Arthur O'Connor (United Irishman)


Arthur O'Connor, was a United Irishman and later a general in Napoleon's army.

Early life

O'Connor was born near Bandon, County Cork on 4 July 1763 into a wealthy Irish Protestant family. Through his brother Roger O'Connor, the author of the Chronicles of Eri who shared his politics, he was an uncle to Roderic O'Connor, Francisco Burdett O'Connor, and Feargus O'Connor among others. His other two brothers, Daniel and Robert, were pro-British loyalists.
As a young man, he embraced the Republican movement early on as he was encouraged by the American Revolution overseas. After his oldest brother Daniel got into debt, his brother Roger bought out his inheritance. The family's political and financial conflicts were only deepened when their sister Anne committed suicide, after having been forbidden by the family from marrying a Catholic man she was in love with.

Career

From 1790 to 1795 he was a Member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons for Philipstown. The Irish House of Commons was part of the colonial parliament that sat in College Green. O'Connor was also a member of the Kildare Street Club in Dublin.

United Irishmen

In 1796, he became a member of the Society of United Irishmen. He and Lord Edward Fitzgerald petitioned France for aid in support of an Irish revolution. While traveling to France he was arrested alongside Father James Coigly, a Catholic priest, and three other United Irishmen. Coigly, who found to be carrying an incriminating letter, was hanged, whereas O'Connor was acquitted. He was re-arrested immediately and imprisoned at Fort George in Scotland along with his brother Roger. On his way to confinement, he distributed a poem, which, seeming to recant his republican beliefs, with verses re-ordered, was instead a ringing re-affirmation of them:

The pomp of courts, and pride of kings,
I prize above all earthly things;
I love my country, but my king,
Above all men his praise I'll sing.
The royal banners are display'd,
And may success the standard aid:
I fain would banish far from hence
The Rights of Man and Common Sense.
Destruction to that odious name,
The plague of princes, Thomas Paine,
Defeat and ruin seize the cause
Of France, her liberty, and laws.

Life in France

O'Connor was released in 1802 under the condition of "banishment". He travelled to Paris, where he was regarded as the accredited representative of the United Irishmen by Napoleon who, in February 1804, appointed him General of Division in the French army. General Berthier, Minister of War, directed that O'Connor was to join the expeditionary army intended for the invasion of Ireland at Brest.
When the plan fell through, O'Connor retired from the army. He offered his services to Napoleon during the Hundred Days. After Napoleon's defeat he was allowed to retire, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1818. He supported the 1830 revolution which created the July Monarchy, publishing a defence of events in the form of an open letter to General Lafayette. After the revolution he became mayor of Le Bignon-Mirabeau. The rest of his life was spent composing literary works on political and social topics. Arthur and his wife continued the efforts of her mother, Sophie de Condorcet, to publish her father's, the Marquis de Condorcet, works in twelve volumes between 1847 and 1849.

Personal life

In 1807, although more than twice her age, O'Connor married Alexandrine Louise Sophie de Caritat de Condorcet, known as Eliza, the daughter of the scholar the Marquis de Condorcet and Sophie de Condorcet. His wife gave birth to five children, three sons and two daughters, almost all of whom predeceased him. Only one son, Daniel, married and had issue.
O'Connor died on 25 April 1852. His widow died in 1859.

Descendants

His descendants continued to serve, as officers, in the French army and still reside at Château du Bignon. Through his only surviving son Daniel, he was a grandfather of two boys, Arthur O'Connor, who served in the French army, and Fernand O'Connor, a Brigade General who served in Africa and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. His grandson, Arthur, married Marguerite de Ganay, a daughter of Emily and Etienne, Marquis de Ganay, in 1878. They had two daughters, Elisabeth O’Connor, the wife of Alexandre de La Taulotte; and Brigitte Emilie Fernande O'Connor, who in 1904 married the Comte François de La Tour du Pin, who was killed ten years later at the Battle of the Marne.

Publications