Colonel Philip O'Reilly (Irish: ''Pilib MacAodh Ó Raghallaigh'') (1599 - 1655) was a member of parliament for

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the hi ...

, Ireland in the Irish Parliament from 1639 to 1641, and a leading member of the

1641 Rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Ireland, initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and return of confiscat ...

Ancestry

His Gaelic name was Pilib mac Aoidh mic Sheáin mic Aoidh Chonallaigh Ó Raghallaigh and by the English he was named Philip McHugh McShane O'Reilly. His father, grandfather and several other ancestors were chiefs of the

O'Reilly O'Reilly () is a common Irish surname. The O'Reillys were historically the kings of East Bréifne in what is today County Cavan. The clan were part of the Connachta's Uí Briúin Bréifne kindred and were closely related to the Ó Ruairc ( ...

clan and Lords of Breifne O'Reilly. His mother was Catherine MacMahon. He resided at Bellanacargy Castle in the barony of Tullygarvey, (near the present-day village of Drung). Bellanacargy castle, anciently referred to as Ballynacarraig because it was built on a carraig (rock island) situated in the middle of the Annalee river, was destroyed in May 1689 by Williamite forces led by Thomas Lloyd.

Career

As a young man he served for some time in the Spanish army but returned to Ireland. He was appointed Commissioner of the Peace in 1625 and

High Sheriff of Cavan The High Sheriff of Cavan was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Cavan, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Cavan County Sheriff. The sherif ...

in 1629. He was elected as MP for County Cavan in 1639. During the Parliamentary session of 1640 he was enlisted by Rory (Roger) O'Moore in the plot to start a rebellion against English rule in Ireland. O'Moore was a distant relation as his sister Cecilia O'Moore was married to O'Reilly's first cousin, Tirlagh O'Neill. On the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion in October 1641 he was elected chief of the O'Reillys. As a result, the Irish Parliament expelled him on 16 November 1641. On 6 November 1641 he ordered a general gathering of his clansmen from 16 to 60 years of age, to be held at Virginia, and on 11 December 1641 he had possession of the whole county, except the

Killeshandra Killeshandra or Killashandra () is a small town or village and civil parish in County Cavan, Ireland. It is located west of Cavan Town. Killeshandra town has a long record of participation in the National Tidy Towns competition and has won ...

castles of Keelagh and Croghan which were defended by Sir Francis Hamilton and Sir James Craig. He raised a brigade of twelve hundred men, composed chiefly of his name and family, and served with distinction as lieutenant-general in the service of the Confederate Catholics of Ireland. The Assembly of Kilkenny appointed him Lord President of Ulster. His second cousin Myles O'Reilly was

in 1641 at the outbreak of the Rebellion. Philip O'Reilly was attainted for treason by the English government in 1642. In his diary for 3 June 1644, Sir

James Ware (historian) Sir James Ware (26 November 1594 – 1 December 1666) was an Anglo-Irish historian. Personal details Born at Castle Street, Dublin on 26 November 1594, James Ware was the eldest son of Sir James Ware (1568–1632) and Mary Bryden, daughter of ...

states "''Intelligence came to Dublin that Roger Moore and Philip O'Reilly, two of the first incendiaries were committed to prison at Kilkenny''". O'Reilly was further denounced by Cromwell's Act of 1652 at the end of the rebellion. Following the collapse of the Irish confederacy, he formally surrendered to

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially a ...

at Cloughoughter Castle on 27 April 1653, being the last Irish garrison to do so. He secured favourable terms but was obliged to leave Ireland. He retired with his brigade into Spain and thence to the Netherlands, where he served in the Spanish army for about two years and died in 1655. He was buried in the Irish monastery of St. Dominick in the city of

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the sub-municipalities of ...

, Belgium.

Family

Philip O'Reilly married Rose O'Neill, the sister of

Owen Roe O'Neill Owen Roe O'Neill ( Irish: ''Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill;'' – 6 November 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary ...

, the military leader of the Irish in Ulster during the Confederate Wars of the 1640s. His children by her were 1. Aodh Ruadh, his only legitimate son, who was killed by the Cromwellians; 2. Eibhlin, who married Colla Dubh Mac Mahon, and whose son was Most Reverend

Hugh MacMahon Hugh MacMahon (1660–1737) was Bishop of Clogher 1707–1715 and Archbishop of Armagh 1715–1737. Born in 1660 in the townland of Cavany, Scotshouse, County Monaghan, Ireland, the son of Colla Dubh Mac Mahon of the Dartry branch of the clan a ...

, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh; 3. Maire, who married firstly Aodh Maguire and secondly Ruaidhri Og Maguire, the 5th Lord Enniskillen. Phillip also had an illegitimate son, Sean O'Reilly. Poem XXVIII in James Carney's 'Poems on the O'Reillys' is dedicated to Philip O'Reilly.

John Colgan John Colgan, OFM ( Irish ''Seán Mac Colgan''; c. 1592 – 15 January 1658), was an Irish Franciscan friar noted as a hagiographer and historian. Life Colgan was born c. 1592 at Priestown near Carndonagh, a member of the Mac Colgan sept of ...

, the eminent Donegal hagiographer, dedicated his treatise on Duns Scotus, published at Antwerp in 1655, to Philip O'Reilly.

References

*"Commentarius Rinuccinianus", Ed. by O'Ferrall & O'Connell, Vol V, pp 97, 205. *"A Genealogical History of the O'Reillys", by Eoghan O'Raghallaigh, Section 3, pp. 27 & 78. * "Poems on the O'Reillys", Ed. by James Carney 1950, pp. 139–146 & 232–233 * "A Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland 1641–1652", 3 vols, Ed. by John T. Gilbert 1880, pp. 45 et seq.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Reilly, Phillip Politicians from County Cavan People of the Irish Confederate Wars 1655 deaths High sheriffs of Cavan Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cavan constituencies Irish MPs 1639–1649 1599 births