Tomás O'Gorman


Tomás O'Gorman was an Irish merchant and doctor, who served in France as a member of the Irish brigades He dedicated himself to trade in Buenos Aires, where he settled with his wife Marie Anne Périchon de Vandeuil.

Biography

O'Gorman was born in Ennis, County Clare, grandson of Thomas Gorman and Mary Baria, belonging to a traditional Irish family. Being very young he moved to France to serve to the army of king Louis XVI. In 1797, he arrived in Montevideo from Mauritius, accompanied by his family. Later, he settled in the city of Buenos Aires where his uncle Miguel O'Gorman, the director of the Protomedicato del Río de la Plata.
Gorman had an outstanding performance as a merchant, in 1799 introduced from the United States the first stagecoach in the Argentine territory. He was accused by the viceregal authorities of exercising espionage. In 1804, Gorman had arrived in the city from Europe, in the company of James Florence Burke, a secret agent in the service of the British crown. He supported the English during the occupation of Buenos Aires in 1806, having to take refuge possibly in Rio de Janeiro after the reconquest of the city.
Tomás O'Gorman was married in the Île Bourbon to Marie Anne Périchon, belonging to a distinguished French family. They were the founders of the Gorman and Périchon family in the Río de la Plata. Among his descendants are Camila O'Gorman and Eduardo O'Gorman, a parish priest of outstanding performance in Buenos Aires