User:Etccerc/McCarthy O'Leary

'The McCarthy (or MacCarthy) O'Leary family' was a prominent Catholic landed gentry family in County Cork, Ireland during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries. The family was based at Coomlegane, Millstreet, close to Mallow. The estate, which was sold by the family in the 1920s, is now the site of Green Glens Arena, and was the venue for the 1993 Eurovision song contest. The Mc Carthy O'Leary's endowed the local Catholic school and donated land for the public library of Millstreet.

Ties with the O'Leary Clan Chiefs


From local historian Peter O'Leary of County Cork:

Donal MacArt O'Leary (1575-1657) was the last elected chieftain of the O'Leary people. Raised to this office in 1638, he survived as effective and fully operating chieftain until the 10 years war, (1640-1650), and the Cromwellian settlement which followed it. This settlement destroyed most of the ancient Gaelic system, including the election and rule of the chieftains. Even after the return of King Charles ll in 1660, there was no full revival of the old systems, and the Williamite war of 1689 finally put an end to all the former Gaelic traditions including the demise of the O'Leary and other chieftainries. Donal MacArt was transplanted to Connaught (see: Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 and died before 1660. His eldest son Donal Og returned to the O'Leary territories.

Donal óg and his eldest son, Arthur, were never elected as chieftains, but they and their successors called themselves "O'Leary", and were regarded as such by the local people in the Milstreet area. Arthur was a Captain in King James' army in 1689. He went to Millstreet with his sister Juliana, where she was married to old Colonel Owen MacCarthy of Drishane. Arthur's son Daniel inherited the property at Coomlegane, and passed it down to his son Denis. They were part of the small number of Catholic families who managed to hold on to substantial holdings through the Penal laws of the 1700s, often through Protestant friends or relatives, who served as secret trustees (see Grace's Card: Irish Catholic Landlords 1690-1800) Denis O'Leary of Coomlegane could only produce one heir, his daughter Helen who married a widower, Denis McCarthy of Glyn. The son of Denis inherited Coomlegane by agreeing to take the surname of O'Leary; family members from then on were known as Mac Carthy O'Leary, and the O'Leary coat of arms was assumed, and listed with the family's entry in Burke's Landed Gentry.

The Nineteenth Century
The family intermarried with several other landed Catholic families, notably the family of Daniel O'Connell 'The Liberator', the O'Connells of Derrynane.

Dennis McCarthy O'Leary (b.1774) inherited the combined estates of his father, and built a Georgian mansion sometime before 1800. He married Leonora Howley of Richill (Rich Hill) Limerick, the sister of Sir John Howley, Q.C. (1799-1866). Their daughter, Emily married Maurice O'Connell, JP while his son John married Jane O'Connell, sister of Morgan O'Connell MP (1811-1875) and widow of Charles, The O'Donoghue of the Glens (her son Daniel O'Donoghue (Irish politician) served in the Westminster parliament from 1857-1885).

John Mc Carthy O'Leary (1814-1896) was one of the principal landowners in the area during the 19th Century, and served as High Sheriff of Cork as well as a Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. He was educated at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, as were his sons and grandsons. His eldest son John Arthur McCarthy O'Leary (1840-1870), a member of the 34th regiment, LL.B., married Anna de Villegas, Comtesse de St. Pierre Jette of Castle Rivieren, Belgium. John Arthur's grandaughter Benedicta Chichester married William Lucien Bonaparte-Wyse, son of Andrew Nicholas Bonaparte-Wyse and great grandson of Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino. The second son, Denis Charles was a barrister in Melbourne, Australia. Another brother, Maurice, LL.B. helped manage the estate at Coomlegane.

The best known family member is Colonel William McCarthy O'Leary,(1849-1900) who was killed at the battle of the Relief of Ladysmith in South Africa. A statue was dedicated to his heroism

He was married to Mary Considine, sister of Sir Hefferman Considine, 1846-1912 for whom their son Heffernan Mc Carthy O'Leary was named

Brigadier Hefferman W.D. McCarthy O'Leary, Lt. William, killed in WW I and Major John Mc C, who inherited Coomlegane from his father. Major 's daughter Lady Elizabeth married Sir Morgan O'Connell, Bt. (see: O'Connell Baronets).

Landlords
One historical source mentions the rather squalid conditions that the tenant farmers of the MacCarthy O'Learys lived under, and conflict with the Land League. Another account in the Cork gazetter of 1880 counters this with testimony to the humanity and fairness of the family towards their tenants. There seems to have been very few, if any, evictions. By 1909 events financing schemes were underway to allow farmers to buy land for themselves.