Daniel O’Connell

Compositions of Traditional Irish music inspired by the life of the ‘Liberator’ 

Daniel O’Connell was born at Carhan, on the outskirts of Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry, on 6 August 1775. His wealthy childless uncle ‘Hunting Cap’ adopted him at an early age and brought him up at Derrynane. He spoke Irish and was interested in the traditional culture of song, story and folklore. He also understood how the rural mind worked which served him well in later years. He played the fiddle as a youth which is documented in his early correspondence. In 1791 he was sent to school at St. Omer and Douai in France. While in France, the French Revolution broke out. In 1793 O’Connell and his brother were forced to flee the violence. They made their way to London safely, with little more than the clothes on their backs. This experience left him with a lifelong hatred of violence.

He read law at Lincoln’s Inn (1794 -96) and continued his studies in Dublin where he was called to bar in 1798 He soon built up a large practice. The 1798 rising and the terrible butchery that followed it confirmed his horror of violence. While he approved of the principles of the United Irishmen, their call for reform and for Catholic Emancipation, he disagreed with their methods.

In 1802 O’Connell married his cousin, Mary O’Connell. They had a happy marriage and eleven children were born to them, though only seven survived (four sons and three daughters). In 1815 O’Connell was challenged to a duel by D’Esterre, a member of the Dublin Corporation after he harshly criticised them. In the exchange of shots D’Esterre was killed and O’Connell vowed never to fight again.

He set up many organisations to raise money for the cause of Emancipation, including the Catholic Association in 1823. This Association also campaigned for the repeal of the Act of Union, the end of the Irish tithe system, universal suffrage, and a secret ballot for parliamentary elections. O’Connell had the support of the Catholic clergy in his efforts. All members of the association paid a membership of a penny a month (the Catholic rent). This helped to raise a large fund.

O’Connell stood for election in 1828, and was elected as Member of Parliament for Clare by a majority of about eleven hundred votes. The ascendancy party had suffered its first big knock since 1798. This caused wild popular excitement in the country. However, because he was Catholic, he was not allowed take his seat. The British Government, fearing a civil war or at least serious disorder in Ireland because of intense opposition to the existing anti-Catholic legislation, passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act (1829) which granted Catholic Emancipation. This enabled O’Connell to be elected as representative for Kerry in 1830. The Government, however, outlawed the Catholic Association and greatly reduced the electorate. It eliminated the forty-shilling freehold suffrage in Ireland by raising the suffrage to £10.

O’Connell was now the undisputed leader in Ireland and he gave up his practice at the bar to devote his time entirely to politics.

For the rest of his life, he was supported by “The O’Connell Tribute”, a public collection out of which O’Connell paid all his expenses. O’Connell now decided to concentrate on winning repeal of the act of union and getting an Irish parliament for the Irish people. British political leaders were weary and they were strong in their opposition.

In 1841, O’Connell was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin and in 1843 the subscriptions to his Repeal Association, the Repeal “Rent” came to £48,400. He now began to organise monster meetings throughout the country. It is thought that three-quarters of a million people gathered on the hill of Tara to hear the man they called the “Liberator”. The government became alarmed at the strength of the Repeal Movement and a meeting which O’Connell had planned for 8th October 1843 in Clontarf, Dublin was banned. Huge crowds were already on their way when O’Connell called off the meeting to avoid the risk of violence and bloodshed.

He was charged with conspiracy, arrested and sentenced to a year in jail and a fine of £2,000. The sentence was set aside after O’Connell had served three months of his sentence. On his release he continued with his campaign for repeal. However, a turning point had been reached. The tactics that had won emancipation had failed.

O’Connell, now almost seventy was suffering from ill-health and weakened physically by overwork. He was disappointed by the failure of Repeal and worried over the disagreements with the ‘Young Irelanders’,

In his last speech in the House of Commons on 8th February 1847, he predicted that unless more aid was forthcoming from the British Government for Ireland ‘one quarter of her population will perish’.

On the advice of his doctor, O’Connell decided to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. When he reached Paris he was greeted by a large crowd of radicals who regarded him as the ‘most successful champion of liberty and democracy in Europe’. He did not complete his journey to Rome; he died in Genoa on 15 May 1847.

As O’Connell requested his heart was buried in the Irish College in Rome (in a monument arranged by Charles Bianconi) and his body was interred in Glasnevin cemetery on 5 August 1847. Sackville Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare, was renamed O’Connell Street, and at the southern end near the river Liffey the great statue of the Liberator by J. H. Foley was erected.