Arthur O'Connor (4 July 1763 – 25 April 1852), was a United Irishman who was active in seeking allies for the Irish cause in England and in France. A proponent of radical democratic reform, in Ireland he was distinguished by publishing political appeals to women. Arrested on the eve of the

1798 rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force ...

, in 1802 he went into exile in France where, after being raised to the rank of General in a force that was to invade Ireland, fell out of favour with

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. Among the positions he maintained publicly in his final years were a defence of the July Revolution in Paris and opposition to what he saw as the clericalism of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel(I) O’Connell (; 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 mobilisation of Catholic Irelan ...

's movement in Ireland.

Early life

O'Connor was born near

Bandon, County Cork Bandon (; ) is a town in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies on the River Bandon between two hills. The name in Irish means 'Bridge of the Bandon', a reference to the origin of the town as a crossing point on the river. In 2004 Ba ...

on 4 July 1763 into a wealthy Irish Protestant family. Through his brother Roger O'Connor, who was equally enthused by events in America was to share his republican politics, he was an uncle to Roderic O'Connor, Francisco Burdett O'Connor, and

Feargus O'Connor Feargus Edward O'Connor (18 July 1796 – 30 August 1855) was an Irish Chartism, Chartist leader and advocate of the Land Plan, which sought to provide smallholdings for the labouring classes. A highly charismatic figure, O'Connor was admired ...

among others. His other two brothers, Daniel and Robert, were pro-British loyalists. A sister, Anne, committed suicide, after having been forbidden by the family from marrying a Catholic man with whom she was in love. O'Connor graduated with a law degree from

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, and was called to the bar in 1788. But inheriting a fortune worth £1,500 a year, he never practised.

United Irishman

From 1790 to 1795 O’Connor was a Member of Parliament in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

for Philipstown. He attached himself to the patriot party of

Henry Grattan Henry Grattan (3 July 1746 – 4 June 1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer who campaigned for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century from Britain. He was a Member of the Irish Parliament (MP) from 1775 to 18 ...

, joining in the calls to advance the

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

of the kingdom's

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

majority and for other reforms. At the time, this did not debar him from the influential

Kildare Street Club The Kildare Street Club is a historical member's club in Dublin, Ireland, at the heart of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy. The club remained in Kildare Street between 1782 and 1977, when it merged with the Dublin University Club to becom ...

, a bailiwick of the landed

Protestant Ascendancy The Protestant Ascendancy (also known as the Ascendancy) was the sociopolitical and economical domination of Ireland between the 17th and early 20th centuries by a small Anglicanism, Anglican ruling class, whose members consisted of landowners, ...

. But the accommodation was short lived. In 1796 O'Connor joined the

Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association, formed in the wake of the French Revolution, to secure Representative democracy, representative government in Ireland. Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British ...

, whose purpose was to overturn the Ascendancy and establish a representative national government independent both of sacramental tests and of dictation from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In January 1797, with United Irish support, he contested what had been his uncle Lord Longueville's parliamentary seat in Antrim. To the "free electors" of the county he commended the "entire abolition of religious distinctions" and the "establishment of a National Government", while protesting the "invasion" of the country by English and Scottish troops and the

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

's continued

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

against the

French Republic France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Arrests, including his own in February for seditious libel, frustrated his attempts to canvass. The

Dublin Castle administration Dublin Castle was the centre of the government of Ireland under English and later British rule. "Dublin Castle" is used metonymically to describe British rule in Ireland. The Castle held only the executive branch of government and the Privy Cou ...

, he explained to "those who were electors", had "destroyed every vestige of election by

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

". With

Lord Edward Fitzgerald Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) was an Irish aristocrat and revolutionary proponent of Irish independence from Britain. He abandoned his prospects as a distinguished veteran of British service in the American War of Ind ...

and others in the United Irish leadership in Dublin his thoughts now turned to securing French support for a republican insurrection. In a final address "To the Irish Nation" (February 1798) he asked:

Shall beggary and famine stalk through your country, so blessed with a temperate climate and a fertile soil, without the strongest suspicion that the people have not been done justice? Shall a brave, healthy, intelligent and generous people, be doomed to the most squalid misery at home, and be famed for enterprise, activity and industry in every country but their own, without the strongest suspicion that they have been made prey to peculation, injustice, and oppression. Shall a country ... be most advantageously placed on the globe between the old and the new world, yet posses such inconsiderable foreign trade ... without the strongest suspicion of perfidy in her government, and treason in her legislature?

He called for a "representative democracy", based on "universal suffrage", and tasked with breaking all "monopoly"—in property as well as in religion.

Appeal to the women of Ireland

In London, with his brother

Roger Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...

, O’Connor had moved in the same radical circles as the United Irish agent Jane Greg. Greg—possibly in the company of O'Connor—returned to Belfast where she was reported to the authorities as being "very active at the head of the Female nited IrishSocieties" in the town. O'Connor himself made a political appeal to women. After the presses of the Northern Star in Belfast had been smashed by the military, with William Sampson and Drennan he founded a new paper, the ''Press,'' in Dublin''.'' Writing in its pages in December 1797 as "Philoguanikos", he called on women to take sides in the coming conflict. He assured them that “the youth of this country have totally changed their mode of thinking” regarding women and were ready to seek their “society”, their “friendship” and “alliance”. It was now only "brainless bedlams” that recoiled from “the idea of a female politician". In February 1798, O'Connor's paper published a second address, signed "Marcus" (

William Drennan William Drennan (23 May 1754 – 5 February 1820) was an Irish physician and writer who moved the formation in Belfast and Dublin of the Society of United Irishmen. He was the author of the Society's original "test" which, in the cause of ...

). In this it was equally clear that women were being appealed to as "members of a critically-debating public":

Arrest and imprisonment

While travelling to France in March 1798 he was arrested alongside Father

James Coigly Father James Coigly (''aka'' James O'Coigley and James/Jeremiah Quigley) (1761 – 7 June 1798) was a Roman Catholic priest in Ireland active in the republican movement against the British Crown and the kingdom's Protestant Ascendancy. He ...

, a Catholic priest, and two other United Irishmen Benjamin Binns (also of the

London Corresponding Society The London Corresponding Society (LCS) was a federation of local reading and debating clubs that in the decade following the French Revolution agitated for the democratic reform of the British Parliament. In contrast to other reform associatio ...

), and John Allen. Coigly, found to be carrying clear evidence of treason (an address from "The Secret Committee of England” to the

Directory of France The Directory (also called Directorate; ) was the system of government established by the French Constitution of 1795. It takes its name from the committee of 5 men vested with executive power. The Directory governed the French First Republ ...

), was hanged. O'Connor, able to call

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a British British Whig Party, Whig politician and statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centurie ...

Lord Moira Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings (9 December 175428 November 1826), styled The Honourable Francis Rawdon from birth until 1762, Lord Rawdon between 1762 and 1783, The Lord Rawdon from 1783 to 1793 and The Earl of Moira bet ...

and

Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, writer and Whig politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1780 to 1812, representing the constituencies of Stafford, Westminster and I ...

to testify to his character, was acquitted but was immediately re-arrested and imprisoned. On his way to confinement, he handed on a poem, which seemed to recant his republican beliefs. If the first line of the second stanza is read following the first line of the first stanza, and the alternating process is continued the opposite is the case: it is a ringing affirmation of his

Painite Painite is a very rare borate mineral. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain who misidentified it as ruby, until it was discovered as a new gemstone in the 1950s. When it was confirmed as a new mine ...

convictions:

(1) The pomp of courts, and pride of kings,
(3) I prize above all earthly things;
(5) I love my country, but my king,
(7) Above all men his praise I'll sing.
(9) The royal banners are display'd,
(11) And may success the standard aid:
(2) I fain would banish far from hence
(4) The Rights of Man and
Common Sense Common sense () is "knowledge, judgement, and taste which is more or less universal and which is held more or less without reflection or argument". As such, it is often considered to represent the basic level of sound practical judgement or know ...
.
(6) Destruction to that odious name,
(8) The plague of princes,
Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...
,
(10) Defeat and ruin seize the cause
(12) Of France, her liberty, and laws.

O'Connor was held at Fort George in Scotland with other leading United Irishmen, among whom he was not fondly regarded. He frequently quarrelled with his associates, and made clear his dislike for

Thomas Addis Emmet Thomas Addis Emmet (24 April 176414 November 1827) was an Irish and American lawyer and politician. In Ireland, in the 1790s, he was a senior member of the Society of United Irishmen as it planned for an insurrection against the British Crown ...

, William MccNeven and William Lawless.

Exile in France

O'Connor was released in 1802 under the condition of "banishment". He travelled to Paris, where he was regarded as the accredited representative of the United Irishmen by

. In February 1804, the future

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

appointed him

General of Division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

for the Irish Legion being readied in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

for an invasion of Ireland. According to the ''Nouvelle biographie générale'' (Paris, 1855) the “openness of his character, and his unalterable attachment to the cause of liberty rendered him little agreeable to Napoleon" who, after abandoning plans for Ireland, did not again employ him. On the other hand, it is the recollection of

Paul Barras Paul François Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras (; 30 June 1755 – 29 January 1829), commonly known as Paul Barras, was a French politician of the French Revolution, and the main executive leader of the Directory regime of 1795–1799. Earl ...

, who had been President of the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate; ) was the system of government established by the Constitution of the Year III, French Constitution of 1795. It takes its name from the committee of 5 men vested with executive power. The Directory gov ...

, that it been by "compliance and boasting" that he had obtained from Napoleon, as emperor, all that the Directory had denied him. In either case, as he had had no military experience, his appointment was resented by many of his compatriots in the Legion.

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...

did not entrust O’Connor in Paris with representing his plans for a renewed insurrection in Ireland. When Britain re-opened its war with France in May 1803, Emmett sent his own emissary, Patrick Gallagher, to Paris to ask "money, arms, ammunition and officers" but not, as O'Connor had urged, for large numbers of troops. After his rising in Dublin misfired in July, and he could no longer indulge his hostility to Napoleon's imperial ambition, Emmet entrusted his plea for a French force to the rebel veteran Myles Byrne. After Napoleon's final defeat, O'Connor became a naturalised French citizen. He supported the 1830 insurrection in Paris which overthrew the increasingly absolutist King Charles X, publishing a defence of events in the form of an open letter to General Lafayette. After the revolution, he became mayor of Le Bignon-Mirabeau. He edited a paper on advanced/heterodox religious opinions—''Journal de la Liberté Religieuse''—and published a number of works on political and social topics. He also assisted his wife and her mother,

Sophie de Condorcet Sophie de Condorcet (Meulan, 1764 – Paris, 8 September 1822), also known as Sophie de Grouchy and best known and styled as Madame de Condorcet, was a prominent French salon hostess from 1789 to the Reign of Terror, and again from 1799 until her ...

(an accomplished translator of

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...

and

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

), to prepare a revised edition of the works of his father-in-law, the

Marquis de Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; ; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French Philosophy, philosopher, Political economy, political economist, Politics, politician, and m ...

(published in twelve volumes between 1847 and 1849). In 1834, O’Connor had been permitted to visit Ireland with his wife, to dispose of his estates that had been managed by his brother. Daniel O'Connell was then transforming what had been the Catholic Association into a movement for the repeal of the Act of Union. O'Connor was highly critical of what he perceived as the continued mobilisation (heavily reliant on the cooperation of the clergy) of a distinct Catholic interest. In his last wor
''Monopoly: The Cause of all Evil'' (1848)
a largely theological treatise in which he rejects the exclusionary claims of a "corporate priesthood", he accused "O'Connell and his

jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priests" of working to undo all that he, and the United Irish, sought to achieve in overcoming "religious hatred" and securing "union, love ndfraternity" between Irishmen.

Personal life

In 1807, although more than twice her age, O'Connor married Alexandrine Louise Sophie de Caritat de Condorcet (b 1790/1-1859), known as Eliza, the daughter of the French

philosophe The were the intellectuals of the 18th-century European Enlightenment.Kishlansky, Mark, ''et al.'' ''A Brief History of Western Civilization: The Unfinished Legacy, volume II: Since 1555.'' (5th ed. 2007). Few were primarily philosophers; rathe ...

the

and the celebrated

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

hostess,

(Sophie de Grouchy)."Arthur O'Connor"
. Retrieved 29 December 2012. Following his marriage he borrowed money from fellow United Irish exile

William Putnam McCabe William Putnam McCabe (1776–1821) was an emissary and organiser in Ireland for the insurrectionary Society of United Irishmen. Facing multiple indictments for treason as a result of his role in fomenting the 1798 rebellion, he effected a numb ...

to acquire a country residence. O’Connor's tardiness in repaying the debt to McCabe, whose own investments into cotton spinning in Rouen failed, resulted in a lawsuit. Cathal O'Bryne suggests that the debt was behind O'Connor's later suggestion to R. R. Madden that McCabe had been a double agent, a charge to which, Madden notes, the French government lent no credence. O'Connor's wife gave birth to five children, three sons and two daughters, almost all of whom predeceased him. Only one son, Daniel, married and had issue.
"The O'Connor-Condorcet couple had five children, only one of whom, Daniel O'Connor, left a posterity: two sons, including General Arthur O'Connor, who married Marguerite Elizabeth de Ganay in 1878. From this union, two daughters were born: the first, Elizabeth O'Connor, married Alexandre de La Taulotte; the second, Brigitte O'Connor, to Count François de La Tour du Pin who gave her three children: Philis, Aymar and Patrice de La Tour du Pin." * Daniel O'Connor (1810–1851), who married Ernestine Duval du Fraville (1820–1877), a daughter of Laurent-Martin Duval, Baron Duval du Fraville, in 1843. She died at

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

in 1877. O'Connor died on 25 April 1852. His widow died in 1859.

Descendants

His descendants continued to serve, as officers, in the French army and still reside at Château du Bignon. Through his only surviving son Daniel, he was a grandfather of two boys, Arthur O'Connor (1844–1909), who served in the French army, and Fernand O'Connor (1847–1905), a Brigade General who served in Africa and was made a

Knight of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

. His grandson, Arthur, married Marguerite de Ganay (1859–1940), a daughter of Emily and Etienne, Marquis de Ganay, in 1878. They had two daughters, Elisabeth O’Connor, the wife of Alexandre de La Taulotte; and Brigitte Emilie Fernande O'Connor (1880–1948), who in 1904 married the Comte François de La Tour du Pin (1878–1914), who was killed ten years later at the Battle of the Marne.

Publications

* ''The Measures of Ministry to Prevent a Revolution: Are the Certain Means of Bringing it on'' (1794) * ''A Letter to the Earl of Carlisle, Occasioned by His Lordship's Reply to Earl Fitzwilliam's Two Letters, Exhibiting the Present State of Parties in Ireland'' (1795) *
The State of Ireland
' (1798) * ''Paddy's Resource: Being a Select Collection of Original and Modern Patriotic Songs: : Compiled for the Use of the People of Ireland'' (1798) * ''The Portrait of an Irish Executive Director, by Himself and His Friends'' (1799) * ''État actuel de la Grande-Bretagne'' (1804) * ''Lettre du général Arthur Condorcet O'connor au général La Fayette: sur les causes qui ont privé la France des avantages de la révolution de 1830'' (1831) * ''État religieux de la France et de l'Europe d'après les sources les plus authentiques avec les controverses sur la séparation de lÉglise et de l'État, Volumes 1 à 2'' (written with François-André Isambert and Charles Lasteyrie, 1844)
''Monopoly: The Cause of all Evil'' (1848)
''Le monopole, cause de tous les maux'' (1849)

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

Arthur O'Connor, M.P. (1763-1852), United Irishman

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Arthur 1763 births 1852 deaths French generals Irish MPs 1790–1797 Irish political writers Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for King's County constituencies Politicians from County Cork United Irishmen Irish soldiers in the French Army French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People from Bandon, County Cork