O'Connell, Daniel (1775–1847)

O'Connell Bridge in central Dublin crosses the River Liffey just north of Trinity College and opens onto O'Connell Street, the city's main thoroughfare. When it was built in 1794–98, it was called Carlisle Bridge, but was renamed in 1882 when the statue of Daniel O'Connell, standing at the foot of the bridge, was unveiled.

Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell in September 1844, after his release from prison. He is pictured here in a procession with other state prisoners, passing the Bank of Ireland in Dublin. Dubbed ‘the Liberator’ as leader of the fight to win political rights for Irish Roman Catholics, O'Connell had been convicted in early 1844 of seditious conspiracy, for taking part in demonstrations in favour of Irish Home Rule. He was released when his conviction was overturned by the House of Lords.

The Irish barrister Daniel O'Connell, who became a formidable Roman Catholic political leader in the 19th century. Initially barred by his religion from entering Parliament, his election as member of Parliament for Clare forced the British government to concede Catholic emancipation. As a pacifist, he later came into conflict with the more revolutionary ideas of the Young Ireland group.

Irish lawyer and politician, known as ‘the Liberator’. In 1823 he formed the Catholic Association, to campaign for Catholic emancipation and the repeal of the 1801 Act of Union between Britain and Ireland. He achieved the first objective in 1829, but failed in the second.

O'Connell was born at Carhan, near Cahirciveen, County Kerry. He trained as a lawyer and in 1798 was called to the Irish Bar. As a Catholic, the higher legal posts were closed to him, but he made a good living by pleading large numbers of small cases, his work taking him all over Ireland. Similarly, when he was elected member of Parliament for County Clare in 1828, he was debarred from taking his seat by the ban on Catholics holding public office that had been in force since 1678, when the ‘Popish Plot’ was allegedly discovered by Titus Oates. O'Connell was gifted with great organizational ability and powerful skills of oratory, which helped him promote his case for Catholic emancipation. In his attempt to oppose the Union, he organised mass meetings all over Ireland, and formed an alliance with the Whigs in Britain, but was jailed for sedition. On his release from prison after a few months, the Irish famine of 1845–46 had pushed repeal of the Union into the background. Broken in health, O'Connell died at Genoa while undertaking a journey to Rome.