Calvagh O'More

Calvagh O'More (An Calbhach Ó Mórdha; 1540 - 27 March 1618), also known as Callagh, The Calough or Charles, was an Irish-born landowner of noble ancestry.

He was raised in England. Upon returning to Ireland in his early thirties, he was granted an estate in Balyna by the Crown, which was owned by his descendants until 1960.

His brother and father were Irish chiefs - the Lord of Laois - and his son Rory O'Moore was a leader of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

Early life
Calvagh O'More was born in 1540 in Portlaoise, Laois. His father was Rory Caoch O'More, Irish chief and Lord of Laois, and his mother was Margaret Butler, granddaughter of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond.

Upon Rory's death at the hands of his brother Giolla Pádraig, it seems that Margaret removed Calvagh and his siblings from Laois.

Time in England
O'More was brought up in England, and was called 'The Calough' by the English. As he describes himself as of Gray's Inn in 1568, he may be the John Callow who entered there in 1567.

His loyalist tendencies were in stark contrast to his brother Rory Oge O'More, a staunch rebel who became Lord of Laois in 1557, and returned to Ireland in the 1560s to lead his clan against the Tudor army.

Return to Ireland
In 1571, Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond petitioned for Calvagh O'More's return. Soon afterwards O'More came back to Ireland, and in 1574, was granted an estate at Balyna, near Moyvalley, County Kildare. The estate was granted by Elizabeth I in an attempt to stop the ongoing violence between the Tudors and O'More's brother Rory.

In 1582, O'More was thought to be a sufficiently strong adherent to the English to receive a grant of land in Laois. He also possessed part of the ancestral property of Owen Roe O'Neill in County Armagh, and received grants of land in Meath and Dublin.

In 1585, Sir Thomas FitzGerald of Laccagh posted bond for O'More, referencing his "good conduct [and] appearance when called for."

Personal life
O'More married Margaret Scurlock. Their son Rory was born about 1600, either in Laois, or more likely at the Balyna estate. Another son was named Lewis.

Death and legacy
On 27 March 1618, O'More died in Balyna. His son Lewis inherited his Balyna estate, and it remained in the ownership of the O'More family until it was sold in 1960.

O'More's son Rory went on to become one of the principal organisers of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Through Rory, O'More is a direct ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales and, by extension, her son William. James Moore Sr., governor of Carolina, also claimed descent from Calvagh through Rory.