Matthew O'Conor (; 1773–1844) of Mount Druid House, Ballinagare,

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

, Ireland was an Irish historian, Landowner from the

O'Conor The O'Conor dynasty (Middle Irish: ''Ó Conchobhair''; Modern ) are an Irish noble dynasty and formerly one of the most influential and distinguished royal dynasties in Ireland. The O'Conor family held the throne of the Kingdom of Connacht up ...

family,

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

and ''de jure''

King of Connacht The Kings of Connacht were rulers of the ''cóiced'' (variously translated as portion, fifth, province) of Connacht, which lies west of the River Shannon, Ireland. However, the name only became applied to it in the early medieval era, being named ...

. O'Conor was the grandson of Charles O'Conor (1710–1791) the famed Irish antiquarian of the 18th century. His brother the Rev. Charles O'Conor (1767–1828) was likewise a historian. Matthew was educated for the priesthood in Rome, but changed his mind and became by profession a lawyer.RICORSO: See O'Conor, Matthew under Authors A-Z
/ref> Matthew was highly regarded by fellow Irish scholars such as George Petrie and

John O'Donovan John O'Donovan may refer to: *John O'Donovan (scholar) (1806–1861), Irish language scholar and place-name expert *John O'Donovan (politician) (1908–1982), Irish TD and Senator *John O'Donovan (police commissioner) (1858–1927), New Zealand pol ...

. To the latter he gave unstinting aid during his field work in Roscommon for the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

; O'Donovan held him in very high regard, not only because of his historical efforts and political work, but also because of his noble descent and status as a Prince of the Royal Family of Connacht. In this he was not alone; during the

Tithe War The Tithe War () was a campaign of mainly nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes, in Ireland between 1830 and 1836 in reaction to the enforcement of tithes on the Roman Catholic majority for the upkeep of the est ...

a large assembly of Roscommon Catholics unanimously elected him King of Connacht (in his absence) and sent word to him to meet them at

Carnfree Carnfree (Irish ''Carn Fraoich'', Fráech's cairn) is a site south of the village of Tulsk in Roscommon that also lies close to the more celebrated ancient landscape of Rathcroghan. The chief feature here is the bronze-age mound of Carnfree itself ...

for the formal inauguration, although it was his nephew Denis O'Conor, O'Conor Don was the O'Conor Don at the time. He wrote ''The History of Irish Catholics from the Settlement in 1691'', based on letters of his grandfather Charles O’Conor to Dr. John Curry.

Bibliography

''The History of Irish Catholics from the Settlement in 1691''
(1813) ''Military History of the Irish Nation comprising a Memoir of the Irish Brigade in the Service of France... AD 1550–1738'' (1845).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconor, Matthew 1773 births 1844 deaths Scholars and academics from County Roscommon Kings of Connacht

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia'' Christianity * Matthew the Apostle, one of ...

18th-century Irish historians 19th-century Irish historians