David James O'Donoghue

“ He joined the United Irishmen at an early stage, but was moderate and cautious, and at a meeting near Carrickfergus in 1796 strongly supported a resolution, which was passed, threatening the expulsion of any member who counselled assassination. He became popular, and was one of the first arrested by the government during 1796. The specific charge against him was that he had administered a treasonable oath to two soldiers, Hugh Wheatley and one Lindsay. Such an act was at the time a capital offence, and both soldiers swore to Orr's identity with the man who had given them the oath. ”

“ VAN NOST, JOHN (d. 1780) , sculptor, son of a maker of leaden figures for gardens (Redgrave, Dict. of British Artists) , was born in Piccadilly, London, early in the eighteenth century. About 1750 he went to Dublin, and worked there for many years as a sculptor. ”

“ McGEE, THOMAS D'ARCY (1825–1868) , Irish-Canadian statesman and poet, born of an Ulster family at Carlingford, co. Louth, on 13 April 1825, was second son of James McGee, a coastguard. His mother's father, a Dublin bookseller named Morgan, had suffered imprisonment and financial ruin owing to his connection with the United Irishmen. In 1833 his father obtained an appointment in the custom-house at Wexford, and Thomas attended a day-school there. He showed an aptitude for study and a natural gift of eloquence. In 1842 he emigrated to America. ”

“ Cork, where his father held the office of postmaster after his retirement from the army, and at the age of thirteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary in Cork. He seems to have opened a school in Fermoy after serving his term, and in 1825–6 was still in that town, writing poems for the ‘Dublin and London Magazine’ and other journals, over the signature of ‘Sholto.’ The statement that he graduated in medicine at Dublin is unconfirmed by the university register. ”

“ Orr's song entitled ‘The Irishman’ is a great favourite in every part of Ireland. The poem, which has been wrongly attributed to Curran, is not in Orr's collection of 1804, having been composed subsequently, but it is to be found in the collected edition of his poems published posthumously in 1817. His pithiest writings are in the Antrim dialect. His ‘Poems,’ with sketch of his life by A. McDowell, were reissued at Belfast in 1817. ”

“ About 1840 he had begun to contribute racy poems to the ‘Northern Whig’ and other Ulster papers, generally over the signature of ‘Kitty Connor,’ and he also wrote a little for the ‘Nation,’ using the signature of ‘Curlew.’ One of his pieces, ‘The Old Irish Cow,’ became very popular throughout his native province, while another, ‘The Ould Irish Jig,’ a humorous effusion, is known throughout Ireland. ”

“ WHITELAW, JAMES (1749–1813) , statistician and philanthropist, was a native of county Leitrim, where he was born in 1749. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in July 1766, became a scholar in 1769, and graduated B.A. in 1771. He studied for the church, and after his ordination became tutor to the Earl of Meath, who presented him with the living of St. James's, Dublin. He soon afterwards obtained the more remunerative living of St. Catherine's in the same city. ”

“ Orr denied the charge, and Hugh Wheatley, whose character was bad, afterwards admitted having given false evidence. But he received at the time some secret-service money and a commission as lieutenant in the Edinburghshire militia (Fitzpatrick, Secret Service under Pitt, p. 390) . Orr was kept in prison for about a year previous to his trial, which took place at Carrickfergus, to the intense indignation of the inhabitants, who left the town during the proceedings as a protest. ”

“ His deep interest in the poor people living in the 'liberties' in his immediate neighbourhood led him to form several charitable institutions, the most useful of which was the Meath charitable loan, founded in 1808, which proved of immense service to the weavers of the Coombe during very distressing periods. ”

“ In 1863 he became M.P. for Clare, and in 1865 was made a third serjeant-at-law for Ireland, becoming second serjeant in the following year. He was appointed judge-advocate-general in Mr. Gladstone's ministry and a member of the privy council in December 1868; he held the former office till November 1870. He introduced and carried the bill enabling catholics to obtain the position of lord chancellor of Ireland. His unassuming manner and his good nature made him universally popular. He died suddenly, on 22 July 1877, on board the mail-boat while crossing from Holyhead to Kingstown. ”

“ O'LEARY, JOSEPH (d. 1845?) , songwriter and journalist, was born in Cork about 1795. In youth he joined a company of strolling players, but his theatrical experience was short, as the manager wras insolvent. About 1818 he commenced to write for the Cork papers — notably, the 'Freeholder,' a scurrilous sheet which was edited by John Boyle, and lasted till 1842. O'Leary's contributions were considered very powerful, and it was in its columns his famous Bacchanalian song, 'Whiskey, drink divine,' appeared. About 1818 he also wrote for the 'Bagatelle,' a short-lived Cork periodical ”

“ Within a year of his arrival he was elected one of the three members for Montreal in the Legislative Assembly, and in May 1862, and again in 1864, his eloquence and administrative capacity procured him the important post of president of the council. ”

“ After his removal to London early in the century he tried many callings, but was unsuccessful in all. Meanwhile he wrote poetry, eight dramas, and a novel in three volumes, entitled ‘Mary of Avonmore; or the Foundling of the Beach.’ None of these works seem now accessible. Hampered by a very large family, he managed to subsist by working as a shoemaker. ”

“ Lady Morgan's ‘O'Briens and O'Flaherties,’ with introduction (2 vols. 1857) ; ‘Tresillian, or the Story-tellers’ (12mo, Philadelphia, 1859) ; ‘Memoirs of Robert Houdin’ (1859) ; ‘Father Tom and the Pope, or a Night at the Vatican,’ with preface (16mo, Philadelphia, 1868. Mackenzie assigns this famous sketch to John Fisher Murray [q.v.] in error; it was written by Sir Samuel Ferguson [q. v.] ) ; ‘Life of Charles Dickens,’ with hitherto unpublished letters, anecdotes, &c. (12mo, Philadelphia, 1870) ”

“ M. A. Sadleir, with introductory memoir and portrait, 8vo, New York, 1869.
[A Sketch of the Life of Hon. T. D. McGee, by H. J. O'C. French, Q.C. (Montreal) ; Appleton's Cyclop. of Amer. Biog. iv. 116–17; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. Supplement, ii. 1046; Nation, 18 and 25 April and 2 May 1868; Webb's Compendium of Irish Biog. pp. 312–13; Morgan's Bibl. Canadensis, pp. 265–7; Duffy's Four Years of Irish History; N. F. Davin's Irishman in Canada, Lond. 1887, pp. 648–59; O'Donoghue's Poets of Ireland, p. 146; Brit. Mus. Cat.] ”