Joseph O'Lawlor
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Joseph O’Lawlor (sometimes O’Lalor; 11 July 1768 – 19 October 1850) was an Irish-born Spanish general who fought under the
Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...
during the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
and later served as Governor of
Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
.''Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada'' (1908) Madrid vol. 39


Early life

He was born on 11 July 1768 at Clonaheen in the parish of Rosenallis,
County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...
, Ireland, to Peter Lalor and Elizabeth Brenan. Because Rosenallis is part of the Catholic diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, O’Lawlor's birthplace is sometimes incorrectly given as Kildare. A member of the O'Lawlor clan, he was a cousin of
Patrick "Patt" Lalor Patrick "Patt" Lalor (1781–1856) was a political leader in Queen's County, Ireland and the father of revolutionary politicians James Fintan Lalor, Peter Lalor and Richard Lalor. He was the first Catholic elected to the House of Commons to repres ...
(1781–1856), one time nationalist MP for Queen's County and father of
Peter Lalor Peter Fintan Lalor ( ); 5 February 1827 – 9 February 1889) was an Irish-Australian rebel and, later, politician, who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event identified with the "birth of democracy" in Austra ...
, the Australian revolutionary and politician, and also of Alice Lalor (1769–1846), founder of the Order of Visitation Nuns in the United States. According to his entry in the Spanish ''Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada'', O’Lawlor was "first born of one of the most noble families of Ireland, he was obligated to leave his homeland due to the persecution suffered, his goods having been confiscated and the members of his family dispersed to the continent uropeor America." Orphaned at an early age, he and his younger brother James (1770–1808) went to Spain around 1785 in the care of a cleric attached to the Irish Brigade, and joined the Spanish military service in the College of Artillery.


Military career

He fought under General Ricardos in the Campaign of Roussillon against the French Republic. When the
Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...
took command of the English and Spanish troops, he was attached to Wellington's staff together with General Alava. He was mentioned several times in the Duke's despatches in his campaign in Spain against Napoleon:
Despatches of Lord Wellington: (Irunzun 24 June 1813): "Mareschal del campo Don Luis Wimpfen, and the Inspector general Don Thomas O’Donoju and the officers of the staff of the Spanish army, have invariably rendered me every assistance in their power in the course of these operations; and I avail myself of this opportunity of expressing my satisfaction at their conduct, as likewise with that of Mareschal del campo Don M de Alavo and of Brigadier General Don J. O’Lawlor, who have been so long and so usefully employed with me."
Wellington specifically recommended O'Lawlor for promotion in 1814:
"to these I have to add, Brig. Gen. O'Lawlor, an officer of great merit, who has served most meritoriously during the whole war, attached to the British headquarters, and whom I had sent in the month of January last to the late Regency with dispatches, containing accounts of the military successes gained at that period. Contrary to the usual practice, he was not promoted upon that occasion, and I beg leave now to draw your Excellency's attention to his merits".
Joseph O’Lawlor was later entrusted by the Duke to manage his estate Soto de Roma which was given to him in gratitude by the Spanish Government, which he managed until 1844. O'Lawlor was present at the battles of Talavera and Arapiles and the taking of Ciudad Rodrigo. He rose to the rank of field marshal by the end of the war, and was finally promoted to lieutenant general in 1846. As well as Spanish honours, Joseph O'Lalor was awarded the British military honour of Honorary Companion of the Order of the Bath (C.B.) in 1819.


Later career

At the end of the war, in 1814, he was named, first, military governor and, later, Captain General of the
kingdom of Granada The Emirate of Granada, also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, was an Islamic polity in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe. ...
, an office he held until 1833.Francis Bazley Lee ''Genealogical & Personal Merorial of Mercer County NJ'' 1907 pp. 196-

/ref> During this period, "...he was required to execute the repression orders given from Madrid to suffocate the conspiracies and rebellions of which Granada was an important focus, but he also did what he could to temper the rigors of the law on behalf of the condemned. For example, his efforts (in vain) to intervene with King
Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...
in the case of Mariana Pineda to save her from the gallows (were) recognized even by foreign authors who had harshly criticized that unjust sentence. At the death of King Ferdinand, O'Lawlor resigned his post." O’Lawlor was ennobled in 1848 by the Queen and appointed a life Senator in 1849. His ''hidalguia'', or application for ennoblement as an ''
hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico :''Most, if not all, named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811)'' * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coah ...
solariego'', was lodged in 1833 in the ''Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Granada'', and lists five generations of ancestors of his four grandparents. An account of his life at this time records:
"General O'Lawlor, on account of his birth, his military renown and polished education, frequented the best circles of Granada and Madrid, and his home in the former place was the rendezvous of good society. In 1834 he changed his place of residence to Madrid, residing there until his death. In 1849, one year before his death, the Queen conferred high rank upon him. As an example of his loyalty it may be stated that he refused securing his pay from the English government when attached to the British army, saying that as a Spanish soldier he would be duly recompensed by the government of his country. In reality, however, he received at the end of the campaign but a very slight part of what was owing to him. General O'Lawlor married, in 1817, Dona Donisia Caballero y Crooke, daughter of Don Juan Caballero, a gentleman of an old and noble family of Malaga, whose fortune, though still ample, had been largely diminished by the exactions of the French army."
O’Lawlor's hospitality is also reported in the memoir of English traveller
Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story author, and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe. Ford's first collection of short stories, ''Rock Springs (short stories), Rock Springs ...
, who visited him in Granada in the 1830s: "O’Lawlor is a sensible man, and does not bore one, but is very civil and will be of great use in every way and a banker besides. As he has to remit money to the Duke of Wellington, he is glad of good bills in London." Joseph O'Lawlor died in Madrid on 19 October 1850.


Family

Joseph O’Lawlor and Donisia Caballero y Crooke had five daughters and three sons, many of whom married into the
Spanish nobility The Spanish nobility are people who possess a title of nobility confirmed by the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, as well as those individuals appointed to one of Spain's three highest orders of knightho ...
. His youngest son, Fernando O’Lawlor y Caballero (30 May 1829 – 29 March 1908), was a brigadier-general in the Spanish army during the African war and the civil war. He served as a Deputy in the Cortes and as a Senator (1893-1908). Involved in a failed plot in 1866 to remove Queen
Isabella II Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain. Isabella wa ...
, he was a political ally of two major Spanish liberal leaders of the time –
Leopoldo O'Donnell, 1st Duke of Tetuan Leopoldo O'Donnell y Jorris, 1st Duke of Tetuán, GE (12 January 1809 – 5 November 1867), was a Spanish general and Grandee who was Prime Minister of Spain on several occasions. Early life He was born at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canar ...
) and Francisco Serrano, Duke de la Torre. His youngest daughter, María de la Encarnación O’Lawlor y Caballero (ca. 1830 – 16 July 1908), married
Manuel Bermúdez de Castro y Díez Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...
(1811–1870), a senator and Minister for the Interior and Foreign Affairs. Their son
Salvador Bermúdez de Castro y O'Lawlor Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...
(1 November 1863 – 20 January 1946), Duke of Ripalda and Marquis de Lema, was a prominent Spanish author, politician and nobleman. He inherited his titles from his paternal uncle. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs 1919–21, 1917, 1913–15; Mayor of Madrid 1903–4 and
Governor of the Bank of Spain The governor of the Bank of Spain () is the head of the Bank of Spain, the central bank of the Kingdom of Spain. The Bank of Spain is integrated in the European System of Central Banks and, as such, the Governor is an ''ex officio member'' of the ...
(1922–3).Gonzalo P. Alzuria ''Diccionario akal de historiadores españoles contemporáneos (1840-1980)''

/ref> He was also the author of numerous works including ''De la Revolución a la Restauración'', ''Spain since 1815'' and the autobiographical ''Mis recuerdos 1801–1901''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OLawlor, Joseph 1768 births 1850 deaths 18th-century Irish people 19th-century Irish military personnel Military personnel from County Laois Irish soldiers in the Spanish Army Irish generals Spanish generals Spanish military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Wild Geese (soldiers)