William Smith O'Brien

Born in Dromoland, Newmarket on Fergus, County Clare, he was the second son of Sir Edward O'Brien, 4th Baronet, of Dromoland Castle.[1] His mother was Charlotte Smith, whose father owned a property called Cahirmoyle in County Limerick. William took the additional surname Smith, his mother's maiden name, upon inheriting the property. He lived at Cahermoyle House, a mile from Ardagh, County Limerick.[2] He was a descendant of the eleventh century Ard Rí (High King of Ireland), Brian Boru.[3] He received an upper-class English education at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge.[4] Subsequently, he studied law at King's Inns in Dublin and Lincoln's Inn in London.[1]

"Young Ireland in Business for Himself", John Leech's satirical 1846 cartoon for Punch magazine showing O'Brien offering "pretty little pistols for pretty little children" after the withdrawal of the Young Irelanders from the Repeal Association

From April 1828 to 1831 he was Conservative MP for Ennis. He became MP for Limerick County in 1835, holding his seat in the House of Commons until 1849.[5] Being found guilty of High Treason he forfeited his seat in the House of Commons.

Although a Protestant country-gentleman, he supported Catholic Emancipation while remaining a supporter of British-Irish union. In 1843, in protest against the imprisonment of Daniel O'Connell, he joined O'Connell's anti-union Repeal Association.[5]

Three years later, O'Brien withdrew the Young Irelanders from the association. With Thomas Francis Meagher, in January 1847 he founded the Irish Confederation, although he continued to preach reconciliation until O'Connell's death in May 1847.[5] He was active in seeking relief from the hardships of the famine. In March 1848, he spoke out in favour of a National Guard and tried to incite a national rebellion. He was tried for sedition on 15 May 1848 but was not convicted.[6]

Removal of Smith O'Brien under sentence of death

On 29 July 1848, O'Brien and other Young Irelanders led landlords and tenants in a rising in three counties, with an almost bloodless battle against police at Ballingarry, County Tipperary.[1] In O'Brien's subsequent trial, the jury found him guilty of high treason. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Petitions for clemency were signed by 70,000 people in Ireland and 10,000 people in England.[7]

O'Brien's Cottage in Port Arthur, Tasmania.

In Dublin on 5 June 1849, the sentences of O'Brien and other members of the Irish Confederation were commuted to transportation for life to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania in present-day Australia).[8]

O'Brien attempted to escape from Maria Island off Tasmania, but was betrayed by Ellis, captain of the schooner hired for the escape. He was sent to Port Arthur where he met up with John Mitchel, who had been transported before the rebellion. The cottages which O'Brien lived in on Maria Island and Port Arthur have been preserved in their 19th century state as memorials.[9]

Having emigrated to the United States, Ellis was tried by another Young Irelanders leader, Terence MacManus, at a lynch court in San Francisco for the betrayal of O'Brien. He was freed for lack of evidence.[9]

In 1854, after five years in Tasmania, O'Brien was released on the condition he never return to the United Kingdom. He settled in Brussels.[10] In May 1856, he was granted an unconditional pardon and returned to Ireland that July. He contributed to the Nation newspaper, and published the two-volume Principles of Government, or Meditations in Exile in 1856,[11] but played no further part in politics.[10]

In 1864 he visited England and Wales, with the view of rallying his failing health, but no improvement took place, and he died at Bangor, in Wales on 16 June 1864.[8]

Burial site in County Limerick

O'Brien was a founding member of the Ossianic Society, whose aim was further the interests of the Irish language and to publish and translate literature relating to the Fianna.

He wrote to his son Edward from Van Diemen's Land, urging him to learn the Irish language. He himself studied the language and used an Irish-language Bible, and presented to the Royal Irish Academy Irish-language manuscripts he had collected. He enjoyed the respect of Clare poets (the county being largely Irish speaking at the time), and in 1863, on his advice, Irish was introduced into a number of schools there.[12]

Originally erected on the south quays, this 1870s statue was moved to Dublin's O'Connell Street in 1929

A statue of William Smith O'Brien stands in O'Connell Street, Dublin. Sculpted in Portland limestone, it was designed by Thomas Farrell and erected in D'Olier Street, Dublin, in 1870. It was moved to its present position in 1929.

In the United States, O'Brien County, Iowa is named after him.[13]

While studying in London O'Brien met Mary Ann Wilton and fathered two children born to her. In Autumn 1832 he married Lucy Caroline Gabbett (1811–1861) of County Limerick. They had five boys and two girls.[8]

The children of William Smith O'Brien and Lucy O'Brien were Edward William (Ned) (1831–1909), William Joseph (1839–1867), Lucy Josephine (1840–1907), Lucius Henry (1842–1913), Robert Donough (1844–1917), Charlotte Grace (1845–1909) and Charles Murrough (1849–1877).[1] The elder daughter Lucy Josephine O'Brien married Rev John Gwynn and their children included writer and MP Stephen Gwynn, Lucy Gwynn who was the first woman registrar of Trinity College, Dublin, and Edward Gwynn who was Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. O'Brien's younger daughter Charlotte Grace O'Brien was a campaigner for the better treatment of Irish emigrants.[14]

William Smith O'Brien's elder brother Lucius O'Brien (1800–1872) was for some time member of parliament for County Clare.

William Smith O'Brien's sister Harriet O'Brien married an Anglican priest but was soon widowed. As Harriet Monsell, she founded the order of Anglican nuns, the Community of St John Baptist, in Clewer, Windsor, in 1851. The gold cross she wore, and which still belongs to the Community, was made with gold panned by her brother during his exile in Australia.

• "The new Irish flag would be Orange and Green, and would be known as the Irish tricolor."[15]
• "To find a gaol in one of the lovliest spots formed by Nature in one of her loneliest solitudes creates a revulsion of feeling I cannot describe." November 1849, when first sighting Maria Island.

• List of convicts transported to Australia

• Smith O'Brien, William (1856). Principles of Government or Meditations in Exile. Dublin & Boston: James Duffy, Patrick Donahoe. Vol. I – 388pp., Vol. II – 380pp. US edition single vol. 480pp.
• Hough, John (1998). William Smith O'Brien: the unlikely revolutionary. [pamphlet].
• Young Ireland and 1848, Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1949.
• Smith O'Brien And The "Secession", Dennis Gwynn,Cork University Press
• The Fenians in Context Irish Politics & Society 1848–82, R. V. Comerford, Wolfhound Press 1998
• William Smith O'Brien and the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, Robert Sloan, Four Courts Press 2000
• Young Ireland, T. F. O'Sullivan, The Kerryman Ltd. 1945.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Smith O'Brien.

• Quotations related to William Smith O'Brien at Wikiquote
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Smith O'Brien