Daniel Charles, Count O'Connell (21 May 1745 – 9 July 1833) was the uncle 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 ...

"the Liberator." He was from a noble family of Derrynane House, County Kerry, Ireland, but because of the

Penal Laws (Ireland) In Ireland, the penal laws () were a series of Disabilities (Catholics), legal disabilities imposed in the seventeenth, and early eighteenth, centuries on the Kingdom of Ireland, kingdom's Catholic Church in Ireland, Roman Catholic majority and ...

of the time, which forbade a Catholic to have any education or profession, he, like many other ambitious young Irishmen, went to the Continent for an education, and remained abroad. He entered the service of the king of France in the Royal Swedish Regiment ( Royal Suédois) in 1761, and in 1769 was transferred to Lord Clare's Regiment of the

Irish Brigade (French) The Irish Brigade (, ) was a brigade in the French Royal Army composed of Irish exiles, led by Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel, Lord Mountcashel. It was formed in May 1690 when five Jacobitism, Jacobite regiments were sent from Ireland t ...

and served in Europe and

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

until 1778. Then he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel and transferred back to the Royal Swedish Regiment, with which he saw action at the siege of Port Mahon and at the

Great Siege of Gibraltar The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Enlightenment in Spain, Spain and Kingdom of France, France to capture Gibraltar from the Kingdom of Great Britain, British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the largest ba ...

. "At Gibraltar he was on board one of the famous floating batteries and was severely wounded." He was later appointed Colonel Commander of the , and was created a Chevalier of the

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fi ...

. He also was appointed to a military committee charged with revising French infantry tactics. Daniel Charles O'Connell was created Count O'Connell by

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

in 1785. He became an officer in the French king's Irish Brigade. He was a friend of, among others, Benoît de Boigne. O'Connell left France for England after the French Revolution. The laws against Catholics were weakening, and in 1794, at the instigation of British Prime Minister

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and then first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, p ...

, he now joined the British Army and raised the fourth regiment of the Irish Brigade of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, which he commanded until the corps was disbanded. After visiting France in 1802, he was seized by Napoleon, and remained his prisoner until 1814.Library Ireland
/ref> He died at

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

, France, at the chateau of his stepdaughter, in July 1833, holding the ranks of General in the French and Colonel in the British army.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Daniel Charles 1745 births 1833 deaths 18th-century Irish people 19th-century Irish military personnel Military personnel from County Kerry Irish generals French generals Knights of the Order of Saint Louis Daniel Charles Irish soldiers in the French Army Irish officers in the British Army Irish expatriates in France French military personnel of the Seven Years' War

See also

References