Daniel O'Connell, "The Liberator"
O'Connell was born in Co. Kerry, to a prosperous Catholic family, and became a barrister. He was horrified by the violence of the French Revolution and the 1798 Irish uprising, and resolved to work for Catholic emancipation through non-violent means. He gradually became a leading figure in Catholic causes, and in 1829 he and his supporters achieved Catholic Emancipation. O'Connell was a masterful orator and organizer with a fine feel for the theatrics of politics. Though he became the first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin, he was unsuccessful in his efforts to secure the repeal of the Act of Union, and gradually the Young Ireland movement split with him in frustration at his lack of radicalism. He is revered as a great leader and champion of the Catholic cause, and certainly his link of Irish nationalism with its Catholic middle class had great significance in Irish history.
Caharn House, ruined birthplace of Daniel O'Connell.