAlpin'' ...

Arthur O'Neill Arthur Edward Bruce O'Neill (19 September 1876 – 6 November 1914), was an Irish Ulster Unionist Party politician who was the first Member of Parliament to be killed in World War I. Early life O'Neill was the second but eldest surviving son of ...

(1734-1818) refers to William in his

memoirs A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

: * ''I heard much of his brother William Connellan, who was a famous harper and a fine composer. He died in the county of Waterford.''

References

* ''The Harpers Connellan:Irish Music of the late 17th century - The life and times of the Sligo harpers William and Thomas Connellan'', Kathleen Loughnane, 2009, ISMN 979 0 9002013 3 1. Irish harpists Irish composers Musicians from County Sligo 17th-century Irish people {{Ireland-musician-stub