O’Shaughnessy Society gather for clan meeting

The town of Gort will this weekend see a gathering of one of Galway’s oldest clans. 
From Sunday through to Wednesday, the O’Shaughnessys will descend on the Lady Gregory Hotel in the town and visit a number of sites.
The O’Shaughnessy Society was formed by the late Kevin O’Shaughnessy and has been meeting every second year since 1988.
This year however, Ardrahan man Rory O’Shaughnessy is eager to stress that the events are open to everyone.
“People are coming from America, Australia, England, Northern Ireland and Canada to take part. We want to invite anyone who would like to come, not just O’Shaughnessys, but people who may be interested in local history or those who wish to take part in any of the events. It is very much a social thing and if you can only make one event, that is fine too. It would be great to see anyone at any stage of the week, though we would like people to book ahead if possible, particularly for the banquet and the bus tour,” he stated.
The O’Shaughnessy clan has genealogical roots in the county that stretch back a thousand years before the arrival of the famous Tribes of Galway. They were a prominent sept, or family, in the south of the county and were known in Gaelic as Cinel Aodh na Echthge, meaning Hugh’s people from the Aughties, family research revealed.
Some of the notable personalities in the O’Shaughnessy genealogy include Daithí, the last pagan High King of Ireland and Guaire the Hospitable, a seventh century king of Connacht who gives his name to the town of Gort, or Gort Inse Guaire. Guaire is renowned in legend for his generosity and was said to have his right arm grow longer than his left from giving to the poor.
The O’Shaughnessys were also kinsmen of Saint Colman MacDuagh and patrons to his great monastery of Kilmacduagh. According to Rory, the surname O’Shaughnessy came into being in the 13th century at the same time as the family was becoming the dominant force in the ancient kingdom of Ui Fiachra Aidhne, which covered much of the south of the county from Oranmore to the Clare border. In fact, an English survey in 1585 referred to the area as O’Shaughnessy Country. The area formed a buffer zone between the Anglo-Norman Clanrickard Burkes in East Galway and the Gaelic O’Briens of Thomond in the south and through marriage alliances with these and other major families the O’Shaughnessys were able to reinforce their position.
In 1533, Dermot O’Shaughnessy, chief of the clan, was knighted by Henry VIII and the family held a position of strength for the next 150 or so years, despite having much of their lands confiscated for their involvement in the Confederation of Kilkenny.
Rory points out that much of these lands were to be retrieved with the Restoration of Charles II, only to be all lost again after the Battle of the Boyne and the defeat of the Jacobites in 1691. With the O’Shaughnessy lands confiscated, many of the family were forced into exile and left these shores in what history has called the flight of the Wild Geese.
The heir of the O’Shaughnessy lands, William ‘Chevalier’ O’Shaughnessy, was one of these exiles. He left to fight with the Irish Brigades in the service of the Catholic Louis XIV of France.
“William, in an extraordinary career, fought in most of the major European conflicts of the early 18th century, rising to the rank of Marechal-de-camp in the French army and on his death in his 70th year was the oldest serving major in the French service,” explained Rory.
“After William’s death, a number of surviving members of the O’Shaughnessy family embarked on a costly law case in an attempt to win back the ancestral lands, which had been granted to Sir Thomas Prendergast. The case was to fail. However, tradition tells us that in one last desperate effort, Joseph O’Shaughnessy took forcible possession of his former ancestral home at Gort, an act that caused the bells of Athenry and Galway to be rung for joy. The joy was short lived as Joseph was soon removed. With the death of Joseph, the last claimant without heir, all hope of the clan recovering its former glory had passed,” Rory continued.
With the family fortunes taking a turn for the worse in Galway, many left the area and a number went to Limerick, where the greatest concentration of the name exists today.
The exodus was to continue up to modern times and many went on to find fame and fortune in England, United States, Australia and New Zealand and the story of these is no less interesting than that of the O’Shaughnessys of old.
“The gathering is a great opportunity for all those who bear or are connected with this noble name, or those just interested in local history, to meet, share stories, and learn about the amazing history of the clan or their family roots,” Rory concluded.
The gathering begins on Sunday at 3pm with a welcome and registration in the Lady Gregory Hotel followed by an informal meeting in the hotel lounge.
On Monday morning, a coach will carry the clan on a tour of the Burren, guided by Rory. This starts at 10am and ends at 5pm and is followed by O’Shaughnessy stories in the Lady Gregory Hotel.
Tuesday will see discussions about the society and its future take place at 10am, followed by a genealogy session at 11.30am. At 1pm there will be a walk in Coole Park followed by a visit to Kiltartan Museum. At 8pm, a coach will take clan members to Dun Guaire Castle for a medieval banquet before returning to the Lady Gregory Hotel at 11.30pm.
Wednesday’s highlights included a general meeting of the society followed by a talk by Brother John Freheney on William Brooke O’Shaughnessy and after lunch, a memorial service at Kilmacduagh Monastery and O’Shaughnessy Chapel will take place.
The gathering closes with a farewell dinner on Wednesday night in The Lady Gregory Hotel.
More information is available from Des O’Shaughnessy on 048 92651798 or by email at dkos@btinternet.com.